Failed revival: some results of the development of Russian evolutionary theory in the second half of the XX century

The historical and scientific narrative about the August 1948 session of Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, portrayed for more than half a century in historiography as a triumph of pseudoscience, has undergone significant changes in recent decades. People who participated in those events are increasingly envisioned as representatives of various scientific clans competing for the authorities’ protection, finances, materials and human resources. The confrontations among biologists of those years are also explained by the interference of ideologists from the US state Department and the Central Committee of the CPSU in the clash two scientific concepts. Based on the analysis of August session’s causes and consequences, the author considers its role in the development of Russian evolutionary theory in the second half of the XXth – early XXI centuries. In those years the state became the sole customer of scientific research and tried to use it effectively to raise economic and military power, to justify its ideological policy and increase its international status. The confrontation between supporters of Michurin’s biology (lysenkoists) and their opponents on both sides involved scientists who already shared the morals, plans, and worldview of the party and government apparatus. Realizing that only the state can provide funds for their research projects, they sought to reach an understanding with the authorities, emphasizing the “ideological correctness” of their research and its great ideological significance. But at the same time, Lysenko’s opponents sought to stay in the mainstream of world science, follow its standards, and therefore were sensitive to the interference of the authorities in determining the strategy of scientific search. As a result, ethical and political compromises were inevitable. Scientists engaged in a dialogue with the authorities in a language they understood, using ideologies they understood, demonstrating loyalty to the party’s policy and official philosophy, but at the same time demanding not only financial and material resources, but also non-interference in science itself. As a result, even after the official collapse of Lysenko’s dominance, the evolutionary theory in the Russian-speaking regions could not regain its leading position in the knowledge of the evolution’s laws and ways.