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Science and Communism, Also consider AfP - Coggle Diagram

- - - - But then again, the term 'technocratic' has been used to describe the Bolsheviks/Lenin... so you need to consider what this means for your argument
        
        Is it an anomaly... is it because of a willingness to forgo certain communist principles/ideologies to achieve the vision of the state?
- - - - Dialectical materialism affects how scientists view the natural world!
        
        Hessen: Dialectical materialism for the sciences means that the sciences must be interested in studying things about the MATERIAL world (forms of movement of matter, their inter-connections, inter-relationships and development)
        
        "Knowledge derives from the influence of the material world on the knowing subject"
        
        And so, the basis of all science is social and economic theory, rather than things like atoms etc. (rejecting reductionism)
        
        L2 Graham (Role of Authentic Dialectical Materialism)
        
        This chapter helps to understand how scientists in the USSR incorporated dialectical materialism in their ideas/scientific thinking
        
        Graham also explains what exactly dialectical materialism was; noting that in dialectical materialism, there were various levels of nature (so you can't reduce biological laws to social laws)
        
        The 3 case studies: Prelinguistic thought, the origin of life, and quantum mechanics
        --> To dispel the belief that Marxism was 'bad' or 'damaged' science based on Lysenko alone; to show that there were SUCCESSFUL scientists who produced valuable ideas using Marxist ideologies
  - - - So, workers should SEIZE the means of production themselves
        --> Power to the people! Revolutionary struggles to class equality
        
        So, this relates to Marxist's conception of the states of history, whereby the ideal end-state of society is communism (revolutions against the capitalist system produces socialism)
  - - - Impact
        
        The leftist scientists in Britain were impressed, and saw Marxism as a means to utilising science in a broader and more social context (Needham, Bernal, Haldane)
        
        A socialised health service?
      - In the science and activism course, we think about how this congress, and the papers of the Soviets, promoted new ways of conceptualising the relationship between science and society
        
        Creation of the Old Left in Britain
      - L1 Hessen
        
        The landmark paper which argues that Newton's scientific discoveries must be understood in the context of the social, economic and political forces of his time, rather than just thinking they were a product of his intelligence/ideas. (dialectical materialism which posits that ideas and arguments stem from the MATERIAL world)
        
        Hessen considers the C16-C17, noting the various transformations in communications, industries and military during the period, and linking them to the ideas that Newton produced
        
        Part of Hessen's argument is also to answer the question: Why didn't Newton discover/produce the law of COE? To this, Hessen believes that it was because Newton lived in the period BEFORE the Industrial Revolution, and so there wasn't a key concern between productive forces/production relations in his time
        
        It also explains why socialist systems produce the best framework for harnessing science for societal needs/goals
        
        Dialectical materialism and Hessen's paper produces a social constructivism view of science (i.e. scientific knowledge is created and advanced because of social conditions)
- - - - L1 Kojevnikov
        
        Argues that Soviet science laid important foundations for contemporary science, and also in STS studies because of how Marxist ideologies emphasised the importance of social constructivism
        
        Noting that the Bolsheviks really focussed on scientific developments (technocratic visions), and so they massively reformed scientific infrastructure in the USSR!
        
        For the Bolsheviks, they emphasised that all science was usable (so no pure/applied distinction), and they worked with bourgeois experts because they valued their knowledge/expertise!
    - - EG: This belief in nonreductionism meant that scientistic exaggerations (eg. eugenics, sociobiology) did not make an appearance in the USSR
        
        Case Study: Lamarckian Principles of Acquired Inheritance vs Mendelian Inheritance (the USSR vs Nazi Germany) --> Proctor Ch 1
        
        In the USSR, Lamarckian principles were championed by Lysenko/Pavlov --> It was in accordance to ideas of DM (one could be influenced by their external conditions, acquire new characteristics, pass these onto their offspring)
        
        It was useful in the construction of a 'new Soviet man'
      - Important: In Lenin's 1909 Materialism and Empirio-Criticism he does articulate the view that one should draw a line between science, as it is, and the TYPE of interpretations of science
    - - General Overview
        
        Stalin sought to transform industry and agriculture to complete the transition to communism
        
        To that, he ruled with absolute power, through economic collectivisation and ensured that the government had complete control of all science and scientific research in the USSR
        --> 1929 Great Break: It forced scientists to BE Marxists, when before, the Bolsheviks opted for a cooperative and tolerance policy! (red specialists, trained during the Bolsheviks regime)
        
        1936 - 1938: The Great Purge/Great Terror:
        
        To remove political opponents, people who weren't loyal to the ruling party, or people who were not communists/bore Marxist ideologies
        
        How did Lysenko Gain Prominence in this Climate?
        
        Theory of vernalisation argued that organisms could change and adapt according to their material, environmental conditions, not inherited traits
        
        Emphasis of his 'peasant background' helped to show the rise of the proletariat in scientific research/work
        
        In a climate of purges and enforced ideological conformity, he rose above the other scientists who were seen as 'bourgeois'
        --> Unreliable, inaccurate theories of farming led to collectivisation and wide-spread famines (2.5 - 7.5 million dead)
        
        Was Lysenkoism representative of the general state of science in USSR?
        
        No! We have some case studies of dissident scientists who still made vital contributions to the USSR, and were not persecuted because of the valuable knowledge/exerptise they had
        (Vladimir Vernadski, Andrei Sakharov)
        
        L2 Bailes
        
        The case of Vernadski, the esteemed earth scientist, and how, despite his open anti-Communist views, he escaped Stalin's purges
        
        Vernadskii made a lot of significant practical contributions to Soviet research and the military, and perhaps this, plus his national and international esteem, protected him!
        
        He was very critical of Stalin's purges, and had a vision of good science that was completely contrary to the way science was controlled/conducted in Stalin's USSR
        
        L2 Pollock
        
        The case study of atomic physicists in the USSR, and how they managed to retain their scientific ideas/knowledge DESPITE it clearly contradicting Marxist dialectical materialism!
        
        The atomic physicists from the academies were targeted as being bourgeois (as they were trained in the West)
        
        But Pollock argues that they enjoyed a 'nuclear shield'/'nuclear deterrent' because of their immense importance in the Cold War, where technological achievement was an indicator of superiority! Specifically, it was about their value to the A-bomb project!
        
        This helped them gain power, prestige and leverage, and win the debates against philosophers who criticised their knowledge for being idealist/anti-Marxist!
        
        The case of physics and physicists being special/unique relative to other fields?
        
        L2 Graham (Lysenko)
        
        Explores the drastic changes to s/t as a result of Stalin's policies, noting that by the end of the 1920s, science itself became bourgeois, rather than interpretations of science --> Allowing Lysenko's ideas to gain prominence!
        
        Lysenko was a clear opportunist, able to frame his ideas in a politically-favourable manner, such that criticising his ideas became equated with criticising the state
        
        Attack of the bourgeois intelligentsia in the USSR, decline of genetics during the Stalinist era
      - Research Organisation
        
        Separation of universities and academies (academies were places for RESEARCH)
        
        WWII influenced the growth of science and research in the USSR!
      - The Space Race and the Khrushchev Era
        
        De-Stalinisation, the Sino-Soviet split
        
        Technological projects became symbols for the construction of socialism and communism (projection of power) --> Not to say that this was an exclusively USSR phenomenon! The US used the space race for similar objectives/outcomes
        
        Cosmonauts and the New Soviet Man
        
        The use of these technological projects to re-construct a new identity of the ideal Soviet citizen, and to strengthen support for communism
        
        L2 Gerovitch
        
        Argues that the cosmonaut served as the embodiment of the new Soviet man in the Khrushchev era, as both sets of identities reflected tensions imposed on the individual by the state's visions
        
        For cosmonauts, the tensions was between how much the flight systems should be automated, and how much agency should the cosmonauts be given
        --> Cybernetics: Suggested that it should be as automated as possible to reduce human error/agency
        
        The experiences of the cosmonaut paralleled those of the ideal Soviet citizen, meaning that a model cosmonaut was the ideal/exemplary Soviet citizen (pp. 149)
        
        An Extension/Extra:
        
        Scientific Pursuits in the Late USSR
        
        How science contributed to the demise of the USSR in 1991
        
        For this, we want to think about Big Science in the later years of the USSR, during the Gorbachev era
        
        Whether it still retains similar structure/organisation as the earlier USSR scientific ideas
        
        --> A case study of Chernobyl, and how it may/may not have illustrated the critical flaws in the rs between science and state in the political system of the USSR
        
        Chernobyl:
        https://unherd.com/2019/06/chernobyl-and-the-meltdown-of-the-ussr/#:~:text=According%20to%20Mikhail%20Gorbachev%2C%20the%20disaster%20at%20Chernobyl,as%20we%20knew%20it%20could%20no%20longer%20continue”.
        
        L2 Graham
        
        Overview of S/T development in the USSR and focussing on some of the reforms implemented by Gorbachev's glasnost
        
        Bolsheviks placed a huge emphasis on S/T and developed a peculiar academy model because: (1) they thought this aligned with the West (2) this prevented elite scientists (whose political loyalties were questioned) from influencing budding scientists
        
        State control allowed Big Science projects to occur efficiently!
        
        Also notes the various constrains on East-West scientific collaboration during the Cold War
        
        And finally, even with Gorbachev's reforms, which sought to undermine/change the academy model and make it more US-like in funding, these reforms still stressed CENTRALISED control
        
        NOTE: Useful pointers about what limited East-West scientific collaboration during the Cold War:
        
        The geopolitical climate
        
        Political compatibility
        
        Commensurability of S/T standards/developments/expectations
        
        The Re-legalisation of Abortion in 1955 (Sato/Hilevych)
        
        And the adoption of various forms of contraceptives
        
        Rejecting the 'Pill' as a form of Western bourgeois FAILED technologies --> The choice of what technologies to promote as evidence of communist ideologies
        
        But also the construction of the ideal 'Soviet woman'
        
        But also noting how the IUD technology was allowed even though it was developed in the US - suggesting that it wasn't simply a complete/wholesale rejection, technologies WERE adopted where necessary
- - - - NOTE: The emphasis on contradictions is Mao's expression of dialectical materialism! Dialectical materialism to Mao was essentially the study of contradictions in the material world
        
        And in expressing contradictions, Maoism was focussed on the concept of human will, not so much about historical materialism
    - - The Contradictions of the Elitist and Necessity Nature of Sceince
        
        During the Maoist period, science was conceived as part of the superstructure, meaning it was something that served the bourgeois and the 'elite'
        
        Yet, Mao recognised that science was necessary for the advancement of the nation
        
        Solution: To recognise that science CAN have class and political identities, and to conceive of science as a tool for revolutionary conquest?
        
        Walking on 2 Legs
        
        Hence the idea that science walks on 2 legs as a method of reconciling the tensions --> WO2L is fundamentally about resolving the contradictions of science!
        
        The concept that scientific endeavours requires the combination of expert and mass knowledge to become productive, so that science can serve the masses, the peasants and the people!
        
        L3 Rogaski
        
        Explores China's allegations of US germ warfare in 1952, arguing that the CCP used the allegations to further its political ideologies, and also that these allegations, true or not, laid important foundations for China's 1952 Patriotic Hygiene Campaign
        
        Patriotic Hygiene Campaign: Masses mobilised to collect the insects/evidence of the germ warfare, and to fight against NATURE (the 4 enemies of nature) and AMERICAN IMPERIALISM
        
        Also, the programme was about public-specialist cooperation, and the specific employment of the image of 'annihilation' was important, as it allowed Mao to draw the links between political enemies and nature
        
        L3 Solomone
        
        Aerospace industry, being a specialist field, was still vital for the PRC's advancements, and this was a contradiction that Mao sought to reconcile
        
        So, to protect this industry, it was handed over to the military to protect them from the Red Guards, and the scientists also showed their flexibility in being able to survive the regime
        
        Mao aligned the programme with nationalism, and also emphasised how aerospace technologies could aid the rural peasants (eg. weather monitoring, disaster management)
        
        So, WO2L manifested in various forms depending on the scientific discipline involved --> Not everything can simply involve the participation of the masses!
        
        Here, WO2L was not about the direct involvement/participation of the masses
        
        Rather, WO2L here entailed a more indirect sort of participation of the masses!
        
        Also see: The PRC's adoption of Lamaze childbirth techniques
  - - - IMPACT: The Great Leap Forward (1958 - 61)
        
        Mao envisioned that the PRC should beat the USSR in the race towards communism, so implemented drastic industrialisation and collectivisation policies
        
        Also came with highly unrealistic production quotas (steel factories, agrictlture etc.)
      - Self-Reliant Science
        
        As a result of its isolationism, Mao pushed the PRC to work towards being 'self-reliant' in the sciences
        
        This self-reliant ideology operated on BOTH the national and communal level, where villages/communities were encouraged to be independent and not rely on the government for assistance all the time
        
        --> See Schmalzer, L7 of East Asia
  - - - The Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976)
        
        Mao tried to consolidate his power (after the disaster of the Great Leap Forward), by inciting revolutionary fervour among youths and targeting the experts
        
        Also further emphasised the necessity of combining indigenous knowledge from the locals and the technical knowledge from experts (Barefoot doctors)
        
        L3 Fan
        
        Argues that earthquake prediction in Maoist China must be understood with the political and cultural context of the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976)
        
        Earthquake prediction combined the work of the masses (who were tasked with making anomalous observations of animal/water behaviour) and that of the scientists
        
        In doing so, a good citizen was one who was vigilant and observant, and this practice of mass science related to Maoist ideas of the struggle against nature
        
        It also helped Mao consolidate his political power, because it removed/eradicated the superstition that earthquakes/disasters were a sign of the regime's collapse
        
        *Fan also makes the case that what we see here isn't simply 'popular' or 'citizen science'
        
        It is far more politically loaded, and is meant to explicitly involve the integration of FOLK knowledge with technical knowledge
        
        Whereas in citizen science you get the sense that citizens are trying to acquire the tools/language of the experts
        
        L3 Schmalzer
        
        Argues that paleoanthropology can be used as a case study on the ways in which the contradictory pillars of Maoist science (science dissemination and participation) was resolved
        
        Dissemination of science through the IVPP's journal (Fossils) which carved a space for workers and labourers to engage in scientific discussions with scientists
        
        The exhibition of the Peking Man at Zhoukoudian also became a vehicle to convey a materialist view of biology, and was designed to appeal to the masses
        
        Cultural Revolution's policies of open-door schooling also meant that the mass-expert divide was transcended (the rise of the fossil hobbyist)
        
        There is perhaps something to be said here about the participation of citizens in collecting fossils. You can think of it as citizen science (or similar, to that effect where citizens help collect data for scientific work). But the meaning attached to the endeavour is very different from what we see in citizen science, because there's no real political CHANGE they work for here, rather it's helping to reinforce Maoism!
        
        L3 Ghosh
        
        Argues that the political climate of the Cultural Revolution influenced the process of demarcating the social science of statistics from the natural science of mathematical statistics
        
        Mainly, a movement to create socialist statistics to 'account' for the social relationships in society!
        
        Bourgeois statistics came under fire after 1949, and so many esteemed statisticians like Jin Guobao resorted to self-criticism to maintain their standing in society (so we see how scientists learn to adapt to the political ideologies they exist in)
- - - - L4 Vargha
        
        Argues that biomedical science created space for Cold War cooperation across the Iron Curtain, and thereby emphasises the fluidity and multiplicity of the Cold War experience
        
        Stalin's death in 1953 thawed East-West tensions, and gave space for the cooperation on the Sabin vaccine (was science above geopolitics?)
        
        Hungary successfully adopted both types of vaccines to eradicate polio much earlier than other countries (even the US!) --> The US was sceptical of the Sabin vaccine because of Soviet involvement
        
        In polio eradication, there seems to be a suggestion that totalitarian, centralised states were best poised to eradicate it because of mass vaccination campaigns
    - - L4 Freeze
        
        Explains how the BD200 emerged in a market that was indifferent to market forces, and how such a technology spread across the Iron Curtain
        
        The cotton research institute in Czechoslovakia had attracted Moscow's attention, as it could meet the demand for textiles, and Moscow's hunger for technical prestige
        
        For development of this, the researchers were organised into cross-disciplinary teams (working on different approaches to the same problem)
        
        Note also that collaboration with Courtlads (a British company) was mutually beneficial to both parties and helped overcome the problems of technology transfer across different cultural contexts
    - - L4 Bouillon
        
        French and Romania as 2 countries vying for independence from the hegemony of the US/USSR --> This created a good context for the expansion of collaboration (France wanted friends, Romania wanted to break free from the USSR)
        
        France had to convince the US that the agreement would benefit the Western bloc (Recruit Romania as an ally)
        
        Funny thing is the French knew that Romania was sending spies into France and was willing to still sign this agreement
        --> They felt that they had sufficient measures, and also used cost-benefit analysis
        
        The collaboration showed French diplomats the possibilities and limitations of using S/T to promote French interests and French detente in the Cold War!