A USSR-wide seminar of teachers of the fundamentals of scientific atheism was held at Moscow State University from March 14 to 17, 1972. The seminar was organized by the USSR Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education. Personnel holding posts of responsibility in the machinery of the Central Committee of the CPSU, in the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, Party and scientific workers, and graduate and undergraduate students specializing in the history and theory of atheism took (...) active part in its work. The seminar had 765 participants, representing all the constituent republics. Twenty-three papers and speeches were heard. (shrink)

The article addresses the special conditions in Soviet society during the Stalin period that contributed to the emergence of latent ideas about the unique position of the USSR on the map of the world, of Europe in particular. The focus is on pedagogical methods, the theory and practice of cartography, literary and journalistic texts, cinematography, and pop music, all of which present an image of the USSR as the “center of world civilization” and thereby sustain its inculcation in (...) public consciousness. An interesting and significant example is the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, launched on Stalin’s initiative and carried out under his patronage. In this context, the logic and the rhetoric of encyclopedia articles on the physical and political geography of Europe must be analyzed as a kind of territorial “crowding out” of Europe to the periphery of the Soviet Union. “Crowding out,” not only by geographical but also by ideological illusions of space, which emphasize and reproduce fairy-tale and epic orientations of social self-knowledge, brings the illusory space clearly into view. These means motivate the cyclical movement from centre to periphery and from periphery to centre. (shrink)

The subject of this article is the conceptual core of early Soviet cultural policy in the field of nation-building, as indicated by the well-known Stalinist formulation “socialist in content, national in form.” In addition to being well recognizable, there are several reason to address this phrase: 1) an interest in the Soviet regime’s language of self-description, which not only “conceals” real social practices from us, but also gives us access to them; 2) the opportunity to extend its descriptive power not (...) only to the culture of socialist realism but also to the nature of production in the multinational socialist space; and 3) the formulation is not as vague and empty as it may seem, despite the manipulativeness so characteristic of the language of ideology that allows one to avoid any meaningful definition through multi-stage rhetorical moves.This article describes both the logical-rhetorical effects produced by the phrase and the sociocultural problems it was attempting to respond to. The main material for the present analysis is the work of Bolshevik leaders on the nationalities question and on issues of cultural construction. Its theoretical framework is contemporary research focused on the specific features of the Soviet multinational political project. (shrink)

In the wake of Stalin's death, many Soviet scientists saw the opportunity to promote their methods as tools for the engineering of economic prosperity in the socialist state. The mathematician Leonid Kantorovich (1912–1986) was a key activist in academic politics that led to the increasing acceptance of what emerged as a new scientific persona in the Soviet Union. Rather than thinking of his work in terms of success or failure, we propose to see his career as exemplifying a distinct form (...) of scholarship, as a partisan technocrat, characteristic of the Soviet system of knowledge production. Confronting the class of orthodox economists, many factors were at work, including Kantorovich's cautious character and his allies in the Academy of Sciences. Drawing on archival and oral sources, we demonstrate how Kantorovich, throughout his career, negotiated the relations between mathematics and economics, reinterpreted political and ideological frames, and reshaped the balance of power in the Soviet academic landscape. (shrink)

The present study analyzes specific traits of Lysenkoism dogmas as they were reflected in Soviet hydrobiology. As a case study, I use the now-forgotten productivity theory of bodies of water developed in 1940 by the Soviet hydrobiologist Vladimir I. Zhadin. Zhadin’s views on production relied on his observations of changes in the communities of riverine faunas caused by the construction of water reservoirs. The theory is of particular interest because it attempts to address the unresolved problems of that period. Some (...) of these unsettled problems provided the foundation for the ideological debates during the dialectization period in Soviet biology of the early 1920s to mid-1930s and were influenced by Lysenkoism. Zhadin’s theory thus serves as a suitable model for identifying cognitive and ideological components in science and for the analysis of the influence of ideology on science. The analysis of Zhadin’s works shows that an attempt to separate ideologically imposed perceptions and the author’s own scientific views presents a challenging task. This can be explained by a highly efficient behavioral pattern of “protective coloration” employed by the scientist and by Zhadin’s sincere acceptance of some Lysenkoist ideas. Furthermore, I argue that the system of Lysenkoist dogmas concerning the association between an organism and its environment are in fact entirely sensible scientific principles which were taken to an extreme. The results of the study suggest a need for more careful and deeper evaluation of scientific works published during the period of the personality cult in the USSR. The “Lysenko affair” in branches of biology other than genetics is more complicated and needs further examination. (shrink)

The present study analyzes specific traits of Lysenkoism dogmas as they were reflected in Soviet hydrobiology. As a case study, I use the now-forgotten productivity theory of bodies of water developed in 1940 by the Soviet hydrobiologist Vladimir I. Zhadin. Zhadin’s views on production relied on his observations of changes in the communities of riverine faunas caused by the construction of water reservoirs. The theory is of particular interest because it attempts to address the unresolved problems of that period. Some (...) of these unsettled problems provided the foundation for the ideological debates during the dialectization period in Soviet biology of the early 1920s to mid-1930s and were influenced by Lysenkoism. Zhadin’s theory thus serves as a suitable model for identifying cognitive and ideological components in science and for the analysis of the influence of ideology on science. The analysis of Zhadin’s works shows that an attempt to separate ideologically imposed perceptions and the author’s own scientific views presents a challenging task. This can be explained by a highly efficient behavioral pattern of “protective coloration” employed by the scientist and by Zhadin’s sincere acceptance of some Lysenkoist ideas. Furthermore, I argue that the system of Lysenkoist dogmas concerning the association between an organism and its environment are in fact entirely sensible scientific principles which were taken to an extreme. The results of the study suggest a need for more careful and deeper evaluation of scientific works published during the period of the personality cult in the USSR. The “Lysenko affair” in branches of biology other than genetics is more complicated and needs further examination. (shrink)

Ethics in the USSR revived in the middle of the twentieth century after more than twenty years of silence. The impetus for the development of research and teaching in this area was given by the supreme power, which considered ethics as one of the more effective tools of state propaganda, corresponding to the new social realities. But pretty soon, the very logic of research immersion in the subject required ethicists to deepen the philosophical and normative analysis of morality. This (...) ultimately led to the revision of the postulates of orthodox Soviet social science and to the formation of a strict moral theory within its framework. The latter, by the very fact of its appearance, called into question the agenda of moralizing ideologization. The renewal of Soviet ethics proceeded in several directions, but in theoretical perspective, the key one was the turn from understanding morality as a form of ideological superstructure (which was dogmatically asserted in historical materialism), to understanding it as a way of regulating human behavior with specific functional characteristics. Today one can trace that transition by a number of intermediate steps in the interpretation of morality, the reconstruction of which, based on the texts of the 1950s to early 1970s, is of interest not only in the context of the history of ideas, but also in terms of the development of the methodology of ethical research and understanding of how a rigorous moral theory can be formed. Some episodes of the history of Soviet ethics are relevant today as examples of emancipated thought and intellectual opposition to the domination of state ideology. (shrink)

We present a survey of proof theory in the USSR beginning with the paper by Kolmogorov [1925] and ending (mostly) in 1969; the last two sections deal with work done by A. A. Markov and N. A. Shanin in the early seventies, providing a kind of effective interpretation of negative arithmetic formulas. The material is arranged in chronological order and subdivided according to topics of investigation. The exposition is more detailed when the work is little known in the West (...) or the original presentation can be improved using notions or results which appeared later. This includes such topics as Novikov's cut-elimination method (regular formulas) and Maslov's inverse method for the predicate logic. (shrink)

What was particularly remarkable about Danchev's radio broadcasts was not simply that he expressed opposition to the Soviet invasion and called for resistance to it, but that he called it an "invasion." In Soviet theology, there is no such event as the Russian invasion of Afghanistan; rather, there is a Russian defense of Afghanistan against bandits operating from Pakistani sanctuaries and supported by the CIA and other warmongers. The Russians claim they were invited in, and in a certain technical sense (...) this is correct. But as the London Economist grandly proclaimed (10/25/80), "An invader is an invader unless invited in by a government with some claim to legitimacy," and the government installed by the USSR> to invite them in can hardly make such a claim, outside the world of Orwellian newspeak. (shrink)

Though it has been nearly two decades since the fall of Communism in the former Soviet Union and the accompanying disintegration of the Soviet state, a strange aspect of the current cultural situation in Russia and in the other former republics of the USSR is that the people still identify themselves as post-Soviet. Yet, the difference between the Soviet past and a capitalist present is striking, which raises many questions: Why are the new elites referring to the old times (...) to legitimize themselves? Why do commercial advertisements stress that the products they offer are exactly the same as they used to be in Soviet times? And, why, year after year, does the government in Moscow organize impressive celebrations for Victory Day, inevitably drawing parallels to the old Soviet ceremonies? Back in the USSR by Boris Kagarlitsky tackles these questions and more as it reflects on what happened in Russia after the collapse of the old regime and how this has affected social and cultural life, as well as the everyday lives of ordinary people. In this arresting work, Kagarlitsky also delves into what type of intelligentsia still exists in the former USSR and the cultural products that are being produced by these artists, including novels, films, and music. (shrink)

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, conflict in the former USSR has been a key concern in international security. This book fills a gap in the literature on violent conflict, evaluating a region that contains all the modern ingredients for instability and aggression. Bringing together leading experts on war and security, the book addresses current debates in international relations about power, interests, globalisation and the politics of identity as major drivers of contemporary war. Incidents such as the 2008 (...) Russo-Georgian conflict, the wars in Chechnya, and Russia's struggles over national identity and resources with former communist states are all thoroughly examined. With new issues like energy security, terrorism and transnational crime, and older tensions between East and West threatening to deepen once more, this is an important contribution to the international security literature. (shrink)

This paper was given as a talk at the Venice Biennale on 9 December 1977. It was part of a symposium on "The Freedom of Science--Problems of Science of Scientists in Eastern Europe". Dr Bloch details some of the problems of psychiatry and its vulnerability to improper use and thus the dilemmas which must ensue in day to day practice. He looks at psychiatry in the USSR and the system within which Soviet psychiatrists must work. The Communist Party and (...) career advancement for psychiatrists would appear to be closely related and it is suggested that, in all probability, the majority of psychiatrists are as perturbed at the misuse of their profession as their Western colleagues, but act compliantly out of fear. Severe punishments have been imposed on those psychiatrists who have dared to speak out against the régime and the system as operated. Dr Bloch concludes by urging Western psychiatrists to do all they can to help their Soviet colleagues to initiate a return to an independent and automous psychiatric profession. (shrink)

In the 1920s and 1930s, some of the most talented linguists of the Soviet Union, among whom one can highlight N.F. Jakovlev and E.D. Polivanov, were involved in the process of “language building”. Their role in the success of this process is examined from the point of view of the phonological theory that they developed for creating scripts for the numerous peoples of the Soviet Union, Turkic and Caucasian above all. Jakovlev’s phonology, that Polivanov termed “social phonology”, was very different (...) from the one that N. Trubetskoj proposed some 10 years later. We will try to explain their ambitious script projects, which remain difficult to understand from the point of view of the modern phonology. (shrink)

In the 1920s and 1930s, some of the most talented linguists of the Soviet Union, among whom one can highlight N. F. Jakovlev and E. D. Polivanov, were involved in the process of "language building". Their role in the success of this process is examined from the point of view of the phonological theory that they developed for creating scripts for the numerous peoples of the Soviet Union, Turkic and Caucasian above all. Jakovlev's phonology, that Polivanov termed "social phonology", was (...) very different from the one that N. Trubetskoj proposed some 10 years later. We will try to explain their ambitious script projects, which remain difficult to understand from the point of view of the modern phonology. (shrink)

The article discusses the features of interaction and mutual influence of the art of woodcut of China and the USSR. Chinese woodcut and Soviet engraving reveal the greatest mutual influence and rich genre palette in the middle of the XX century. Chinese woodcut gave a creative impulse, enriched the visual possibilities, brought new ideas to the Soviet art of woodcut. It served as an impetus for the rise of graphics, which realized and asserted its specificity. In this regard, it (...) seems relevant to identify common features of Chinese woodcut and Soviet engraving of the mid-20th century, as well as to identify differences in the development of this art form in the two countries. The article analyzes the works of famous woodcuts of two countries: Chen Yanqiao, Yang Han, Qi Baishi, V. A. Favorsky, A. A. Ushin. As a result of the analysis, the common features of Chinese woodcut and Soviet engraving of the mid-20th century were revealed, for example, similar plots and themes, as well as a special dynamic, lively and pulsating rhythm of the works. In addition, differences in the development of this type of art in both countries have been established, largely due to the preservation of their own national style by graphic artists. It is claimed that Soviet graphics contributed to the variety of Chinese woodcuts. In turn, Soviet artists adopted the subtleties of filigree technique from Chinese woodcuts. (shrink)

Interview of Illia Davidenko, Kseniia Myroshnyk, Daria Popil with Anatoly Loy.

About 130 languages are currently spoken in the USSR. These languages differ considerably in their numbers of speakers, social status, scope and viability. Our primary interest in this paper will be with those languages that are in extreme danger of extinction in the near future.

The Committee for Polish Children in the USSR operated in the years 1943–1946. It was established on June 30, 1943 in Moscow following a political left-wing initiative. The Committee was a care-giving institution, fully in line with the Soviet system ideals. One of the most important matters tackled by the Committee was the repatriation of the youngest Polish citizens to their homeland. It was the subject of meetings, discussions and many hours of talks with the Soviet authorities. This issue (...) was one of the most difficult tasks carried out by the Committee employees. The repatriation of orphanages to Poland lasted from January to August 1946. (shrink)

The article reveals the peculiarities of the functioning of the canonical structures of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in the USSR during the era of the collapse of the totalitarian system - 1970-1980.

Much attention is given to education in philosophy in the USSR, in which the study of dialectical and historical materialism occupies a special place. The practical achievements involved in the transformation of society, together with the advance of the natural and social sciences, have demonstrated most clearly the great strength of dialectical materialism as the scientific world view of the working people and as the philosophical foundation of their practical activity. It is therefore no accident that philosophy has an (...) immense attraction for people in our country. (shrink)

Après la révolution d’Octobre 1917, la transformation des rapports sociaux entre les sexes a été placée au cœur du projet bolchevik de construction du socialisme en Russie. De nouvelles formes d’organisation de la vie domestique, du travail et de la société transformeraient les relations entre les hommes et les femmes. Afin que les femmes puissent participer à égalité avec les hommes aux activités de production et de la sphère publique, il était indispensable de libérer les femmes des tâches domestiques en (...) transférant celles-ci dans la sphère des services collectifs. Qu’en fut-il dans la réalité? Les enquêtes sur les emplois du temps des familles, appelées enquêtes de budget temps, qui ont été réalisées en URSS au début des années 1920 puis à la fin des années 1960 et au début des années 1970, permettent de juger de la réalité de l’évolution des rôles sociaux derrière les discours dans la Russie soviétique. (shrink)

This volume contains several invited papers as well as a selection of the other contributions. The conference was the first meeting of the Soviet logicians interested in com- puter science with their Western counterparts. The papers report new results and techniques in applications of deductive systems, deductive program synthesis and analysis, computer experiments in logic related fields, theorem proving and logic programming. It provides access to intensive work on computer logic both in the USSR and in Western countries.

A survey of works on automatic theorem-proving in the ussr 1964-1970. the philosophical problems are not touched.

During the mid-twentieth century, Soviet scientists developed the “natural focus” theory–practice framework to explain outbreaks of diseases endemic to wild animals and transmitted to humans. Focusing on parasitologist-physician Evgeny N. Pavlovsky and other field scientists’ work in the Soviet borderlands, this article explores how the natural focus framework’s concepts and practices were entangled in political as well as material ecologies of knowledge and practice. We argue that the very definition of endemic plague incorporated both hands-on materialist experience and ideological concepts (...) that supported Soviet colonization. Theorizing and fighting plague assisted with the goals of controlling and improving landscapes and peoples in southern Russia and Central Asia. The history of the natural focus framework illustrates how Soviet disease ecology co-developed with the needs of local and central political powers in the Soviet borderlands. (shrink)

This article examines the Stalin regime’s treatment of the ethnic Germans in the USSR during the 1940s as a case study in racial discrimination. After 1938, Soviet definitions of nationality became racialized. Systematic repression against certain nationalities in the USSR after this time clearly fit the definition of racial discrimination formulated by scholars in the post-war era. This article examines the separate and unequal institutions of the special settlement regime and labor army imposed upon the ethnic Germans in (...) the USSR during World War II in the context of race as a category constructed along lines of primordial and essentialist views of culture. It also compares the construction of racialized groups and the practice of racial discrimination in the USSR with South Africa during the apartheid era. (shrink)