Stalinist science / Nikolai Krementsov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krement︠s︡ov, N. L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953.

Stalin, Joseph.

Science--Soviet Union--History--20th century.

Science.

Communism--Soviet Union--History--20th century.

Communism.

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1936-1953.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (390 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton Univesity Press, c1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Some scholars have viewed the Soviet state and science as two monolithic entities--with bureaucrats as oppressors, and scientists as defenders of intellectual autonomy. Based on previously unknown documents from the archives of state and Communist Party agencies and of numerous scientific institutions, Stalinist Science shows that this picture is oversimplified. Even the reinstated Science Department within the Central Committee was staffed by a leading geneticist and others sympathetic to conventional science. In fact, a symbiosis of state bureaucrats and scientists established a much more terrifying system of control over the scientific community than any critic of Soviet totalitarianism had feared. Some scientists, on the other hand, developed more elaborate devices to avoid and exploit this control system than any advocate of academic freedom could have reasonably hoped. Nikolai Krementsov argues that the model of Stalinist science, already taking hold during the thirties, was reversed by the need for inter-Allied cooperation during World War II. Science, as a tool for winning the war and as a diplomatic and propaganda instrument, began to enjoy higher status, better funding, and relative autonomy. Even the reinstated Science Department within the Central Committee was staffed by a leading geneticist and others sympathetic to conventional science. However, the onset of the Cold War led to a campaign for eliminating such servility to the West. Then the Western links that had benefited genetics and other sciences during the war and through 1946 became a liability, and were used by Lysenko and others to turn back to the repressive past and to delegitimate whole research directions.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

PREFACE

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

PART I: THE MAKING OF STALINIST SCIENCE

Introduction

CHAPTER 1. Russian Science in Transition, 1890-1929

CHAPTER 2. The Stalinization of Russian Science, 1929-1939

CHAPTER 3. Stalinist Science in Action: The Case of Genetics

KEY EVENTS, 1917-1939

PART II: STALINIST SCIENCE IN THE 1940's

CHAPTER 4. World War II and the Sweet Fruits of Victory

CHAPTER 5. On the Threshold of the Cold War, 1946-1947

CHAPTER 6. The Fateful Year: 1948

KEY EVENTS, 1941-1953

PART III: THE CONSOLIDATION OF STALINIST SCIENCE

CHAPTER 7. Talking the Talk: Ritual and Rhetoric

CHAPTER 8. Walking the Walk: Education versus Research

CHAPTER 9. The Realities of Stalinist Science: Careerism and Institutional Rivalry

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX A: Stalinist Scientific "Newspeak": A Glossary

APPENDIX B: Key Figures

NOTES

NAME INDEX

SUBJECT INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-358) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612753152

9781400816880

1400816882

9781282753150

1282753150

9781400822140

1400822149

9781400812431

1400812437

OCLC:

51493835