Marxists Internet Archive Publications has published the
first three volumes of CLASSICS IN ACTIVITY THEORY, reprints
of English translations first published by Progress
Publishers in the 1970s, of classics works in Activity
Theory and the followers of Lev Vygotsky. Since the fall of
the Soviet Union, while remaining in the public domain,
these works have become unavailable, in most cases even on
the second hand market, with little to no chance of
republication by commercial publishers. And yet there is
vast research community across the world which builds on
Vygotsky and Activity theory, particularly in education
departments.
Each of the three books beginning the series is a collection
of English translations from one of the three authors:
Alexei LEONTYEV, Alexander MESHCHERYAKOV and Evald ILYENKOV,
plus a short preface by Prof. Mike Cole of the University of
California, San Diego. Every university or education faculty
library should have this series; every young person entering
this line of research needs to read the classics of their
science.
Titles included are, from Leontyev, The Development of Mind:
The Problem of the Origin of Sensation, The Biological and
Social in Man’s Psyche, An Outline of the Evolution of the
Psyche, The Historical Approach to Study of the Human
Psyche, The Development of Higher Forms of Memory, The
Psychological Principles of Preschool Play, The Theory of
the Development of the Child’s Psyche, Child Development and
the Problem of Mental Deficiency, Activity and
Consciousness; from Ilyenkov, The Ideal in Human Activity:
Dialectical Logic, Activity and Knowledge, The Universal,
The Concept of the Ideal, Reflections on “Materialism and
Empirio-Criticism” and Meshcheryakov, Awakening To Life:
Deaf-blind Children, Problems of Deaf-blindness, Forming
Behaviour and Developing Their Minds, Learning Programmes
for the Deaf-blind.
Books are available from Erythrós Press
http://www.erythrospress.com/ for US$25+postage but
purchasers of all 3, or 4 books with Hegel’s Logic, pay a
reduced price of $20 per book with reduced shipping costs.
