Economist who put commodity fetishism and the value-form at the centre of Marx's value theory; shot in 1937
Born in 1886 into a Jewish family in Dvinsk, he joined the Bund in 1904 and after the October Revolution stayed with its Menshevik-aligned wing. Recognized as an authority on Marxian economics, he became professor at Moscow University in 1921 and, between prison and exile, revised his Essays on Marx's Theory of Value (1923), arguing that the theory of commodity fetishism is the foundation of Marx's theory of value. He headed political economy at the Marx-Engels Institute in 1926–1930, but from 1928 was attacked for idealism in the campaign against "Rubinism". Forced into a false confession at the 1931 Menshevik Trial, he was rearrested in his Kazakh exile in 1937 and shot. He was rehabilitated in 1989–1991.
Also known as: Isaac Rubin
Activities and affiliations
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1904–
Political and party leadership
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1920–1923
Scholarship and theory
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1921–1930
Soviet Union state institutionsProfessor, Moscow University; head of political economy, Marx-Engels InstituteMain
Scholarship and theory
Career Timeline
- 1904Joined the Bund
- 1905Arrested; released under the October Manifesto amnesty
- 1906–1910Law faculty, St Petersburg University
- 1912Moved to Moscow; barrister
- 1920Secretary of the Central Committee of the Menshevik-aligned Bund
- 1921Professor at Moscow University
- 1923Essays on Marx's Theory of Value, first edition
- 1923–1926Prison and exile in the Crimea
- 1926–1930Head of political economy, Marx-Engels Institute
- 1928Campaign against "Rubinism" begins
- 1930Arrested
- 1931Sentenced to five years at the Menshevik Trial
- 1933Exile in Kazakhstan
- 1937Rearrested and shot
- 1989–1991Rehabilitated