Art and society & other papers in historical materialism

by Georgi Plekhanov

English, Russian (translation)

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (Russian: Георгий Валентинович Плеханов) was a Russian revolutionary and a Marxist theoretician. He was a founder of the Social-Democratic movement in Russia and was one of the first Russians to identify himself as "Marxist." Facing political persecution, Plekhanov emigrated to Switzerland in 1880, where he continued in his political activity attempting to overthrow the Tsarist regime in Russia. During World War I Plekhanov rallied to the cause of the Entente powers against Germany and he returned home to Russia following the 1917 February Revolution. Plekhanov was hostile to the Bolshevik party headed by Vladimir Lenin, however, and was an opponent of the Soviet regime which came to power in the autumn of 1917. He died the following year. Despite his vigorous and outspoken opposition to Lenin's political party in 1917, Plekhanov was held in high esteem by the Russian Communist Party following his death as a founding father of Russian Marxism and a philosophical thinker.

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew Plekhanov was so engaging and smart and relevant to my dissertation topic.

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art depends on social and productive relations.

Marx’s explanation about Greece aesthetics does a much better job than this on my opinion.