THE SEARCH FOR A MARXIST LINGUISTICS IN THE SOVIET UNION, 1917-1950

The Soviet leadership called for uniquely socialist science during the first decade of Soviet rule. In this study the response by the linguistics community to that call is taken in its full social, scientific and historical context. The operation of a social science in the Soviet Union and the concrete result of the search for a Marxist linguistics under Lenin and Stalin are examined with particular attention to the formation and dynamics of the scientific community and to the role played by Soviet ideology and institutions in establishing scientific consensus.;1917-1934 and 1934-1950 correspond roughly to the rise and fall^of Marr's theory. In the first period, besides Marr, such scholars as^E. D. Polivanov, G. O. Vinokur, V. N. Volosinov, L. S. Vygotskij and^V. M. Zirmunskij attempted to formulate a Marxist linguistics. The(' )^events leading to the exclusive acceptance of Marr's New Theory are^described in close connection with the Soviet political scene, the drive^for literacy, and the developments in adjacent disciplines and Soviet^science in general. By 1929 Marr's theory had come into nearly complete consonance with Stalin's nationality policy. Special attention is given to the institutional bias which sprang Marr into ascendancy and sustained him against challenges by individuals such as Polivanov and groups such as Jazykfront.;After his death in 1934, Marr's theory was refined by his followers, led by I. I. Mescaninov. They and others attempted to reconcile it with traditional linguistics as the Marrist institutional base began a gradual decline set in motion by changes in language policy in the years just prior to WW II and accelerated by Russian nationalism during and after the war. When ideological orthodoxy set in after the war, at first linguists were charged with having forsaken Marr's legacy. Within four years, however, the dissonance between the rigidly revived New Theory and post-war anti-cosmopolitanism amplified by the growth in prestige and power of his opponents precipitated denunciations against Marr in the linguistics discussion of 1950. The content of Stalin's contribution to the discussion is considered in the light of its changing significance for Soviet science and ideology through the first years of de-Stalinization in Soviet linguistics.;There are two tributaries to Soviet linguistics: (1) the Marxist classics--the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Lafargue; (2) nineteenth- and twentieth-century linguistics--in particular, the strong Russian and East European traditions. The passages in the Marxist classics bearing on language are gathered and their influence on Soviet linguistics is evaluated in the context of historical materialism. The tension between nationalism and Communist internationalism as manifested in language policy is considered in detail since it was decisive in the rise and fall of N. Ja. Marr's theory. Given the preeminence of Marr's theory in the Soviet period, the sources of Marr's ideas and their development in his early work on Armenian and other languages of the Mediterranean are treated in the context of linguistics in the past hundred years. Careful attention is paid to Marr as a man and academic leader.