Leonid Vasiliev is a well-known domestic historian, sociologist, religious scholar, orientalist who specialized in China. Headed the Laboratory of Historical Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. In this article we will talk about his biography and main works.
Childhood and youth
Leonid Vasiliev was born in Moscow in 1930. His parents were Soviet intellectuals. In the 1930s and 1940s, one had to constantly move after the head of the family, who received appointments to senior positions at various enterprises.
During the Great Patriotic War were evacuated to Tashkent. Then they lived in Kharkov, where Leonid Vasilyev graduated from school with a gold medal. After that, he came to Moscow to enter the university.
In 1947 he became a student of the history department of Moscow State University. At first, he was not at all interested in China, but soon a demand for sinologists arose in the USSR. However, Leonid Sergeevich Vasiliev immediately decided for himself that he wouldengage in ancient history, not modern history.
Working at the institute
After high school, he was assigned to the postgraduate course at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1958, Vasiliev defended his thesis on community and agrarian relations in ancient China. In 1974, he became a doctor of historical sciences, presenting a work on the Yellow River civilization.
At the same time, since 1968, Leonid Vasiliev combined scientific work with teaching. He lectured at MGIMO, the Institute of Asian and African countries.
In 2016, the hero of our article died in Moscow at the age of 85.
Contribution to science
He began his scientific career with studies of ancient Chinese society. Throughout almost his entire career, he was most interested in theories of history and macroprocesses. This is also explained by the fact that already in his early studies, the scientist discovered contradictions between the existing historical facts and the formation theory, which at that time was accepted in the USSR. If you follow it, it was believed that in the Ancient East there was a slave-owning formation. Having got acquainted with the peculiarities of the ancient Chinese society, he joined the discussion about the Asian mode of production.
In 1966, Vasiliev wrote a work in collaboration with Stuchevsky, in which he expressed his view on the coexistence of feudal and slave-owning modes of exploitation. At the same time, none of them had state significance, since in China natural conditions required the labor of a large numberpeople, which made it difficult to develop specific forms of exploitation, the researchers say.
History of the East
The final work was a textbook published in 1993. "History of the East" by Leonid Sergeevich Vasiliev was published in two volumes. It has been re-released five times so far.
In his work, the hero of our article tries to summarize the extensive factual material, based on his own concept of the development of the historical process. In the 1st volume of "History of the East" Leonid Sergeevich Vasiliev contrasts the intensively developing West with the conservative East. The specific path of China did not create conditions for the development of the human mind, technological progress, did not contribute to the emancipation of the individual.
Features of religion
An important contribution lies in the textbook "History of Religions of the East" by Leonid Vasiliev, which was first published in 1988.
In this book, he tells how various teachings and beliefs arose in Eastern countries. Much attention in the "History of Religions" by Leonid Vasilyev is given to their role in the political and socio-economic life of societies and their cultures.
In conclusion, he characterizes Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism. Currently, the "History of the Religions of the East" by Leonid Sergeevich Vasilyev is the key textbook for the study of this topic.
Story concept
Based on my own articles from the 1980syears, which de alt with the problem of property and power, Vasiliev deduces the concept of world history. In his research, he transfers the theoretical basis of research to delve into the basic understanding of the general process.
The result is several fundamental ideas, which he outlines in his six volumes.
Differences between West and East
The first idea is based on a comparison of ancient and ancient Eastern traditions. Vasiliev notes that the sociopolitical meaning of the social structure in antiquity is based on the formation of civil society, which creates an elective rather than a hereditary government.
This difference explains the advantages of the West over the East, which he calls "world city" and "world village" respectively.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire and the emergence of barbarian kingdoms in the European West, ancient traditions find themselves in the middle of the "world village", becoming the foundation of a Western European medieval city, which begins to form anew.
Success of the European West
Vasiliev sees the success of medieval Western European cities in feudalism, which becomes a modification of the eastern structure of society. She has a craving for conservatism and stability. At the same time, in the city itself, power is based on the ancient type of self-government. This predetermines the success of the West over the traditional East.
Renaissance and Reformation, which opened the way to freethinking, as well as the centuryThe Enlightenment and the Great Geographical Discoveries become decisive stages in the formation of the historical process of the ancient city, which has constantly strengthened its position since then. At a fast pace, he managed to overtake the static and traditional East.
In the XV-XVI centuries, the West, which relied on ancient traditions, managed to make almost the rest of the world colonially dependent on itself.
Global Village Takes Lead
The third key idea of Vasiliev was based on the fact that the liberal antique-bourgeois path of evolution, having proved its superiority, practically turned out to be its own gravedigger. At the same time, the historian believed that this did not happen as a result of Marxist calculations that did not justify themselves on the European proletariat, which was not satisfied with the bourgeoisie. The reason for everything was that the role of the proletariat was taken over by the "world village", dissatisfied with its backwardness, that is, the world that developed outside the West.
The acceleration of the pace of industrialization and modernization, together with the social policy of the authorities elected by the people, led to the fact that the capitalist countries were significantly enriched. The world outside the West reacted sharply to this, starting with Bolshevik Russia, which collapsed during the First World War, and ending with totalitarian regimes that felt the bitterness of that war. He included German Nazism, Italian fascism, and many other corporate states of America and Europe among them. All this has significantly changed the face of the planet over the course of the 20th century.
BUnder the conditions of the domination of the capitalist system, the triumph of the bourgeoisie is replaced by totalitarian terror. In the 20th century, this is what became the causes of the Second World War and the Cold War, which took place against the backdrop of the decolonization of countries that lagged significantly behind in their development.
The next factor is the acceleration of their reproduction. Vasiliev notes that with the increase in the world's population in the 20th century from one and a half billion people to six and a half billion, in Africa the population growth turned out to be almost 10-fold, and in Western countries it was almost imperceptible. This led to a new flowering of the aggressive expansion of fundamental Islam based on medieval traditions.
If you follow the concept of Vasiliev, the process of human evolution is not based on success in the economy and productive forces, but depends on the ideas belonging to the creative minority. It is due to this that the foundation for evolution is created or limiting factors appear. Correct ideas become the basis for prosperity, and erroneous or their complete absence leads to entropy, behind which lies a stop in development, repression, terror, degradation and destruction.
The proposed concept caused quite a stir. Some scientists came to the conclusion that the ideas set forth by Leonid Sergeevich Vasiliev are based on the simplest possible scheme, designed to subjugate the whole of real history. At the same time, researchers point to numerous contradictions in the work of the hero of our article, violations of logical connections, free treatment of the interpretation of historical events, simplifications,outright blunders that do not allow you to take work seriously.
