Formation of theoretical and methodological foundations of law historian- Boris Ivanovich Syromiatnikov and Marxism

Abstract

The article is devoted to the rethinking of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the scientific activities of B. I. Syromiatnikov, which was one of the leading Russian pre-revolutionary law historians. In historiography he have been described as a representative of critical positivism and a supporter of a factorial approach to history. On the base of information about his social activities and scientific interests at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries it is shown that he showed a significant interest to the social problems and illegal socialist literature, as well as to modern sociological thought, including Marxism. After the European study trip from 1903 to 1905, interest of the young historian to the works of Karl Marx was only strengthened. Based on the analysis of the journalistic articles by Syromiatnikov, published in the years of the First Russian Revolution, it is demonstrated that by 1906 he used ideas and analytical categories (socio-economic formation, class struggle) of K. Marx and his followers (A. Bebebel, K. Kautsky). In addition, he sympathized for right-wing socialists such as E. Bernstein and E. Vandervelde. Proceeding from the approaches of such thinkers, Syromiatnikov defined the contemporary political events in Russia as a liberal revolution and considered, that the socialist agenda was premature for Russia. Based on Marxist ideas, as well as on the comparative historical method, the historian created in 1905 an original concept of changing the forms of political organization of society in Russia from veche democracy to an absolutist state. Due to the fact that this scheme was developed with the use of Marxian ideas, Syromiatnikov was able to reproduce it in the framework of Soviet historical science. Refs 12.

Keywords:

B. I. Siromiatnikov, history of historical science, Marxism, First Russian Revolution 1905–1907, Russian Empire