Biography

Anton Semyonovich Makarenko (Russian: Анто́н Семёнович Мака́ренко, Ukrainian: Антон Семенович Макаренко, romanized: Anton Semenovych Makarenko; 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1888 – 1 April 1939), was a Soviet educator, social worker and writer. He became the most influential educational theorist in the Soviet Union; along with promoting principles in educational theory and practice. As one of the founders of Soviet pedagogy, he elaborated the theory and methodology of upbringing in self-governing child collectives and introduced the concept of productive labor into the educational system. Makarenko's books have appeared in many countries.

In the aftermath of the Revolution of 1917, he established self-supporting orphanages for street children — including juvenile delinquents — left orphaned by the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923. These establishments included the Gorky Colony and later the Dzerzhinsky labor commune (where the FED camera was produced) in Kharkiv. Makarenko wrote several books, of which The Pedagogical Poem (Педагогическая поэма; published in English as The Road to Life), a fictionalized story of the Gorky Colony, became especially popular in the Soviet Union. A 1955 Soviet movie with English title Road to Life was based on this book. Makarenko died under unclear circumstances in 1939.

In 1988 UNESCO ranked Makarenko as one of four educators (along with John Dewey, Georg Kerschensteiner, and Maria Montessori) who determined the world's pedagogical thinking of the 20th century.