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During the Soviet years, Russian science was touted as one of the greatest successes of the regime. Russian science was considered to be equal, if not superior, to that of the wealthy western nations. The Perversion of Knowledge, a history of Soviet science that focuses on its control by the KGB and the Communist Party, reveals the dark side of this glittering achievement. Based on the author’s firsthand experience as a Soviet scientist, and drawing on extensive Russian language sources not easily available to the Western reader, the book includes shocking new information on biomedical experimentation on humans as well as an examination of the pernicious effects of Trofim Lysenko’s pseudo-biology. Also included are many poignant case histories of those who collaborated and those who managed to resist, focusing on the moral choices and consequences. The text is accompanied by the author’s own translations of key archival materials, making this work an essential resource for all those with a serious interest in Russian history.
- Sales Rank: #1537958 in eBooks
- Published on: 2009-09-09
- Released on: 2009-09-09
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Russian-American geneticist and historian Birstein's first trade book is the story of "the state control of science in the Soviet Union." A comprehensive history of how Russian scientists were ruled by their government from the Bolshevik revolution through its post-perestroika present, the volume focuses especially on doctors who conducted state-authorized experiments on political prisoners while developing poisons and chemical weaponry that were eventually used in a rash of political assassinations during the 1950s and '60s by way of covert weapons such as umbrella tips and poisoned bullets. But very little of this material reads like an Ian Fleming novel; it's more like a college textbook. With over 100 pages of notes, biographical sketches and translated materials, the text is so finely detailed that it runs the risk of confusing readers with its sheer volume of information. Moreover, most of the original documents Birstein relies upon are still classified and "these documents are... frequently written in a special metaphoric language used by NKVD/KGB offices. Only since 1997 have three fundamental reference books been published in Russian that have allowed me to put the events in Soviet science into historical context." These shortcomings are unfortunate, as the subject of state secrecy and chemical weapons development is both important and timely. In uncovering the Soviet labyrinth of plot and secrecy, Birstein builds labyrinths of his own and casual readers might not be willing to wind their way through to the end.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Speaking from personal experience and aided greatly by archival materials and reference books made accessible in the 1990s, geneticist Birstein offers a comprehensive account of 80 years of governmental control and censorship of science in the Soviet Union. He describes how academic and research scientists in the nation's scientific institutions were replaced with political functionaries who often had no knowledge of the sciences they represented. He emphasizes Stalin's favorite, the fraudulent geneticist Lysenko, and also the biochemist Mairanovsky, who in his poison lab experimented on prisoners, often fatally. Birstein graphically describes some of those experiments, as well as secret-service tortures, referring briefly to experiments on supposed volunteers in the U.S., Canada, and England. Early on he says he wants readers to ask what they would have done in the same circumstances, and later he tells the stories of several scientists who took firm ethical stands and survived. Demonstrating how science, research, and education were frighteningly perverted, he provokes concern about Russia's current lack of support for science and how dangerous it may be. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"A well-documented and highly disquieting tour through the abominations of Soviet science."
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent history, somewhat poor delivery
By Glenn Corey
Even if you know a bit about Soviet history, the history of Soviet science as told by Vadim Birstein is shocking and repulsive - all those great minds lost who were never allowed to make the great discoveries they no doubt would have made. The tragedy for not just Russian culture but human societies everywhere is hard to fathom. Russian culture up to the time of the Revolution of 1917 was in the midst of one of its greatest periods of florescence. It is known as the Silver Age to most, though some specialists refer to it as Russia's true Golden Age. The Bolsheviks put an end to that, and the loss was incalculable. The particular chapter of that story regarding the machinations, manipulations, and perversions in Russia's scientific community is told in great detail by Birstein, who witnessed some of that history from the inside; his father was a scientist. The stories of cowardice made me wince, though the rare acts of courage were inspiring.
The one complaint I have about the book is the poor copy editing. The author is not a native speaker, and the English was a bit spotty. For example, on p. 179, the same name is spelled differently in the same paragraph: Shirshov and Shiroshov. Also, on p. 248 is Schmalhauzen, and on the next page is Schmalhausen. Finally, on p. 260 is a letter that was obviously translated by author: "...somebody knocked at the door and a little bit strange head of a short man appeared." Things like this are amusing until you realize you paid for them. Elsewhere the author used "convicted to 25 years in prison" instead of "sentenced" or "condemned." Examples of bad English appear literally on every page. This the publisher's fault; it should have had the book copy edited. This doesn't detract from the contents, though it is disappointing to pay for a book and discover that the publisher wasn't interested in delivering a high-quality product.
All in all, though, it's a worthwhile read for anyone interested in Russian or Soviet history or the history of science.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Thorough research, badly proofread text
By mdcatdad
This comprehensive recounting of the subordination of Soviet science is comparable to the Gulag Archipelago in its thoroughness. It is similarly a slow read due to the great detail and copious footnoting.
One only wishes that it had been proofread. The "Supreme Soviet" (legislature) is referred to throughout as "Highest Council", "collaborators" is given as "collaborates", "diverziya" (Russian for "sabotage") is rendered as "diversion", an enveloped is described as "concealed" instead of "sealed", etc. The printing is strangely irregular: often there are no spaces between a period and the first word of the next sentence.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
The Conflict Between Hard Secularism and Science As Told From A Russian Academy of Sciences Member
By Scholastic Reader
This book was written by a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and thus contains some excellent insider information on the state of science under the many decades of Russia's secularist-atheist government starting with Lenin. It documents the history of science in that part of the world from a rigorous angle. It really reads like a massive drama between the hard secularist government taking over science and killing many scientists for pathetic reasons. The author does note parallels between Nazi Germany and the Soviet state in term of aims, methods, and goals so there are some comparisons to think about. Of course, the tragic history and suffering of science in the Soviet state could have been otherwise and all of the deaths and misery could have been prevented if the hard secularist government was more rational and open minded. Indeed, those who read the book and other sources on Soviet science will be shocked on how systematic the persecutions were and how much damage it ultimately caused to the world. Surely, the world lost many great scientific minds due to the narrow mindedness of a totalitarian government.
In hearing much about the history of science and religion, I decided to investigate some historical relations that existed between science and hard secularism. Much of what one reads here resembles situations that were faced in other secularist-atheist countries like China and Cambodia for many unfortunate years.
With the Soviets, it is known that in biology they had Lysenkoism where they had rejected Mendelian genetics completely along with empirical ideas such as chromosomes and genes + rejected Darwinian evolution (specifically rejecting natural selection and positing natural cooperation instead and holding Lamarckian views), the denial of Quantum mechanics and relativity (though this was partially saved due to the desire of the Soviets to have an atomic bomb - "atomic shield"). Further reading:
Lysenko and the Tragedy of Soviet Science (written by a fellow scientist who survived the persecutions of scientists in the Soviet Union. Documents heavily with many primary sources, the tragedy in Biology (mainly Lysenkoism) with things like: the purges of elite scientists in biology, the strong denialism of Darwinian evolution (especially natural selection) - excellent detailed section, the wholesale rejection and banning of genetics (which impeded and sent the biological sciences, agronomy, and medicine in a backwards trajectory for decades) , the persecution of the father of population genetics (Sergei Chetverikov) and many others, the incredible loss to the world of thousands legitimate and gifted scientists who lost their careers, lives or were imprisoned)
Stalin and the Soviet Science Wars (excellent study of 6 fields and the one on physics is very interesting in showing the Soviet denialism of quantum mechanics and relativity, but luckily since the Soviets wanted an atomic bomb, this was partially spared by the "atomic shield" as the book says)
Science and Ideology: A Comparative History (Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine)
The following is a list of all the chapters in the book and some of the contents to be found therein. This list is not exhaustive:
Introduction
The Soviet Union's efforts to control science were a part of a larger effort to control the "intelligentsia" (1); Communist society was supposed to have only 2 classes: proletariat and peasants; the Civil War occurred between 1918-1921 and the conflicts were between the Bolsheviks and the bourgeois; this book will deal with Lysenkoism - a body of Marxist beliefs that was almost magical in nature (this pseudobiology came from an uneducated agronomist named Trofim Lysenko) which denied the existence of genes and chromosomes as a basis for inheritance and species as a basis of evolution, believed that no animals competed with each other and instead "helped" each other out (7); human experiments that rivaled the Nazi experiments; scientists' involvement in unethical experimentation and the approvals of those by fellow scientists
1. Science Under Siege
There was some resistance, by few scientists, on the communist attempt to control science; the Bolsheviks' hatred of the bourgeois was heavy to the point that the Bolsheviks eliminated scientists they considered a bourgeois; the origins of the Russian Academy of Sciences - in contrast to the US or Western Europe, the Academy of Sciences in Russia was started before any universities were established (first one was in 1755 in Moscow); the Academy of Sciences was created by Peter the Great in 1725; in 1917, before the Revolution, the Academy of Sciences included international scientists; Dmitri Mendeleev (author of the Periodic Law) was never elected into the Academy of Sciences; once the Bolsheviks took over Russia in the Revolution, they made science be a servant to their communism/materialism by coining the term "Communist science" to their narrow minded view of science (24); Bolsheviks cracked down on Academy members and some were executed or put in labor camps; the official policy towards scientists and intellectuals by Lenin was "The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and gaining strength in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeois and its henchmen, the intellectual lackeys of capital, who imagine they are the brains of the nation." (35); besides arrests and show trials, another method Lenin used to control science and universities was to insert many members of the Bolshevik Party with low professional levels in universities in hopes of having them replace old professors; Lenin hated economists and the field of economics since they used Adam Smith's capitalism as a basis; censorship of science and many books were enforced by the communists; in 1924 Lenin died and Stalin took over and did not tolerate independent thinking and "forced" most scientists to vote for members in the Academy of Sciences the way he wanted and by 1930 the state control of the Academy was largely complete; the 1929 statute of the Academy included a line on loyalty to the USSR; a commission cleansed 781 out of 1,000 employees and scientists from the Academy of sciences; after 1930, expulsions from the academy became routine; once in power, Stalin and the Party would decide which scientific theory was correct; in 1927, Trofim Lysenko came to power; biology was the most vulnerable field to the Party's influence (mainly because it did not require much heavy training as say physics); Lysenko and Stalin's chief ideologist had no background in biology but often participated in biological discussions; "Lysenkoism", a body of "dialectic Marxist" beliefs, was created by Trofim Lysenko - an uneducated agronomist - and it denied the existence of genes as a basis of inheritance and species as a basis of evolution (46); Lysenko's "Marxist-Michurinist genetics replaced the "bourgeois Weismannist-Morganist-Mendelist theory" of inheritance (which were all denied by Lysenkoists); Lysenko's theory of fertilization was absurd and his understanding of evolution, "creative Darwinism" is confusing since Lysenko says that no one knows what a species is and other nonsense; other absurd Lysenko beliefs included that there is no class struggle in the same species (all members of the same species help each other) and species can transform to another in a single leap; Lysenkoism dominated Soviet biology from the mid-1930s to the late 1960s; Stalin and other Party members were "elected" into the Academy of Sciences; there are parallels between Nazis and Soviets in terms human experimentation; 1947 Stalin did many campaigns against the "intelligentsia", especially Jews; Jewish doctors were persecuted for dubious reasons; the KGB overwhelmingly controlled science from the 1950s-1980s; the author gives his account of the harassment, spying, blocking employment opportunities and keeping him unemployed, and the destruction of his research manuscripts to prevent him from publishing his research because he was Jewish, by the KGB; the author was working in one lab where the professional level was low and even the head of the laboratory did not know the terms "genes" and "chromosomes" due to the deeply engrained Lysenkoism in Soviet science; crop yields decreased in the Soviet Union due to Lysenkoism nonsense (78)
2. Deadly Science
Since the early 1920s til the death of Stalin (~30 years) experiments on deadly chemicals and killing methods were conducted by researchers on various people, especially those who were considered enemies of the state; numerous trials, executions, and manipulations are documented; some deadly laboratories were made; currently Russia has been involved in developing other chemical weapons
3. Collaborators
Scientists that participated with unethical practices to rank up in scientific institutions and government; Mairanovsky was a key player in unethical experimentation on humans, similar to Nazi human experiments; the Gulag's academics
4. Resistance
In the 1920s, one of the leading genetic institutions in the world was Nikolai Koltsov's institute; in 1927 Koltsov described the double helix of DNA by a different name and was at the forefront of genetic research, however, because he rejected Lysenko's pseudobiology he was blocked from institutions, lost his institute to Lysenkoists, and was eliminated from scientific literature for 25 years after he died; "From the 1920s-1950s, one needed to have courage to withstand the ideological pressure of the Soviet state and to retain one's scientific and human beliefs. Biologists could be punished for two "crimes" - nonacceptance of Lysenko's doctrine and protests against arrests of colleagues. The second was especially dangerous." (209); two notable valiant resisters of Lysenkoism in the 1930s and 1940s were Vavilov and Pryanishnikov; for Vavilov, some scientists were forced by torture to confess things against him, he was kept under the close eye of the state, was sabotaged, arrested, put on trial, condemned to death, appealed to save his life and give in to the Soviet ideology, but ultimately died in a labor camp or was killed (not clear on which); other scientists were victims of Soviet injustice; there were labor camps where condemned scientists were able to work on some research; "Lysenko's destruction of genetics and geneticists would not have been complete without the destruction of the evolutionary theory that is based upon genetics. After World War II, Lysenko and his ideologist, Prezent, started a crusade against this theory...he attacked a famous botanist, Academician Pyotr Zhukovsky, who "dared" not to accept Lykenko's new theory: his denial of intraspecies competition, the basis of Darwin's evolutionary theory...As usual, Lysenko did not bother to give any scientific proof to confirm his thesis..." (247); Lysenko's battles with those who held different views; 3 key scientists that fought Lysenko in 1947 were Schmalhausen, Formozov, and Sabinin and they all had unfortunate ends since they lost their jobs, some of their scientific publications were withdrawn, etc; Aleksandr Oparin, who wrote the famous book called "Origin of Life", was a pro-Lysenkoist strangely enough; how a typical Lysenkoist (262-266); opposition to Lysenko and his fall; "It is amazing that decisions about Soviet biology and theoretical medicine were made at the highest Part and state level." (288); if it was not for Stalin's death more arrests would have occurred for those who opposed Lysenkoism - it was only a matter of time(288-289); because of the 1948 session more than 3,000 biologists, who opposed Lysenkoism, lost their jobs (289); "However, the introduction of Lysenkoism as the Party line in biology and biomedicine caused a selection of persons without moral integrity in these fields. Moreover, almost all Lysenkoists and their supporters kept their positions after the fall of Lysenko in 1964-1965. Those real scientists who lost their jobs because they rejected Lysenkoism never had the opportunity to realize their scientific talents and potential. Such scientists of the highest moral determination and integrity as Drs. Rapoport and Efroimson wasted their talents during years of persecution without a professional job. The Soviet society that killed countless citizens in labor camps was not interested in talented scientists unless they were completely under the ideological control of the Party. Even when Rapoport and Efroimson were able to continue their work, they were dependent on more conformist scientists like Academician Semenov." (290-291); the Soviets had slave scientists in labor camps working on important projects like developing nuclear weapons - "On the whole, the A-bomb and H-bomb projects completely depended on the work of prisoners. The whole uranium industry was controlled by the Gulag system. I think that the involvement of physicists in work based on slave labor seriously influenced the moral atmosphere at the academy after many physicists who participated in secret projects became its members. And those scientists who went through the camps and 'sharashki' never recovered from from their horrifying experiences. Analyzing the memoirs of survivors of the Soviet and Nazi camps, the historian Mikhail Heller concluded: "Even those who [physically] survive in a camp, die [emotionally and morally]. Only few of them manage to resurrect again later." (295)
Epilogue
Creepy scenarios of atrocities committed on science and scientists; the low key interest of authorities in rectifying anything - many of the Soviet abusers who lived on after Stalin's death ended up well in science and law and were excused of their crimes; currently Russians do not view their history or Stalin's reign as being too bad; the current status of science in Russia is not so positive
Overall, this is an excellent book on the history of modern science and its conflicts with hard secularism.
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