Problems of historical research methodology in G.S. Fridlyand’s publications

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to consider methodological issues in the works of the Soviet historian Grigoriy Samoylovich Fridlyand. Based on the material of his journal publications, a number of topics are traced that represent an original development of the provisions of historical materialism in relation to historical science and specific problems of historical research. The influence that participation in philosophical discussions of the 1920s could have on G.S. Fridlyands conclusions is indicated. The author traces Fridlyands attitude to the problems of the categorical apparatus, the theory of socio-economic formations, the question of the role of personality in history and the influence of the researchers methodology on determining the range of historical sources involved. In all the questions raised, both the concretization of the general provisions of the materialist understanding of history, characteristic of that time, and the entry into new frontiers, which represent an original attempt to develop Marxist constructions, are demonstrated. Special attention is paid to the prognostic elements of Fridlyands constructions, in which he foresaw the future vector of the development of historical science. The conclusion is made about the need to study the formation of the Soviet methodology of history as an important stage in the development of historical science in our country and overcoming nihilism towards it, formed by the historiographical situation of the perestroika period.