Alexander Bogdanov facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alexander Bogdanov
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| Full member of the 4th, 5th Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party | |
| In office June 1906 – June 1909 |
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| Prospective member of the 3rd Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party | |
| In office 1905–1906 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Alyaksandr Malinovsky
22 August 1873 Sokółka, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire (now Poland) |
| Died | 7 April 1928 (aged 54) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Political party | RSDLP (1898–1903) RSDLP (Bolsheviks) (1903–1909) |
| Alma mater | Moscow University, Kharkiv University |
| Occupation | Physician, philosopher, writer |
Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Богда́нов; August 22, 1873 – April 7, 1928) was a Russian doctor, thinker, science fiction writer, and revolutionary. He was born as Alexander Malinovsky.
Bogdanov was an important person in the early days of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. This party later became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He helped start the Bolsheviks in 1903. This was when they separated from another group called the Mensheviks.
He was a rival to Vladimir Lenin, another key Bolshevik leader. Bogdanov was later removed from the Bolsheviks in 1909. After the Russian Revolutions of 1917, he became a critic of the new Soviet government.
Bogdanov had many interests, from medicine to philosophy. He studied how human bodies could be made younger through blood transfusion. He also created his own philosophy called "tectology". This idea is now seen as an early form of systems theory, which looks at how different parts of a system work together. He was also an economist, a writer, and a political activist.
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Growing Up in Russia
Alexander Malinovsky was born in Sokółka, which is now part of Poland. His family was Belarusian, and his father was a teacher. He was the second of six children.
He went to a school called a Gymnasium in Tula. He felt the school was very strict. He did very well and earned a gold medal when he finished.
University Life and Exile
After school, Bogdanov started studying natural science at Imperial Moscow University. While there, he joined a student group. In 1894, he was arrested and sent away to Tula because of his involvement.
Students had protested against a professor who spoke kindly about the recently deceased Tsar Alexander III of Russia. Bogdanov was among those arrested and expelled from the university.
He then studied medicine from afar at the University of Kharkov. He graduated as a doctor in 1899. During his time in Tula, he met and married Natalya Bogdanovna Korsak. She was a nurse. Alexander Malinovsky later took his pen name, Bogdanov, from her middle name.
Early Political Ideas
In Tula, Bogdanov taught in a study group for workers. This experience taught him about "proletarian culture", which means the culture of working-class people. He wrote a book about economics during this time.
In 1899, he was arrested again by the Tsar's police because of his political views. He spent six months in prison and was then sent away to Vologda.
Joining the Bolsheviks
Bogdanov began supporting the Bolsheviks in 1903. He met Vladimir Lenin in Finland in 1906. For the next six years, Bogdanov was a very important figure among the early Bolsheviks. He was second only to Lenin in how much influence he had.
Philosophical Ideas
Between 1904 and 1906, Bogdanov published a three-volume book called Empiriomonizm. In this book, he tried to combine Marxism with other philosophies. His ideas influenced other Russian Marxist thinkers.
In 1907, he helped organize an event with Lenin and Leonid Krasin.
Disagreements with Lenin
After the Russian Revolution of 1905 failed, Bogdanov led a group within the Bolsheviks. This group disagreed with Lenin on some important points. By 1908, their disagreements became very serious. Many Bolshevik leaders supported Bogdanov or were unsure who to follow.
Lenin then worked to challenge Bogdanov's ideas. In 1909, Lenin published a book criticizing Bogdanov's philosophy. In June 1909, Bogdanov was defeated by Lenin at a meeting in Paris. He was then removed from the Bolsheviks.
After this, Bogdanov, along with Maxim Gorky and others, started a school for Russian factory workers on the island of Capri. They later moved the school to Bologna.
Bogdanov left revolutionary activities in 1912. He returned to Russia in 1914.
During World War I
When World War I started, Bogdanov was drafted into the army. He worked as a junior doctor. He survived a major battle and later worked in a hospital.
In 1916, he wrote articles about the war. He believed the war was changing economies. He thought the army was creating a "consumers' communism" where the government controlled more of the economy. He also predicted that even after the war, a new system of state capitalism would replace finance capitalism.
After the October Revolution
Bogdanov did not take part in the Russian Revolution of 1917 as a party member. However, he wrote many articles and books about the events. He believed the revolution happened because the war lasted too long.
He saw the revolution as a mix of a peasant revolution in the countryside and a soldier-worker revolution in the cities. He found it interesting that the peasants supported the Bolshevik party.
Bogdanov believed that World War I led to "War Communism". He saw this as a type of "consumer communism" that helped state capitalism grow. He thought that the soldiers' influence in the Bolshevik Party led to a less organized society.
He refused offers to rejoin the party. He believed the new government was too strict and controlling.
In 1918, Bogdanov became a professor of economics at the University of Moscow. He also became the director of the new Socialist Academy of Social Sciences.
Proletkult Movement
Between 1918 and 1920, Bogdanov helped start the Proletkult movement. This was a group that promoted art for working-class people. He was its main thinker. He wanted to get rid of "old bourgeois culture" and create a "pure proletarian culture" for the future.
At first, the Bolshevik government supported Proletkult. But by 1920, the leaders became suspicious. They saw Proletkult as a rival organization. Bogdanov lost his position in the group and left it completely by 1922.
Arrest and Release
In 1923, Bogdanov was arrested by the GPU, which was the Soviet secret police. They suspected him of being involved with a group called Workers' Truth.
He explained that he agreed with some of their ideas but was not officially part of the group. He was released after five weeks. He later wrote a book about his experience called Five weeks with the GPU.
Later Life and Experiments
In 1924, Bogdanov began his blood transfusion experiments. He hoped to find a way to achieve eternal youth or at least make people feel younger. Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova, Lenin's sister, was one of many who volunteered for his experiments.
After 11 blood transfusions, Bogdanov felt his eyesight improved and his hair loss stopped. Another revolutionary, Leonid Krasin, wrote that Bogdanov looked "7, no, 10 years younger". In 1925–1926, Bogdanov founded the Institute for Haemotology and Blood Transfusions. This institute was later named after him.
Sadly, a later transfusion in 1928 cost him his life. He took blood from a student who had malaria and tuberculosis. The student who received Bogdanov's blood recovered fully.
Bogdanov's Legacy
Bogdanov's writings suggested that he believed the revolution against capitalism would lead to a society run by experts. He thought workers might not have enough knowledge to take full control. However, he also felt that the strict way the Bolshevik party was organized was partly to blame.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Bogdanov's ideas became important to some groups in the Soviet Union. These groups disagreed with the Bolshevik government's strict rule. They still believed in the revolution but wanted to change how things were run.
Published Works
Russian Works
Non-fiction
- Knowledge from a Historical Viewpoint (St. Petersburg, 1901)
- Empiriomonism: Articles on Philosophy 3 volumes (Moscow, 1904–1906)
- The Cultural Tasks of Our Time (Moscow, 1911)
- Philosophy of Living Experience: Popular Essays (St. Petersburg, 1913)
- Tektology: The General Science of Organization 3 volumes (Berlin and Petrograd-Moscow, 1922)
- "Autobiography" (1926)
- Annals of the Institute of Blood Transfusion (Moscow 1926–1927)
Fiction
- Red Star (St. Petersburg, 1908)
- Engineer Menni (Moscow, 1912)
English Translations
Non-fiction
- Essays in Organisation Science (1919)
- 'Proletarian Poetry' (1918), Labour Monthly, May–June 1923
- 'The Criticism of Proletarian Art' (from Kritika proletarskogo iskusstva, 1918) Labour Monthly, December 1923
- 'Religion, Art and Marxism', Labour Monthly, August 1924
- Essays in Tektology: The General Science of Organization, translated by George Gorelik (1980)
- A Short Course of Economics Science, (London, 1923)
- The Philosophy of Living Experience (1913/2015). Translated by David G. Rowley (2015)
- Empiriomonism: Essays in Philosophy, Books 1–3. Translated by David G. Rowley (2019)
Fiction
- Red Star: The First Bolshevik Utopia, edited by Loren Graham and Richard Stites; trans. Charles Rougle (1984):
- Red Star (1908). Novel.
- Engineer Menni (1913). Novel.
- "A Martian Stranded on Earth" (1924). Poem.
See Also
In Spanish: Aleksándr Bogdánov para niños
- Two Events Celebrating the Life and Contribution of Alexander Bogdanov, hosted by the Centre for Systems Studies on 2–3 June 2021
- List of dystopian literature
- 1908 in literature
- Arkady Bogdanov, a character in K.S. Robinson's Mars Trilogy, inspired by Aleksandr Bogdanov
Images for kids
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Alexander Bogdanov
