The article is focused on the theoretical discussion about the activity theory in Soviet psychology of the 1960s and 70s. Its main participants were the author of the activity theory A.N. Le - ontiev, and B.F. Lomov, who objected to its use as a framework concept for the whole of Soviet psychology and started promoting systems approach as its alternative in the 1970s. The discussion is considered based on the published works of the two authors, as well as on the archival materials. The article highlights the main topics of the discussion: the interaction of the biological and the social, the basis for the autonomy of psychology, the nature of the mind. Examined within the sociocultural context of the period, A.N. Leontiev’s theory can be viewed as a manifestation of the approach prevailing in university psychology at the beginning of the 20th century, for which the emphasis on the originality of theoretical postulates, compact experiments and formulation of conclusions with specific attention to the potential of using them in teaching was typical, and which predominated in the researchers' work schedules. B.F. Lomov, on the other hand, was a representative of post-war psychology, which was fully affected by the trends of the big science”: orientation toward large-scale experiments, the prevalence of applied research, and particular attention towards securing support for costly experimental work. The article also examines the discussion within its particular historical circumstances, and the analysis indicates that it can be seen as conceived by the configuration of schools of the Soviet psychology, especially the predominance of experimentation in the “Leningrad school” and of theorizing in “Moscow school”.