DIALECTICAL AND HISTORICAL MATERIALISM IN THE STRUCTURE OF MARXISM-LENINISM PHILOSOPHICAL TEACHING AND POLITICO-IDEOLOGICAL DOCTRINE
Authors: Vilkov Vyacheslav 
Published: June 2021

The article presents the results of the study of the specifics of the use by V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin of the concepts of «dialectical» and «historical» materialism; Stalin's understanding and interpretation of the essence and functions of these two main types of axiomatics of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, which were proposed in his work «Dialectical and Historical Materialism», that was included in «History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course» (its first edition was published in 1938) and up to the 11th collection of his works, lectures, articles, speeches, etc. under the title «Concerning Questions of Leninism» (first published in 1939), are analysed in detail.

The proposed analysis reveals the Stalinist and post-Stalinist understanding of the essence, structure and functions of dialectical and historical materialism; its theoretical and methodological foundations and status in the structure of Marxist-Leninist philosophy; highlights the Stalinist approach to understanding the relationship of Marxist philosophy with the ideological doctrine of the Communist Party of the USSR and the Communist worldview. The article defines the significant changes in Soviet Marxism from the end of 1953 until the end of the 1980s. It refers to the conceptual interpretation of dialectical and historical materialism, recognised in Soviet times as the basis and two main components of Marxist-Leninist philosophy. In addition, the leading tendencies that were formed among Soviet scientists of the 1960s and 1980s, as new approaches to understanding the nature of the interrelationships of Marxist-Leninist philosophy, primarily "diamat" and "istmat", with the Communist Party ideology and those branches of social studies (mainly «scientific communism»), which formed a single system of philosophical and socio- political knowledge, a complex of sciences and academic disciplines commonly known as «Marxism- Leninism», are highlighted in the article. The main tendencies of the post-Stalinist era in the interpretation of the ideological, theoretical and methodological role of dialectical and historical materialism, their status in the structure of Soviet philosophy and social-political science, as well as the specifics of correcting their ideological and worldview intent during the second half of the twentieth century are characterised.

Within the framework of this analysis, the paradigmatic narratives, declared by Ukrainian researchers of the post-Soviet era to assess the role of V.I. Lenin and, especially, I.V. Stalin («Dialectical and Historical Materialism») in the emergence of fundamental problems and negative processes during the development of philosophical and socio-political thought in the USSR for the entire post-Stalin period of history, are identified and summarised.

The main research methods are systemic, comparative, discursive, content analysis, prescripts of scientism and the principle of historicism.

The study may be particularly relevant for a scientifically balanced, ideologically unbiased, adequate comprehension of the history and logic of the development of philosophical and socio-political thought in the Soviet Union and Ukraine since independence.