V. M. Mezhuev and the Soviet Marxism

The authors analyze the originality of the interpretation of Marxism by the renown philosopher V. M. Mezhuev (1933-2019). They show how his philosophical position was determined by the “creative Marxism” of the “Thaw” period, in the formation of which a significant role was played by the publication of the early Marx’s “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844”. Theoretical and methodological differences in the interpretation of Marxism by V. M. Mezhuev and E. IV. lyenkov are clarified. Unlike the “Hegelian” Ilyenkov, Mezhuev mainly interpreted Marxism in the spirit of Kant and neo-Kantians. Mezhuev defined his original views as a “philosophy of culture”. It was formed in the Soviet philosophers’ discussions of the 1970th - 1980th and in the culturologists’ discussions of the 1990th. The difference in the framework of this concept between the “concept” of culture and the “idea” of culture is shown. The nexus between Mezhuev’s “philosophy of culture” and his understanding of history and communism is clarified.