Akselrod, Liubo (1868–1946)

Russian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. Name variations: Lyubov Axel'rod, Axelrod; (pseudonyms) Ortodox, Orthodox; Born Liubo Isaakovna Akselrod in Russia, where she lived until her exile to France in 1887; earned a Ph.D., University of Berne, Switzerland; returned to Russia in 1906.

Member of the Social Democratic Party (1906–18); teacher at the Institute of Red Professors (1906–21); professor at the University of Sverdlov (1921–46).

Selected works:

Against Idealism; Marx as a Philosopher; Critique of the Foundations of Bourgeois Sociology and Historical Materialism; In Defense of Dialectical Materialism; Against Scholasticism; The Idealist Dialectic of Hegel and the Materialist Dialectic of Marx.

Long before she became a Marxist scholar, Liubo Isaakovna Akselrod was a political Marxist. As an activist from 1884, 33 years before the Russian Revolution, her insurrectionist activities led to her exile from Russia in 1887 after Alexander III was attacked. Akselrod went to France and then Switzerland, where she completed her Ph.D. on Leo Tolstoy at the University of Berne. In 1906, an amnesty was reached, and she returned to Russia. Generally considered to have been involved in the Russian Revolution of 1917, Akselrod belonged to the Social Democratic Party until 1918, but she is better known for her academic Marxism. Although her Ph.D. was in literature, and she was known as a literary critic, she is particularly noted for her work in Marxist philosophy.

Considered an orthodox Marxist—not someone seeking to revamp Marx's work but to understand and apply his thinking—Akselrod was given a teaching position at the Institute of Red Professors after the Revolution. A professorship at the University of Sverdlov followed, where she gained a reputation for her position that existence is independent of consciousness. Within orthodox Marxism, this placed her—with her teacher Georgi Plekhanov—among the mechanists who advocated an understanding of reality much like that of Immanuel Kant. They argued that materialism must be explained scientifically, rather than in terms of consciousness (so de-emphasizing the influence of Hegel on Marx). This placed them in opposition to the Deborinists, who believed different types of matter have different essences. Despite her position in this debate, Akselrod took pains to emphasize that a Kantian epistemology, or theory of knowledge, is not part of Marxism. She argued that Marxism is an independent philosophy that provides its own epistemology based on history, thus contrasting with the metaphysical foundations (a characterization of reality) in Kant's system.

sources:

Wetter, Gustav. Dialectical Materialism; a Historical and Systematic Survey of Philosophy in the Soviet Union. Translated from the German by Peter Heath. London: John M. Watkins, 1926.

Catherine Hundleby , M.A. Philosophy, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada