To the 95th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko
V.P. Zinchenko, F.E. Vasilyuk, V.K. Zaretsky (after the defense of F.E. Vasilyuk's doctoral dissertation in 2007)
Today, August 10, 2026, marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko – one of the most brilliant and devoted representatives and guardians of the tradition of cultural-historical psychology.
Those who studied in the 1960s–80s at the Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University, where Vladimir Petrovich headed the Department of Engineering Psychology; those who studied in the 1980s–2000s at MIREA, where he headed the Department of Ergonomics; and those who studied in the 2000s–2010s at MSUPE, where he taught and was the first editor-in-chief of the journal "Cultural-Historical Psychology" – surely remember his incredibly interesting lectures, his unique sense of humour, and his astonishing memory. During his stories about the remarkable people with whom Vladimir Petrovich himself had the opportunity to communicate and work, it seemed that we, his listeners, also knew these people personally and had close contact with them. Vladimir Petrovich spoke about his teachers, associates, and followers of L.S. Vygotsky. In his memoirs, he wrote how, as a little boy, he acted as a "postman," carrying the texts that were exchanged between his father, Pyotr Ivanovich Zinchenko, his future teacher Alexander Vladimirovich Zaporozhets, and the unquestionable authority, Pyotr Yakovlevich Galperin...
Vladimir Petrovich was born in the fateful August of 1931, just a few months later, his other teacher, A.N. Leontiev, wrote to L.S. Vygotsky that "we can no longer say what we think," writing as he left for Kharkov. L.S. Vygotsky himself was subjected to persecution and was forced to "disguise" his scientific developments, the importance of which for the future of psychology he fully understood, just as he understood that he would not live to see this psychology come to fruition (see "L.S. Vygotsky's Notebooks," edited by E.Yu. Zavershneva and René van der Veer). However, Vygotsky's associates, students, and followers managed to preserve and build upon his scientific legacy, which will be the subject of discussion at the International Forum dedicated to the 130th anniversary of L.S. Vygotsky in November 2026 – the year of V.P. Zinchenko's 95th anniversary...
Vladimir Petrovich was broadly educated and erudite in various fields of science. He was a connoisseur of painting (those who visited his home could see his unique collection of art albums) and a connoisseur of poetry, often supporting his scientific ideas with poetic lines. He was also a connoisseur of people; his characterisations were always precise and concise, often with a touch of humour... Vladimir Petrovich possessed a special talent – invaluable for the field of education – the ability to notice a student's potential and help them unfold it. Very many "former students" remember him with deep gratitude for his timely support. One such student, who at a critical moment was left without a supervisor (when A.N. Leontiev died), was F.E. Vasilyuk, who, with Vladimir Petrovich's support, defended a "revolutionary" dissertation on experience as activity, later becoming the founder of the Faculty of Counseling Psychology at MSUPE...
Like his teacher A.V. Zaporozhets, Vladimir Petrovich devoted his entire life to one basic line, perhaps one of the "axial" lines of cultural-historical psychology – the problem of action: action from which specifically human psychology is born; joint action, which is a source of development; action as a unit of the psyche... His first publication was dedicated to the psychology of action, and his last to the philosophy of action.
...And between these publications lay many decades of inspired work together with his wife, Natalya Dmitrievna Gordeeva, who was his constant co-author in publications on the theme of "action." After Vladimir Petrovich's death in 2014, she devoted the last years of her life to organising his scientific legacy. She prepared and published five volumes of collected works – five volumes of outstanding texts by Vladimir Petrovich himself and their joint works. Also of interest are V.P. Zinchenko's texts about his teachers, colleagues, and other remarkable people, as well as the recollections of colleagues and students about him.
The text was prepared by
Professor of the Department of Individual and Group Psychotherapy,
Viktor Kirillovich Zaretsky.