Marxism & Education

Index to the works of Marxists and others on education, cognitive psychology and child development.

Because Marxists have tended to approach the whole range of psychological issues — development, feeling, neurosis, pathology, personality and character — from the point of view of cognitive and linguistic development, much of the material in this subject archive is also found in the more comprehensive Psychology Subject Archive. Likewise, for Marxists, there has never been a sharp line between social and individual development, so social theory penetrates deeply into both psychology and educational theory.

The Marxist approach to education is broadly constructivist, and emphasises activity, collaboration and critique, rather than passive absorption of knowledge, emulation of elders and conformism; it is student-centred rather than teacher centred, but recognises that education cannot transcend the problems and capabilities of the society in which it is located.

This archive lists the works of Marxist and some non-Marxist writers on teaching and learning to be found on the Marxists Internet Archive.

Early ideas on Socialist Education

Theses On Feuerbach #3, Marx 1845

Communist Manifesto, Marx 1848

Juvenile and Child Labour,

International Workingmen's Association 1866

On General Education, Speech by Marx August 1869

Economic Manuscripts of 1861-63, MArx

Section 9 (Factory Acts), Capital, Chapter 15, Marx 1867

Section 9 (Factory Acts), Capital, Chapter 15, Marx 1867

Productive Labour, Capital, Chapter 16, Marx 1867

On Education, Mikhail Bakunin 1869

The Struggle of Woman for Education, Bebel 1879

The Socialist System of Education, Bebel 1879

Socialism and Education, May Wood Simmons 1901

The Material Basis of Education, Lena Morrow Lewis 1912

Self-Education of the Workers, Anatoly Lunacharsky 1918

Independent Working Class Education – Thoughts and Suggestions, Eden and Cedar Paul 1918

Bolshevism v Democracy in Education, Eden and Cedar Paul 1918

Education of the Masses, Sylvia Pankhurst, 1918



Soviet Ideas on Education

Decree on Child Welfare, Alexandre Kollontai 1918

To All Who Teach, Anatoly Lunacharsky 1918

Church and School in the Soviet Republic, Nikolai Bukharin, 1919

Communism and Education,

from The ABC of Communism,

by Bukharin and Preobrazhensky 1920

Lenin on Education

What Can be Done for Public Education?, Lenin 1914

Speech at first All-Russian Congress on Education, Lenin 1918

To People's Commissariat of Education, Lenin 1919

Work of People's Commissariat for Education, Lenin 1921



Reports on Soviet Education

Russian Chilren, from Six Red Months in Russia, Louise Bryant 1918

Soviet Education, from Russia in 1919, Arthur Ransome

Education and Culture, My Disillusionment in Russia, Emma Goldman 1922

Children of Revolution, Anna-Louise Strong 1925

Education in Soviet Russia, The First Time in History, Anna-Louise Strong 1925

The Revolution in Education and Culture, Soviet Russia: a living record and a history, Wm Chamberlin 1929

Family Relations Under the Soviets, Trotsky 1932



Education in Stalinist Russia

On Communist Education. Selected Speeches and Articles, M. I. Kalinin 1926-1945

Learning to Live, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko 1936-1938

The Road to Life (An Epic of Education), Volume 1, A. S. Makarenko 1933-1935

The Road to Life (An Epic of Education), Volume 2.

Lectures to Parents, A. S. Makarenko 1937

Problems of Soviet School Education, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko

Makarenko: His Life and Work, (PDF) A. S. Makarenko



Makarenko (1888-1939) reflects some ideas which were characteristic of Stalin's Soviet Union. Nonetheless, his ideas were very radical and are much admired by progressive educators to this day, especially in the education of disadvantaged children. The psychologists of the Vygotsky School, whose writings predominate in what follows, were a minority current in the Soviet Union; they were not allowed to travel or publish overseas and their influence on the Soviet education system was limited.

Early Childhood and Play

Play and its role in the mental development of the Child, Vygotsky 1933

The Construction of Reality in the Child, Jean Piaget 1955

Piaget's theory of child language and thought, Vygotsky 1934

Comment on Vygotsky, Piaget 1962

The Child and his Behavior, Luria 1930

The Origins of Thought in the Child, Henri Wallon 1947

Genetic Psychology, Henri Wallon 1956

Summerhill - A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, Erich Fromm 1960

The Psychological Development of the Child, Henri Wallon 1965

Stages in the Mental Development of the Child, Elkonin 1971



Adolescence and Ethical Development

Ethical Behavior, from Educational Psychology Vygotsky 1926

Esthetic Behavior, from Educational Psychology Vygotsky 1926

Development of thinking and concept formation in adolescence, Vygotsky 1931

Imagination and creativity of the adolescent, Vygotsky 1931

Vygotsky's tool-and-result methodology, Fred Newman and Lois Holzman



Society and Individual Development

The Psychological and Sociological Study of the Child, Henri Wallon 1947

The Influence of Social Factors in Child Development, Erich Fromm 1958

Human Nature and Social Theory, Erich Fromm 1969

Man in Marxist Theory, Lucian Seve 1974

Cognitive Development: Its Social and Cultural Foundations, Luria 1976



Cognition and Foundations of Learning

The Genetic Roots of Thought and Speech, Vygotsky 1934

Thought and Word, Vygotsky 1934

Activity and Knowledge, Ilyenkov 1974

Activity and Consciousness, Leontyev 1977

Activity, Consciousness, and Personality 1978:

Leontev's Introduction

Marxism and Psychological Science,

Activity and Personality,

Motives, Emotions, and Personality.

Much Learning does Not Teach Understanding, Vasili Davydov

Types of Generalization in Instruction: Logical and Psychological Problems in the Structuring of School Curricula, Vasili Davydov



John Dewey on Education

See also:

Hegel on Education

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire 1970



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Comments to Andy Blunden