In this section we would like to make available original research related to Alexander Bogdanov and his period. If you are interested in having your text published here, please contact the series editors Evgeni V. Pavlov and David G. Rowley.

AUGUST 2016:
Alexander Bogdanov and the short history of the Kultintern – UPDATED (John Biggart)

OCTOBER 2016:
Bogdanov’s Sociology of the Arts (John Biggart)

This article was first published in Culture as Organization in Early Soviet Thought:
Bogdanov, Eisenstein and the Proletkult. Spherical Book I. Tangential Points
Publication Series. Editor-in-Chief: Pia Tikka; Editorial Board: John Biggart, Vesa
Oittinen, Giulia Rispoli, Maja Soboleva. Helsinki, Espoo: Aalto University, 2016. ISBN: 978-952-60-0076-3

NOVEMBER 2016:
Aleksandr Bogdanov’s Tektology: A Science of Construction (Simona Poustilnik)

This article was first published in Culture as Organization in Early Soviet Thought:
Bogdanov, Eisenstein and the Proletkult. Spherical Book I. Tangential Points
Publication Series. Editor-in-Chief: Pia Tikka; Editorial Board: John Biggart, Vesa
Oittinen, Giulia Rispoli, Maja Soboleva. Helsinki, Espoo: Aalto University, 2016. ISBN: 978-952-60-0076-3

 
DECEMBER 2016:
The Culture as System, The System of Culture (Maja Soboleva)

This article was first published in Culture as Organization in Early Soviet Thought:
Bogdanov, Eisenstein and the Proletkult. Spherical Book I. Tangential Points
Publication Series. Editor-in-Chief: Pia Tikka; Editorial Board: John Biggart, Vesa
Oittinen, Giulia Rispoli, Maja Soboleva. Helsinki, Espoo: Aalto University, 2016. ISBN: 978-952-60-0076-3

 FEBRUARY 2017:
Eisenstein in the Proletkult (John Biggart and Oksana Bulgakowa)

This article was first published in Culture as Organization in Early Soviet Thought:
Bogdanov, Eisenstein and the Proletkult. Spherical Book I. Tangential Points
Publication Series. Editor-in-Chief: Pia Tikka; Editorial Board: John Biggart, Vesa
Oittinen, Giulia Rispoli, Maja Soboleva. Helsinki, Espoo: Aalto University, 2016. ISBN: 978-952-60-0076-3

 DECEMBER 2017:
“When Was Caesar Born?” Theory and Practice of Truth in Plekhanov and Bogdanov (Evgeni V. Pavlov)

Abstract: Although political differences between various factions of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) have been studied quite extensively, theoretical debates about the nature of Marxism and the role such debates had in determining Party
programs and strategic decisions remains in need of a more thorough engagement. One such theoretical discussion, the question of the nature of (absolute) truth, is the subject matter of the present essay. The primary debate was between Georgi Plekhanov, one of the most respected representatives of early Russian Marxism, and a group of theoreticians united around Alexander Bogdanov, an early collaborator of Lenin (until their break in 1909) and an author of several original theoretical works that attempted to challenge the established orthodoxy of Plekhanovite Marxism. The question of the nature of truth stood at the center of the debates between Plekhanov and Bogdanov. The ultimate challenge that Bogdanov threw to the representatives of (self-proclaimed) “orthodox Marxism” was the question of the ultimate nature of Marxist theory: Is Marxism a science or a faith? If it is a science, it must operate within a scientific theory of truth and, as is the case with any genuine science, continue to grow and adapt to the changing circumstances of research. If it is indeed a faith, a set of absolute truths revealed to one person (Marx) and passed on to his disciples in sacred texts and by appointed prophets, then it contains as much value as any other faith or superstition.