How Did Lev Vygotsky Influence Marxism?

Lev S. Vygotsky is often referred to as an influential person in the world of education based on his research in psychology. Vygotsky was born and raised in the Russian empire in 1896 to a very affluent Jewish family. His father was quickly appointed as the United Bank of Gomel where their family spent all of Vygotsky’s childhood (“Lev Vygotsky”, 2014). Potentially influenced by his mother's training in education, Lev was a quick study and successful in his own education. He had originally intended to study medicine but eventually graduated from the University of Moscow with a degree in law. He started his own family with a woman named Rosa Smekhova soon after graduation; they had two daughters together (“Lev Vygotsky”, 2014). Cherry (2017)
“Vygotsky could not have avoided the effect this philosophy had on his life and invariably, his methods - based on this, we can deduce that the Russian Revolution is major evidence of the influence Marxism had his life's work” (“Essays”, 2013). Though, some researchers agree there is no doubt there is a connection between the Marxist theory, there are others who would say there are some differences. Veresov said “Vygotsky’s philosophical orientation was wider than Marxism. Indeed, his first insights into the problems of the personality and human consciousness were philosophical rather than psychological” (n.d.). Veresov also stated, “He was a child of the Silver Age of Russian culture and philosophy and the influence of this should not be underestimated” (n.d.). The Silver Age was a multiple decade period of creativity. “The Silver Age Some traits in Vygotsky's theory, traditionally considered as Marxist – such as the concept of the social origins of mind or sign as a psychological tool have deeper and wider roots in works of Shpet, Blonsky, Sorokin and Meierhold” (n.d.). Shpet was heavily referred to in articles covering the influences over Vygotsky. "We have biographical data to confirm that during his university years (1913-1916) Vygotsky attended lectures by G. G. Shpet (1879 - 1937) and participated in his seminars on ‘ethnic psychology'" (Veresov, n.d.). Though because of politics of the
Albert Bandura (1991) and Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979), among others, also associated developmental learning with social and cultural influences (Morgan, p. 110). Bronfenbrenner looked at a child's development in relation to those systems around the child (Morrison, p. 94). "Daniel Elkonin was a colleague of Vygotsky who continued his work on play and developed a comprehensive theory that, in turn, gave rise to an entire school of thought in Soviet psychology and education" (Brodrova and Leong,