Zirkle Conway (ed.) Death of a Science in Russia: The Fate of Genetics as Described in Pravda and Elsewhere

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949. — 334 p.To the world at large the Russian destruction of genetics was both inexplicable and shocking. It seemed so senseless in view of the great contribution being made by genetics to agriculture, due in great part to the activities of the Russians themselves. To many the event came without warning, but to the geneticists it was not entirely unexpected. There is a long record of hostility to genetics in Russia, a hostility which continued even when the Soviet Government was doing all in its power to breed better animals and plants. The hostility went underground during this period, but it emerged into the open a dozen years ago. Following the death of Lenin a number of high-ranking Communists encouraged the quackery which was to replace genetics, and in 1940 the charlatans scored their first real triumph. N. I. Vavilov, who was in charge of all research in agricultural genetics, was arrested and disappeared from the scientific world. Finally, in 1948, the blow fell and the final obliteration of genetics was begun in all the lands which owe allegiance to Stalin.Introduction

Overture to Trouble

The Issues, Real and Bogus

Russian Verbalism
Organic Evolution
Inheritance of Acquired Characters
The Kammerer Case
Darwinism
Mendelism
Vernalization

Why Was Genetics Destroyed?

[b]The Decline of Genetics, 1939-40Events of 1939
M. B. Mitin, “Toward the Advancement of Soviet Genetics”
The Arrest of N. I. Vavilov, 1940A Controversy with a Twisted Ending, 1943-47The Participants and Their Contributions 49
L. C. Dunn, “Science in the USSR: Soviet Biology” 51
Karl Sax, “Soviet Biology” 55
Anton R. Zhebrak, “Soviet Biology” 57
Karl Sax, “Soviet Biology”
I. Laptev, “Antipatriotic Acts under the Guise of ‘Scientific’ Criticism”Genetics in Russia after Ten Years of Cold Official WarfareC. D. Darlington, “The Retreat from Science in Soviet Russia”
Th. Dobzhansky, “N. I. Vavilov, A Martyr of Genetics, 1887-1942”
H. J. Muller, “Genetics in Relation to Modern Science”The Beginning of the EndAn Introduction to Lysenko and His Claims
T. D. Lysenko, “The Situation in Biological Science”The Witch Hunt Gets under WaySpeechesS. G. Petrov
I. A. Rapoport
Z. Y. Beletski
V. A. Shaumyan
M. B. MitinA Forlorn and Futile StandSpeechesK. Y. Kostryukova
B. M. Zavadovski
Th. A. Dvoryankin
A. V. Mikhalevich
S. I. Alikhanyan
I. M. Polyakov
P. M. Zhukovski
A. R. ZhebrakThe Climax of the ArgumentsCommentsI. I. Schmalhausen
I. N. Simonov
S. Th. Demidov
D. A. Kislovski
I. Th. Vasilenko
A. N. Kostyakov
P. P. Lobanov
V. S. Nemchinov
V. N. Stoletov
I. I. PrezentThe End of the RoadT. D. Lysenko, Concluding Remarks
V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Letter to Stalin
V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, ResolutionRecantationsGeorge Zhdanov
P. M. Zhukovski
S. I. Alikhanyan
I. M. Polyakov
A. R. Zhebrak
Editorial Comments on ZhebrakThe Heresy Hunt SpreadsPraesidium of the Academy of Sciences, USSR, Letter to Stalin
Praesidium of the Academy of Sciences, USSR, Resolution
Editorial: “Soviet Science Willingly and Voluntarily Serves the People”
S. Kaftanov, “In Support of Michurin’s Biological Theory in Higher Institutions of Learning”
Praesidium of the Academy of Medical Sciences, USSR, Letter to StalinReverberations AbroadGoverning Board of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Statement
Resignation of Professor H. J. Muller from the Academy of Sciences, USSR
A Reply to Professor H. J. Muller by the Praesidium of the Academy of Sciences, USSR
Resignation of Sir Henry H. Dale from the Academy of Sciences, USSR