 | Stalinist Science Subjects: Science -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century; Stalin Joseph 1879–1953; Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1936–1953; Communism -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century; 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 is a senior researcher at the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of the History of Science and Technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences. |
