Not by bread alone: Lev Vygotsky’s Jewish writings

History of the Human Sciences. 2018. Vol. 31. No. 1. P. 36–55.

Zavershneva E., van der Veer R.

On the basis of both published and unpublished manuscripts written from 1914 to
1917, this article gives an overview of Lev Vygotsky’s early ideas. It turns out that
Vygotsky was very much involved in issues of Jewish culture and politics. Rather surprisingly,
the young Vygotsky rejected all contemporary ideas to save the Jewish people
from discrimination and persecution by creating an autonomous state in Palestine or
elsewhere. Instead, until well into 1917, Vygotsky proposed the rather traditional
option of strengthening the spiritual roots of the Jews by returning to the religious
writings. Socialism was rejected, because it merely envisioned the compulsory redistribution
of material goods and ‘man lives not by bread alone’. It was only after the
October Revolution that Vygotsky switched from arguments in favour of the religious
faith in the Kingship of God to the communist belief in a Radiant Future.

Keywords: history of psychology, Vygotsky, Jewish writings