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— CH. 1 · IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS AND CONTEXT —

Lysenkoism

~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
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  • In 1923, Ivan Pavlov announced that conditioned reflexes could be inherited in mice. Soviet ideologists ignored his later withdrawal of this claim and used it to support Lamarckian ideas. This created a fertile ground for Trofim Lysenko's rise within the Communist Party. The struggle for survival in Darwinism was seen as individualistic and liberal by Marxists who preferred collective class struggle. They believed changing an organism's body could affect its genetic material passed to offspring. This neo-Lamarckism seemed compatible with Marxist doctrine on immutable laws of history. Gregor Mendel's rediscovered work showed genes were located on chromosomes and passed unchanged from parent to offspring. By 1925, Western biology had largely replaced Lamarckism with Mendelian genetics. Yet the Soviet Union kept the older theory alive through political pressure rather than scientific evidence. Kliment Timiryazev, a popularizer of science, allied with the new Soviet republic and influenced many including Michurin. His views helped establish a framework where environmental control could direct plant breeding. Stalin's forced collectivization of farms caused a crisis in Soviet agriculture around 1930. The resulting famine of 1932, 1933 prompted the government to seek technical solutions that maintained central political control.

  • Trofim Lysenko claimed in 1928 that exposing wheat seeds to humidity and low temperature would greatly increase crop yields. He stated he could transform durum spring wheat into common autumn wheat over two to four years of autumn planting. This species transition was impossible since T. durum has 28 chromosomes while T. vulgare has 42. Lysenko dismissed this objection by claiming chromosome numbers changed as well during transformation. He called the concept of a gene a bourgeois invention belonging to Platonic metaphysics instead of materialist Marxist science. Lysenko refused to admit random mutations stating that science is the enemy of randomness. He further claimed that when a tree is grafted, the scion permanently changes the heritable characteristics of the stock. Modern biological theory suggests such change might occur through horizontal gene transfer but there is no evidence it actually happens. In one experiment, blood from colored chickens was injected into white chickens. It was claimed the white chicken's offspring showed partly or fully colors though Western scientists rejected these claims. The plant hybridization experiments did not replicate and the chicken experiment failed to control for recessive alleles. These assertions formed the core of what became known as Lysenkoism.

  • Isaak Izrailevich Prezent brought Trofim Lysenko to public attention in the late 1920s. State media published enthusiastic articles like Siberia is transformed into a land of orchards and gardens. Anyone opposing Lysenko was presented as a defender of mysticism obscurantism and backwardness. Stalin personally edited a speech by Lysenko in 1935 despite his skepticism toward the assertion that all science is class-orientated. During this event Stalin stood first and applauded calling out Bravo Comrade Lysenko. After becoming head of the Soviet Academy of Agricultural Sciences classical genetics began to be called fascist science. From July 31 to the 7th of August 1948 the Academy held a week-long session organized by Lysenko and approved by Stalin. At its end Lysenko declared the Central Committee had examined his report and approved it. This moment marked the birth of a new orthodoxy within Soviet biology. The Ministry of Higher Education commanded all biological institutes to immediately follow the Lysenko orthodoxy via Order No. 1208 on the 23rd of August 1948. Similar central directives dismissed scientists withdrew textbooks and required removal of any references to heredity in higher education. There was also an order to destroy all stocks of Drosophila a common model organism for research in genetics.

  • Over 3,000 mainstream biologists were dismissed or imprisoned during the campaign against genetics in the Soviet Union. Numerous scientists were executed including Izrail Agol Solomon Levit Grigorii Levitskii Georgii Karpechenko and Georgii Nadson between 1934 and 1940. Nikolai Vavilov president of the Agriculture Academy was arrested in 1940 and died in prison in 1943. Hermann Joseph Muller American geneticist who moved to the Leningrad Institute with fruit flies returned to America via Republican Spain after being criticized as bourgeois capitalist imperialist and promoter of fascism. Iosif Rapoport worked on mutagens but refused to publicly repudiate chromosome theory suffering years as a geological lab assistant. Dmitry Sabinin's book on plant physiology was abruptly withdrawn from publication in 1948 and he died by suicide in 1951. Secret research facilities known as sharashka were where numerous scientists ended up imprisoned. Genetics research was effectively destroyed until the death of Stalin in 1953. Leading geneticists were monitored by secret agents from the State Security Service. Those who supported Lysenkoism were favored while Oparin vigorously defended it even in 1955 after its fall.

  • Other countries of the Eastern Bloc accepted Lysenkoism as official new biology to varying degrees. Communist Poland aggressively pushed state propaganda attacking damage caused by bourgeois Mendelism-Morganism comparing it to Mein Kampf. Trybuna Ludu published an article titled French scientists recognize superiority of Soviet science by Pierre Daix. While some academics accepted Lysenkoism for political reasons the Polish scientific community largely opposed it. Wacław Gajewski was denied contact with students though allowed to continue work at Warsaw botanical garden. He founded the first department of genetics at University of Warsaw in 1958 after rapid rejection starting from 1956. Communist Czechoslovakia adopted Lysenkoism in 1949. Jaroslav Kříženecký criticized it in lectures and was dismissed from Agricultural University in 1949 before being imprisoned in 1958. East Germany taught Lysenkoism at some universities but had little impact due to Hans Stubbe's actions and West Berlin research contacts. Schoolbooks contained Lysenkoist theories as late as Nikita Khrushchev's dismissal in 1964. Lysenkoism dominated Chinese science from 1949 until 1956 when open discussion of alternative theories like classical Mendelian genetics was forbidden.

  • In October 1947 Trofim Lysenko promised Stalin to breed branching wheat into a yield of 15,000 kg per hectare. At that time the most productive wheat breed under exceptionally favorable conditions could achieve only 2,000 kg/ha. The failure of these methods contributed directly to food shortages across the Soviet Union and allied nations. In China the influence of Lysenkoists remained large for several years contributing to the Great Famine through loss of yields. Research and teaching in fields such as neurophysiology cell biology and many other biological disciplines were harmed or banned. The government supported the campaign despite its disastrous results on crop production. State media published reports claiming wheat turning into rye cabbages into rutabaga etc. These claims appeared in Lysenko's journal Agrobiology but lacked scientific validity. The ban on genetics research prevented any correction of these agricultural failures during the height of the movement.

  • At the end of 1952 newspapers began publishing articles criticizing Lysenkoism though return to regular genetics slowed under Nikita Khrushchev. It was once again forbidden to criticize Lysenkoism though possible to express different views after his death. The geneticists imprisoned under Stalin were released or rehabilitated posthumously. The ban was finally lifted in the mid-1960s. Soviet scientists noticed great advance in molecular biology such as characterization of DNA even hold-out Lysenkoists started accepting DNA as material basis for heredity. In the 21st century Lysenkoism is again being discussed in Russia including in respectable newspapers like Kultura. Geneticist Lev Zhivotovsky made unsupported claim that Lysenko helped found modern developmental biology. Discoveries in epigenetics are sometimes raised as alleged late confirmation of Lysenko's theories despite minor and unstable heritable effects compared to genetic inheritance. Heritable traits passed without DNA alteration exist but environment-induced changes remain primary mechanism according to Lysenko's original belief.

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Common questions

What is Lysenkoism and when did it begin?

Lysenkoism was a pseudoscientific Soviet biological theory that began to rise in the 1920s after Trofim Lysenko claimed wheat seeds could be transformed into autumn varieties. The movement gained official state power starting from July 31 to the 7th of August 1948 when the Academy held a session approved by Stalin.

Who was Trofim Lysenko and what were his main claims about genetics?

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist who claimed that environmental changes like humidity and low temperature could transform plant species and alter heritable characteristics. He dismissed genes as bourgeois inventions and stated that science should reject random mutations while claiming grafted trees permanently change stock heredity.

When did the Soviet Union ban classical genetics research and how many scientists suffered?

The Soviet Union banned classical genetics research through Order No. 1208 on the 23rd of August 1948 which commanded all biological institutes to follow Lysenko orthodoxy. Over 3,000 mainstream biologists were dismissed or imprisoned during this campaign including Nikolai Vavilov who died in prison in 1943.

How did Lysenkoism affect agriculture and food production in the Soviet Union and China?

Lysenkoism caused direct food shortages across the Soviet Union and contributed to the Great Famine in China through loss of yields despite promises of 15,000 kg per hectare wheat. The government supported these methods even though they lacked scientific validity and prevented any correction of agricultural failures during the height of the movement.

Which Eastern Bloc countries adopted Lysenkoism and when was it finally rejected?

Communist Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and China accepted Lysenkoism as official biology with varying degrees of support from 1949 until the mid-1960s. Schoolbooks contained Lysenkoist theories as late as Nikita Khrushchev's dismissal in 1964 before the ban was lifted in the mid-1960s.

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All sources

57 references cited across the entry

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