The influence of the left on science during the period of the USSR and beyond. An article about how the left influenced world science, about the relationship of the left in power with scientists and not only. The publication is a kind of brief overview of the influence of the left on science, from the 20th century to the present day. The topic will be interesting both for connoisseurs or downtime people interested in science, and for those who have an interest in politics. Although politics and science are completely different, they still quite often collided with each other. In addition, there are also scientists who adhere to certain political views.
The influence of the Left on Science: Science and Ideology
Earlier in the USSR and some other left-wing countries, ideology even influenced science. It would seem, why is this necessary? But the influence was still there. And everyone knew what to do and what not. Now all this has spread even more. For example, Physics has recently been considered part of racism due to the fact that some terms are associated with «White supremacy», for example the term «Quantum supremacy» was called undesirable. Following her, Mathematics was considered the science of racists, calling for the promotion of the so-called «Ethnomathematics».
That is, scientists also have to comply with the ideological agenda of the current government, otherwise repression may await him. So, for example, the Professor recently called the Holocaust a fiction, but now they are starting to persecute him from everywhere, since he went against the Jews, who (((for some reason))) in countries with white populations have a huge influence.
You will answer that this is pseudoscientific nonsense, why is this happening? Well, what else can scientists do? Either accept or starve to death. And this is not counting other possible reprisals than just dismissals. But, of course, not all scientists are hostages of the situation, some are only happy to promote such ideas. Science is not as important to them as leftist ideas.
But at the same time, ideological pride did not prevent the USSR from large-scale cooperation with its direct enemy, the United States. During the first five-year plan, the USSR turned to American companies to design enterprises and to attract specialists, as well as for the sake of modern equipment. In particular, Albert Kahn’s company designed more than 500 factories for the USSR. By the way, at the same time there was a massive famine due to the ridiculous management of the country.
But this was not the last thing. After the defeat of the Third Reich in World War II, the USA and the USSR pulled specialists in various fields from there, including scientists. The inventions of the Reich were also taken. Those inventions very much impressed specialists from the USSR and the USA. The USA received more inventions, because the USSR had to send people to the USA in order to obtain the rest of the inventions.
The influence of the left on science
Now about the influence of the left on science. The topic is quite extensive, therefore there will not be any definite sequence, the material will be presented in the order in which I remember it.
I would like to start about criminology, since I recently read a textbook on forensic science, and there was interesting material about the fate of criminology during the USSR period. Criminology was dealt a strong blow, criminologists were persecuted. So the development and activity of criminology in the USSR was frozen until the 1960s. And all because allegedly criminology has become irrelevant, because crime was supposedly a relic of monarchical power and this will not happen under left socialism. Naturally this is not true, but it did not help criminology.
In general, many scientists, doctors, engineers and other specialists were repressed, which was an extremely strong blow not only to science, but also to culture. At a minimum, the left has intervened in the following sciences: chemistry, statistics, astronomy, physics, linguistics, philosophy, sociology, economics, history, cybernetics, and others. In 1937, the result of the population census was carried out, which Stalin did not like. Why? Serious population losses were identified due to mass famine. The demographers who conducted the census were shot.
A hard blow was dealt to genetics. The event was named «Lysenkivshchyna», in honor of Trofim Lysenko, who was the symbol of the campaign. Many scientists were repressed, part of genetics was denied, genetic research was completely banned.
When the communists came to power, philosophy underwent very strong changes. Now her official task was to substantiate the ideas of communism. The main direction was Marxism-Leninism, the rest were subjected to repression, or were expelled or emigrated.
Many physical theories have been criticized. A struggle was waged against idealism in physics. Research in the field of biology had to be submitted to the natural science association of the communist academy.
The statistics were very limited. The accuracy of statistics during the USSR period is questionable. Some ideas of statistics were banned. Statistical publications and faculties were closed, well-known statisticians were forced to stop doing it.
In 1930, a case of «bourgeois historians» was opened. Scholars have been convicted of monarchist views. National nihilism was created. In the 1930s, the veracity of history was determined only by whether the nomenclature was happy with it. Many rumors and lies were spread about the previous regime to justify their own. The leader of Soviet pseudoscientific history was Mikhail Pokrovsky. He especially tried to suck up to the authorities, which is what became famous.
The influence of the left on science today has given rise to a serious growth of the left pseudosciences. Gender sciences have appeared, built on absolute fictions and having nothing to do with real sciences. Great emphasis was placed on justifying leftist politics. In particular, they are trying with all their might to prove that supposedly homosexuality is a normal phenomenon. They also try to promote ideas that should challenge the ideas of racism, but somehow it doesn’t work out very well. Neutral studies of such issues can be punished by repression and censure among the masses. At the same time, racology, a fully justified science, is recognized as pseudoscientific, although it would have a good value for modern science. At a minimum, it contains descriptions of various human races and associated information.
Attempts to insult opponents of the influence of the left on science and on the left regimes in states under the guise of scientific research have become more frequent. Assertions often lack an evidence base, are built on non-correlated relationships, or the evidence is not qualitative.
Leftists and scientists
I would also like to touch upon the relationship between the left and scientists. This is also quite an interesting topic. Although if you are an adherent of any science, then you most likely know about what the left did with your colleagues.
Nikolai Vavilov is a genetic scientist, botanist, breeder, chemist, geographer. He was an honorary member of many foreign organizations, has great recognition throughout the world. In honor of him, organizations are named, monuments are dedicated to him and not only. But fate is such that he died at the age of 55 in prison due to a decline in cardiac activity against the background of pneumonia and general exhaustion. By the way, he was arrested on false denunciation and illegally accused.
The jew Fritz Noether was a mathematician of jewish origin. Many members of his family were associated with mathematics. He was a professor at the Technical University in Breslau. After the Nazi Party came to power, he left for the USSR, where he became a professor at Tomsk University. In 1937 he was arrested at his home in Tomsk. Initially, he was accused of spying for Germany, later in anti-Soviet propaganda and shot at Orel.
Yakub Akhmetovich is an Uzbek scientist, inventor. He was beaten and tortured by the NKVD. Nikolay Evgenov is a Russian hydrographer and oceanographer, naval officer, Arctic explorer and more. A number of geographical points on the map continued to bear his name even when he was imprisoned. The authorities had to release him during the Second World War.
The exact number of repressed scientists is unknown. In 1936, about 30% of astronomers were repressed because of the Pulkovo affair. About 900 orientalists and about 969 geologists were repressed. And these are far from all repressed.
