The concept of "primitive equality" in the texts of Soviet researchers

Abstract (English)

The idea of "primitive equality" is connected with the concept of the natural state of humanity and the works of J.J. Rousseau. Also, equality as disorder was the starting point of the concept of the war of all against all by T. Hobbes, which ended with the conclusion of a social contract. The myth of "primitive equality" is characteristic of works whose authors discuss primitiveness hypothetically. Primordial equality is often found in the works of economists (N.I. Sieber, A.A. Bogdanov) and is almost completely absent from specialists in the ethnography of specific peoples (L. Ya. Shterberg, W.G. Bogoraz, Yu. P. Averkieva). From 1931 to 1938, when Marxism was declared the main ideology, but was not dogmatized within the framework of the "Short Course in the History of the Party", such a concept as "primitive-egalitarian communism" was used (K. V. Ostrovityanov). It was also used by specialists in Russian ethnography (N. N. Tikhonitskaya). After 1938, the concept of "primitive equality" disappeared from works on the history of primitive society. However, since the 1970s, its cautious use has begun again.