UDC

141+101.8

DOI

10.37482/2687-1505-V491

Authors

Elena D. Shetulova - Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Assoc. Prof., Prof. at the Department of Methodology, History and Philosophy of Science, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R.E. Alekseev (address: ul. Minina 24, Nizhny Novgorod, 603155, Russia).

e-mail: shetulowa@yandex.ru, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2414-4370

Abstract

This paper analyses the essence and various interpretations of the alienation of labour in Soviet philosophy. The author considers this phenomenon to be a relevant research problem due to the persistent nature of social contradictions and due to the economic, political and anthropological factors that transformed alienation in the early 21st century. Additionally, this article is important from the historical and philosophical perspective, since the alienation of labour occupied a special place in Soviet philosophical thought, although a number of innovative ideas from that period have been undeservedly forgotten. The author points out the theoretical sources of Soviet approaches to the study of the alienation of labour rooted in the materialistic understanding of labour by classical Marxism. It is important to note that in the Soviet philosophical tradition, the analysis was conducted through the lens of a specific interpretation of Marxist theory. Taking this aspect into account allows us to fully understand the specifics of the analysis of labour alienation in Soviet philosophy as well as to identify its key stages and directions. A substantive examination of the issue showed that, during its existence, Soviet philosophy had gone a long way in interpreting the alienation of labour, from philosophical timelessness to extreme interest in the topic. In general, the Soviet approach to the phenomenon is characterized by a certain unity and, at the same time, a number of discrepancies, depending on the stage. According to the author, this unity is based on the established interpretation of classical Marxism, while the discrepancies result from certain objective factors that affected, among other things, the freedom of discussion and from the changes that occurred with the philosophical thought itself.

Keywords

alienation of labour, classical Marxism, interpretations of Marxism, Soviet philosophy, Western philosophy, human, capitalism, socialism

References

1. Zubarev E.V. Otchuzhdenie truda: ponyatie, ekonomicheskaya kategoriya i osnovnye faktory [Alienation of Labour: Concept, Economic Category and Main Factors]. Chelyabinskiy gumanitariy, 2010, no. 1, pp. 36‒39.
2. Erofeeva E.V. Fenomen otchuzhdeniya v istoricheskoy perspektive [Phenomenon of Alienation in the Historical Perspective]. Gumanitarnyy vestnik, 2022, no. 6. Art. no. 3. https://doi.org/10.18698/2306-8477-2022-6-810
3. Pakhar’ L.I., Petrova R.A. Otchuzhdenie: teoreticheskoe osmyslenie problemy [Alienation: Theoretical Comprehension of the Problem]. Filosofskaya mysl’, 2021, no. 8, pp. 78‒91. https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-8728.2021.8.35170
4. Chaplinskaya Ya.I., Shinn T. Postmodernistskiy podkhod k izucheniyu otchuzhdeniya [Postmodern Approach to Alienation Study]. Vestnik nauki Sibiri, 2018, no. 1, pp. 78‒87.
5. Shetulova E.D. Struktura otchuzhdeniya: istoriko-filosofskie i aktual’nye aspekty [The Structure of Alienation: Historical, Philosophical and Topical Aspects]. Vestnik Vyatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2023, no. 2, pp. 19‒26. https://doi.org/10.25730/VSU.7606.23.017
6. Al’pidovskaya M.L., Ivannikova A.A. Otchuzhdenie truda: tendentsii i perspektivy global’nykh protsessov [Alienation of Labor: Trends and Prospects of Global Processes]. Teoreticheskaya ekonomika, 2023, no. 10, pp. 11‒23.
7. Smoleva E.O. Alienation of the Region’s Population in the Sphere of Labor. Probl. Territ. Dev., 2019, no. 6, pp. 120–136 (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.15838/ptd.2019.6.104.8
8. Shamir F. Aktual’nost’ teorii Karla Marksa v kontekste sovremennykh sotsial’no-ekonomicheskikh otnosheniy [Relevance of Karl Marx’s Theory in the Context of Modern Socio-Economic Relations]. Naukosfera, 2025, no. 3, pp. 184‒191. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15024389
9. Shigapova M.Yu. Mesto truda v chelovecheskoy deyatel’nosti: kul’turologicheskie aspekty [The Place of Labour in Human Activity: Cultural Aspects]. Kul’tura i tsivilizatsiya, 2019, vol. 9, no. 2-1, pp. 178‒186.
10. Vtorushin N.A., Derkach A.I. Fenomen otchuzhdeniya lichnosti kak filosofskaya problema [The Phenomenon of Alienation of the Personality as a Philosophical Problem]. Vestnik nauki Sibiri, 2015, no. 3, pp. 28‒37.
11. Burkov R.B. Hegel’s Alienation. Perm Univ. Her. Ser. Philos. Psychol. Sociol., 2016, no. 2, pp. 15–23 (in Russ.).
12. Marx K. Ekonomichesko-filosofskie rukopisi 1844 goda [Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844]. Marx K., Engels F. Sochineniya [Works]. Vol. 42. Moscow, 1974, pp. 41–174.
13. Koryakin V.V. Evolyutsiya materialisticheskogo ponimaniya truda (klassicheskiy i sovetskiy marksizm) [Evolution of Materialistic Understanding of Labor (Classical and Soviet Marxism)]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki: teoriya i praktika, 2019, no. 1, pp. 56‒71.
14. Porus V. Fenomen “sovetskoy filosofii” [The Phenomenon of “Soviet Philosophy”]. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2006, no. 11, pp. 154‒166.
15. Narskiy I.S. Otchuzhdenie i trud: Po stranitsam proizvedeniy K. Marksa [Alienation and Labour: Turning the Pages of Karl Marx’s Works]. Moscow, 1983. 144 p.
16. Ilyenkov E.V. Gegel’ i “otchuzhdenie” [Hegel and “Alienation”]. Ilyenkov E.V. Filosofiya i kul’tura [Philosophy and Culture]. Moscow, 1991, pp. 141‒152.
17. Kovalev S.M. O cheloveke, ego poraboshchenii i osvobozhdenii [About Man, His Enslavement and Liberation]. Moscow, 1970. 303 p.
18. Blyum R.N. Otchuzhdenie i sotsializm (pis’mo v redaktsiyu) [Alienation and Socialism (Letter to the Editor)]. Filosofskie nauki, 1987, no. 9, pp. 112‒114.
19. Kal’noy I.I. Otchuzhdenie: istoki i sovremennost’ [Alienation: Origins and the Present Day]. Simferopol, 1990. 192 p.
20. Kuznetsova M.A. Tvorchestvo A.A. Zinov’eva v kontekste razvitiya filosofskoy mysli v SSSR (vtoraya polovina XX v.) [A.A. Zinoviev’s Works in the Context of the Development of the Philosophical Thought in the USSR (Second Half of the 20th Century]. Vestsі BDPU. Ser. 2: Gіstoryya. Fіlasofіya. Palіtalogіya. Satsyyalogіya. Ekanomіka. Kul’turalogіya, 2012, no. 2, pp. 85‒90.
21. Rudenko V.N. Stanovlenie i evolyutsiya teorii otchuzhdeniya v sovetskoy filosofii: ot problemy k ideologii otchuzhdennogo deystviya [Formation and Evolution of the Theory of Alienation in Soviet Philosophy: From the Problem to the Ideology of Alienated Action]. Eyngorn N.K. (ed.). Problemy otchuzhdeniya v sovremennoy teorii kul’tury, etike i estetike [Problems of Alienation in Modern Culture Theory, Ethics and Aesthetics]. Sverdlovsk, 1990, pp. 52‒63.
22. Batishchev G.S. Deyatel’nostnaya sushchnost’ cheloveka kak filosofskiy printsip [The Active Human Nature as a Philosophical Principle]. Balakina I.F. et al. (eds.). Problema cheloveka v sovremennoy filosofii [The Human Problem in Modern Philosophy]. Moscow, 1969, pp. 73‒144.
23. Ogurtsov A.P. Otchuzhdenie i chelovek (istoriko-filosofskiy ocherk) [Alienation and Man (a Historical and Philosophical Essay)]. Chelovek, tvorchestvo, nauka. Filosofskie problemy [Man, Creativity, Science. Philosophical Problems]. Moscow, 1967, pp. 41‒82.
24. Anufriev E.A. Sotsial’nyy status i aktivnost’ lichnosti. Lichnost’ kak ob”ekt i sub”ekt sotsial’nykh otnosheniy [Social Status and Activity of an Individual. An Individual as an Object and a Subject of Social Relations]. Moscow, 1984. 288 p.
25. Keshelava V.V. Rannie proizvedeniya K. Marksa i ikh sovremennye fal’sifikatory [Early Works by Karl Marx and Their Modern Falsifiers]. Kommunist, 1965, no. 6, pp. 102‒111.
26. Kuz’minov Ya.I., Nabiullina E.S., Radaev V.V., Subbotina T.P. Otchuzhdenie truda: istoriya i sovremennost’ [Alienation of Labour: History and Modernity]. Moscow, 1989. 287 p.
27. Oyzerman T.I. K kritike sovremennykh psevdomarksistskikh kontseptsiy otchuzhdeniya [Critique of Contemporary Pseudo-Marxist Concepts of Alienation]. Filosofiya nauki, 1986, no. 4, pp. 20‒34.
28. Darenskaya V.N. Kontseptsii otchuzhdeniya cheloveka v pozdnesovetskoy filosofii [Concepts of Human Alienation in Late Soviet Philosophy]. Vestnik Luganskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta. Ser. 5. Gumanitarnye nauki. Tekhnicheskie nauki, 2023, no. 4, pp. 5‒15.