Students against the teacher: the fate of M. N. Pokrovsky's "school"

Identificator

EDN: FOPSKB ; УДК: 930.1

Authors

Kocheshkov Gennady Nikolaevich, Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the Department of Russian History, Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University n. a. K. D. Ushinsky. Russia, Yaroslavl. ORCID: 0000‑0003‑2630‑6668. E‑mail: kocheshg@mail.ru

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №1 (41), 2026

Section

HISTORIOGRAPHY

Pages

107-114

Abstract

The article is devoted to the extremely urgent problem of the teacher‑student relationship from the point of view of scientific ethics and morality. Using the example of the life and fate of academician M. N. Pokrovsky, the article analyzes in detail the reasons for the rise and fall of the scientist, the role of his students in the political campaign organized by the authorities to "expose" the theoretical and methodological provisions of the historian. Much attention is paid to the analysis of articles by young researchers, former students of Pokrovsky, published in a two‑volume book published in 1939–1940. The reasons for the authors' publications are characterized, and the substantive side of individual publications in which the political component prevailed over scientific objectivity is thoroughly investigated. The article contains fragments of linguistic stylistics used by former students of the academician in the analysis of his works on the history of Russia. The mechanism of critical reassessment of M. N. Pokrovsky's views and his theoretical views on the ancient and modern history of Russia is revealed. The campaign to discredit Academician Pokrovsky had a well‑defined goal – to establish unanimity in science, to prevent deviations from Marxist‑Leninist methodology and class approaches in assessing historical events and phenomena of the past. History textbooks for schoolchildren of different ages were to play an important role in educating the new young generation. The article reveals the mechanism of preparation of new textbooks, where the main role was played by the established party ideology in the USSR. The methodological basis of the publication was the principles of historicism, objectivity, and scientific approach. No less important was the comparative historical method, which made it possible to give an objective assessment of the processes taking place in the historical community in the second half of the 1930s.

Keywords

"school" of M. N. Pokrovsky "trading capital" scientific ethics morality historical community

Recieved

06.03.2026

Published

03.06.2026

References

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