92

By drawing on the most recent Russian historiography, this paper covers the career of the Soviet academician David Riazanov from his first commitment alongside the Russian populists until his execution during the Great Purge. The article mainly focuses on Riazanov’s essential contribution to the foundation of scientific “marxology” through the creation of the Marx-Engels Institute of Moscow in 1921. By portraying the first MEGA editor both as a respected Marxist scholar and as a staunch militant opposed to Stalin’s stranglehold on the party, this paper also addresses the issues inherent in any Marxological research such as the difficult articulation between scientific approach and political imperative.