To the Documentary History of the Journal “Voprosy filosofii”

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of expanding the source base for studying the history of philosophical journalism in Russia, primarily the history of the lead­ing philosophical journals of the 19th–21st centuries: “Voprosy filosofii i psikhologii”, “Pod znamenem marksizma”, “Voprosy filosofii”. Author pro­vides information about the funds of various state and departmental archives, which contain materials on the documentary history of the journal “Voprosy filosofii”. The main types of sources are determined. Information about already available publications of sources on the history of the journal is given. The ap­pendix contains a transcript of the meeting of the editorial board of the journal “Voprosy filosofii” in 1953 to discuss the publication of articles by physicist, academician V.A. Fock and philosopher, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.A. Maksimov (Archive of the Russian Academy of Sci­ences. Fund 1515. Inventory 2. File 128. Sheets 1–13). The controversy of V.A. Fock and A.A. Maksimov is an essential moment in the history of the philo­sophical struggle on the theory of relativity in the USSR. The most acute and significant phase of this struggle fell on the period after the successful imple­mentation of the Soviet atomic project, as a result of which it was decided not to subject Soviet physics to an ideological defeat. The discussion on the philosophi­cal issues of the theory of relativity, which was held on the pages of the journal
“Voprosy filosofii” in 1951–1955, also played a role in this question. V.A. Fock defended the theory of relativity from nihilistic assessments and accusations from A.A. Maksimov, who was known as an ideological worker.