An unpublished article by S.I. Kovalev 1932/1933 оп the history of Antiquity in Russia

Abstract

He author has published an unpublished work of one of the leaders of the Soviet science of the ancient world, S. I. Kovalеv (1886-1960), entitled “The Formation of the Soviet School of Historians of Antiquity”. This work was originally prepared for the “Reports of the GAIMK”, and is now held in the Scienti c and Historical Archive of the St. Petersburg Institute of History. Kovalеv's article is of interest for the history of science for several reasons. Firstly, the text is two-layered, and secondly, it is the earliest version of the account of the history of Soviet antiquity. The various editions are timed to the anniversary of the October Revolution. The rst edition refers to 1932, while the second edition refers to 1933. Stalin's reference to the “slave revolution” during his address on 19 February 1933 at the First All-Union Congress of collective drummer farmers compelled S. I. Kovalеv to implement signi cant revisions to his article and to extend the period of the formation of the science of antiquity in the USSR until the summer of 1933. This was due to the fact that in the spring, the primary discussions about the slave-owning mode of production took place in the GAIMK. The analysis of the edits allows us to identify certain peculiarities in the work of the classical scholar of the 1930s, who is known to have made a number of theoretical generalisations. S. I. Kovalеv's selection of the institutional aspect as a unifying theme and the fragmentation of periods into only four for the 16 years allowed him to demonstrate his leadership and the leadership of Leningrad GAIMK in the science of the ancient world, while also asserting the rmness of the conclusions obtained by the sector of the history of slave-holding society of the GAIMK. The article also devotes considerable attention to the 1920s. The period is depicted as dynamic and characterized by the struggle of Marxist historians to establish a “correct” understanding of the historical process