The philosopher Stalin elevated to the Politburo in his final act
In his 1964 book Historical Materialism, Chesnokov broke with the Stalinist line: 'Dogmatists and sectarians who extend the dictatorship of the proletariat to the entire period of socialism essentially share Stalin's erroneous thesis on the intensification of class struggle under socialism.'
Soviet Marxist philosopher and party ideologue. A specialist in historical materialism and Herzen's worldview, his 1948 study won the Stalin Prize in 1951. As editor of Voprosy Filosofii (1949–1952) and then head of the CC Philosophy and History Department and editor of Kommunist (1952–1953), he rose to the core of late Stalinist ideological management. At the 19th Congress in October 1952 Stalin elevated him to the Presidium (the last philosopher on the party's supreme body) only for him to be removed the day after Stalin's death. After serving as a Gorky regional official and chair of State Radio and Television, he returned to Moscow State University, where in his 1964 book he openly repudiated Stalin's thesis on intensifying class struggle under socialism.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1931–1943Lecturer and department head, Sverdlovsk University
- 1943–1947Department head, then propaganda secretary, Sverdlovsk City Committee
- 1947–1948Deputy head, Science Department, CC Propaganda Directorate
- 1948–1951Deputy director, Institute of Philosophy, USSR Academy of Sciences
- 1949–1952Editor-in-chief, Voprosy Filosofii
- 1952–1953Presidium member; head of Philosophy & History Dept; editor, Kommunist
- 1953–1957Department head, then secretary, Gorky Regional Committee
- 1957–1959Chairman, State Committee for Radio and Television
- 1959–1967Head, Dept of Historical Materialism, Moscow State University
- 1967–1970Vice-rector, Academy of Social Sciences, CC CPSU
The Soviet Politburo
- Full member 1952.10–1953.03
1953.03 removed
A philosopher and ideologue formed in Sverdlovsk
After arriving in the Urals in 1931, Chesnokov taught Marxist philosophy at several higher-education institutions in Sverdlovsk. In 1934 he joined the Sverdlovsk State Pedagogical Institute (then the Sverdlovsk Pedagogical Institute) as a full-time instructor, remaining there for the next thirteen years in teaching and research. His early research focused on Russian philosophy, especially Alexander Herzen. In 1938 he published an article on Herzen’s letters on the study of nature in the journal Under the Banner of Marxism and was appointed head of the institute’s department of social and economic sciences. He defended a candidate’s dissertation in philosophy that year; in 1939 the party authorities approved him as head of the department of the Foundations of Marxism-Leninism.
His academic and teaching career in the region provided a route into party propaganda work. In 1943 he became a full-time lecturer for the Sverdlovsk regional party committee, and after the war he continued teaching while holding a concurrent post in the philosophy department of Ural State University. His work in the 1947 philosophical debate and his research drew the attention of the central leadership, and that year he moved to Moscow as deputy head of the propaganda and agitation department. His Sverdlovsk years trace his transition from a university philosophy teacher to an official responsible for party ideological work.