The Dogmatic Principles of Soviet Philosophy [as of 1958]

The present volume of "Sovietica" offers a short synopsis of the newest version of Soviet philosophic dogma. It is a presentation of the content of the Osnovy marksistskoj filosofii which was authorized for publi- cation Aug. 7, 1958, and appeared before the end of October of that year in a printing of 250 000 copies. The book was published by the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the Su. The responsible editors were P. Pavelkin and G. Kurbatova and the text was prepared by eleven eminent Soviet philosophers (Y. F. Berestnev, M. A. Dynnik, P. N. Fedoseev, Ju. P. Francev, G. E. Glezerman, M. D. Kammari, F. V. Konstantinov, P. V. Kopnin, I. V. Kuznecov, M. M. Rozental', A. F. Siskin) under the direction of Konstantinov. As stated in the preface (p. 5) of the book, it was read in manuscript form by numerous scholars and professors of philosophy and then thoroughly discussed in three separate sessions (in the Academy of Sciences, and the Universities of Leningrad and Moscow). This work presents a reliable account of Soviet dogma as of 1958, i.e.