Lysenko Lives?

Authors

  • William deJong Lambert

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/2292-4736/40371

Abstract

When Trofim D. Lysenko took control of biology in the Soviet Union, The New York Times explained it would be “just as if we had to accept Republican or Democratic dictation in scientific reasoning, depending upon which of the two major parties happens to be in power” (New York Times 1948: E6). It was 1948 -- the year of the Berlin Airlift, communist coup in Czechoslovakia, founding of Israel and launch of the Marshall Plan; the start of the Cold War. At a session of the Lenin AllUnion Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Moscow Lysenko declared genetics was a fascist science practiced by worshippers of Wall Street. The “gene theory” had provided the rationale for racism, colonization and the exploitation of the working class. With the words--“The Central Committee of the Party has examined my report and approved it”-- Lysenko launched a purge of genetics that would be termed

References

“Lysenko Again to the Fore,” New York Times. August 22, 1948: E6.

Steven Jay Gould, Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. New York: Norton, 1983.

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Published

2006-01-01

How to Cite

deJong Lambert, W. (2006). Lysenko Lives?. UnderCurrents: Journal of Critical Environmental Studies, 15, 8. https://doi.org/10.25071/2292-4736/40371

Issue

Vol. 15 (2006): Mobilizing Nature: Militarism and the Environment

Section

Academic

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Authors retain copyright over their work and license their work for publication in UnderCurrents under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means that the work is available for commercial and non-commercial use, reproduction, and adaptation provided that the original authors are credited and the original publication in this journal is cited, following standard academic practice.