13. When Textbooks Were Rewritten to Support Junk Science
Lysenko’s claims were as scientific as those of Middle Ages alchemists who claimed the ability to transform lead into gold, and were just as laughably ludicrous. However, in a sinister twist, Lysenko found a powerful supporter for his theories: Joseph Stalin. In the scary political environment of the Soviet Union at the time, criticism of Lysenko’s warmed over Lamarckian theories was equated with criticism of Stalin. You did not criticize Stalin, or even hint that you might disagree with him, if you knew what was good for you. Challenges to Lamarckian Inheritance were treated as political deviancy. The logic was lethal: Comrade Stalin endorses Lysenko and his Lamarckism. You disagree with Lysenko’s Lamarckism. Therefore, you disagree with Comrade Stalin.
Those who disagreed with Lysenko were deemed subversives, Trotskyites, foreign spies, fascist agents, or capitalist stooges out to sabotage the USSR. Soviet scientists who challenged Lysenko’s revived Lamarckism were arrested by the NKVD, brutally interrogated, tortured, sent to the gulag where many died, or simply executed. Lysenko launched a campaign to eliminate his opponents, in which more than 3000 mainstream biologists were fired, jailed, arrested, or executed. Before Lysenko, Russia and the USSR had been world leaders in the field of genetics. However, genetic research disproved Lamarckian Inheritance, so genetic research was abandoned. It was not revived until after Stalin’s death in 1953, by which point the Soviets had fallen decades behind.