Is it true that the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko called the genetics of a corrupt girl of imperialism?

The belief is widespread that the Soviet agronomist and a biologist, a representative of the so -called Michurinsky agribiology, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko called the classical genetics of a corrupt girl of imperialism. We decided to check if this is confirmed by historical documents.

Information that the phrase belongs to the Soviet agronomist is found in many authoritative media. For example, RIA Novosti observer Tatyana Sinitsyna Writes: “On August 7, 1948, Vaskhnil (the All -Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences named after V.I. Lenin), People's Academician Trofim Lysenko, from the rostrum of the session, threw the following words into the hall:“ Genetics is a corrupt girl of imperialism ”. And Vesti.ru is quoted by the academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Libra of Lev Ernst, who, recalling the ideas of Trofim Lysenko, He said: “The tragedy was for biological science, especially for genetics. It is enough to recall how he himself said somewhere that this is a corrupt girl of imperialism. ” Can Meet And this statement: “Lysenko accused geneticists of purposefully delaying the development of agriculture, genetics was called pseudoscience, the servant of Goebbels’s department, and a corrupt girl of imperialism.” In fiction, the phrase is also found, but without an accurate indication of the author. For example, c Roman Daniil Granin's “Zubr”: “In 1948, they would have dealt with him quickly, but others have come, you won’t drop a strangle. "Bourgeois science", "fly agaric-man-enhanced people", "genetics-a corrupt girl of imperialism" and the like did not take place, nevertheless there was 1957. "

Persecution of classical genetics in the USSR Started In the 1930s. By 1936, two opposite approaches were formed in Soviet biological science. One was Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov, the brightest representative of the second was Trofim Denisovich Lysenko. At the IV session of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Lenin in Moscow both scientists defended their views before the scientific and party community. And although the experiment Lysenko had significant methodological violations, it was his theory that received official approval.

Trofim Denisovich and his colleagues called their approach to Michurinsky agriculture, but contrasted themselves with “bourgeois Weismanism - Morganism - Mendelism” (classical genetics). At the heart of Michurinsky agribiology lay The idea of ​​education - allegedly acquired signs, the parental organism can convey to descendants. Also, this approach denied the significance of chromosomes as a carrier of heredity and the theory of Darwin regarding the intraspecific struggle for existence. Classical genetics, the same Weismanism - Morganism - Mendelism, named by the last names of the three most outstanding representatives of science, relied on completely different postulates. German zoologist August Weisman suggestedWhat kind of heredity is the chromosomes of the core nucleus. American geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan Formulated and experimentally demonstrated the chromosomal theory of heredity, for which received Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1933. And the Austrian monk and botanist Gregor Mendel in the middle of the XIX century Opened The laws of inheritance of monogenic features, which are now being studied at school in biology lessons called Mendel's laws.

The final defeat of classical genetics and the triumph of Michurinsky agribiology happened In 1948, at the August session, Vaskhnil. There Trofim Denisovich read His report “On the situation in biological science”, and also made a question of the superiority of the Soviet approach over the bourgeois. It was during this meeting that, as claimed, that the phrase on the selling girl of imperialism was uttered. At the same time Materials The August session has been stenced and today completely digitized. The expression that interests us is not found there. Participants in the session really call the genetics of bourgeois science, reactionary, foreign, formal, and its installations - false and harmful.

The study of the issue where this phrase actually appeared was conducted by a Russian translator, culturalist and historian Konstantin Dushenko. In his "Dictionary of modern quotes" he IndicatesThat she first sounded in the play of Alexander Khazin, “Wizards live nearby,” written in 1964. The monologue from this play with the mention of the phrase of interest to us was read by the superpopular in the USSR, artist Arkady Raikin in the Leningrad Theater of Miniatures, which he led. Information about this is, for example, on site Museum of the Central Studio of Documentary Films. There is also a more complete quote from the play, put into the mouth of the collective image of the official by the name of Pantyukhov: “I liked the unchanged specialties all my life - an authorized person, instructor, and a culture. I also worked on the perfume front, released perfumes called "The soldiers are going"; Then at the stadium, he came up with holidays with folk artists and horses; Then they threw me into biology, there I wrote an article "Genetics - a corrupt girl of imperialism"; I read the report at the seminar: "Every year, our weak currents are becoming stronger and stronger."

The recording of the passage from the play performed by Arkady Raikin with the corresponding quote can be found in the public domain.

Thus, a common phrase did not belong to the Soviet agronomist, but appeared in fiction. At the same time, she, apparently, so accurately and figuratively reflected the views of the supporters of Lysenkovshchina that he was soon attributed to the very ideologist of the movement.

Image on the cover: Unknown Authorunknown AuthorPublic Domain, Via Wikimedia Commons

Incorrect attribution of quote

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