“The Consequences of Political Dictatorship for Russian Science”, 2001-09-01 (; similar):
The Soviet communist regime had devastating consequences on the state of Russian 20th century science. Country Communist leaders promoted Trofim Lysenko—an agronomist and keen supporter of the inheritance of acquired characters—and the Soviet government imposed a complete ban on the practice and teaching of genetics, which it condemned as a “bourgeois perversion”. Russian science, which had previously flourished, rapidly declined, and many valuable scientific discoveries made by leading Russian geneticists were forgotten.
…Totalitarian political pressure: The Soviet communist regime eliminated many of its best scientists, crushed societal morals and brought irreparable harm to the country (for a discussion see REFS 8,10). During 1919–31922102ya, Lenin exiled thousands of philosophers, sociologists, historians and economists whose ideas contradicted his views. Stalin and the Communist Party Politburo took the next step: they decided that certain scientific fields must be forbidden as “bourgeois perversion”. It is possible to argue that science is intrinsically political, and many scientists might be seen as excellent politicians when it comes to seeking financial support for their work, but, in my opinion, this behavior cannot be compared with the hysterical appeals to the country’s leaders to ban certain disciplines and calls for the arrests of ‘anti-Soviet’ scientists that took place in the USSR.
The intervention of the Communist leaders into science in the USSR was a particular phenomenon in the history of science in the 20th century, comparable only with the events that took place in Nazi Germany. It is qualitatively different from the sort of everyday ‘politics’ in which all scientists, everywhere, engage. The most tragic consequence of totalitarian rule was the persecution of those scientists who were unable to unconditionally agree with the Party’s decrees or tried to dispute its decisions. These personal tragedies of many outstanding scientists in the USSR led to much deeper and wider effects. The progress of science was slowed or stopped, and millions of university and high school students received a distorted education. A comparable example of the devastating influence of politicization of society was the Nazis’ destruction of science in fascist Germany after 1933. Thousands of scientists, especially those of Jewish origins, were forced to leave Germany. Nevertheless, the mass arrests of scientists in the Soviet Union had much worse consequences for science. In my opinion, it was the most tragic event in the history of science. It demonstrated the terrible effects of a political dictatorship, and showed that science should develop in free and open competition between scientists, without political intervention.