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The Soviet Union attached great importance to scientific and technological progress. Soviet leaders liked to think big. They set out to tame and exploit nature, conquer space, and make technological advance a driving and legitimating force of the socialist order. They had new, technologically advanced cities constructed, along with hydroelectric dams, space laboratories, and nuclear power plants; whether it was transport systems, recreational spaces, or agriculture: everything was be developed for the future in accordance with supposedly objective, scientific laws. Technical and scientific professions were promoted on a grand scale, for all genders and nationalities, through education, literature and film, and a wide range of campaigns. Not surprisingly, many children dreamt of becoming cosmonauts, doctors, and nuclear scientists.
In a society as profoundly politicized as the Soviet one, however, science was also politics. State and party institutions had scientific advisory boards; at times, leading institutes and scientists gained substantial influence over political leaders. Scholars and entire academic disciplines rose to fame, or fell from grace, according to political preferences. Scientists and engineers enjoyed many privileges. Some scholars suggest, not without reason, that these groups were the key supporters of the Soviet system, far more than the traditional working class.
The all-pervasive presence of science in Soviet society and its complicated relationship with politics are at the core of this seminar, which tracks continuities and changes over time. While the focus of the seminar is on the period from the 1950s to the 1980s, the importance of science is also traced back to the 1920s and 1930s. The perspective is both top-down and bottom-up: plans and policies at the center are examined as much as their implementation and reception at the local level. The ways in which writers, artists, and filmmakers responded to these plans and portrayed science and the scientific profession complement these debates. Examples of technological development and controversy include sites from across the Soviet Union (and, in fact, outer space). The seminar makes use of the wide range of historical sources, including memoirs and press articles, letters, party reports, and literary works along with audio and visual sources. |
