Ancient Slavery in Soviet Historiography of 1950—1970s

Abstract

By the mid-1950s, the theme of the “slave revolution” in antiquity had lost relevance, ceased to be considered the “main” topic for Soviet historians of the ancient world. This was evidenced by the disappearance of works on this subject from the capital’s publications, and quite critical responses to the works of A. V. Mishulin. It was necessary to choose a new “main” theme. The importance of the topic of slavery in antiquity for Soviet science was due to the “socio-economic basis” of the study of the history of the ancient world (i.e. “slave-owning formation”), and opposition to “bourgeois science”, which, according to Soviet scientists, underestimated the importance of slavery in antiquity. A series of monographs “Studies on the history of slavery in the ancient world” and the publication of articles in the “Journal of Ancient History” in the section “Materials and research on the history of slavery” showed the potential of Soviet historical science, provoked a response abroad. However, interest in research on slavery in the USSR has been steadily declining since the second half of the 1960s, and in the 1980s it almost died out. Studies on the history of slavery in the ancient world were too “ideological” and therefore ceased to be of interest, especially for young Soviet historians.