Lysenkoism

Lysenkoism (or lysenkism) is a term derived from the name of the Soviet agronomist Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (1898-1976), which can be interpreted in several senses:

From a scientific point of view, Lysenkoism would focus on Lysenko's ideas about biology (specifically agricultural science), centered on his opposition to genetics, relying on Lamarck's notions of "inheritance of acquired characters." Based on it, Lysenko claimed to be capable of making prodigious advances for Soviet agriculture, reducing ripening times or multiplying harvests. It is also called "Minchurinism", as Lysenko himself called his theory in recognition of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, or "Minchurinism-Lysenkism".

Agricultural «discoveries»

Lysenko claimed to have made agricultural discoveries that could improve crop yields. His thesis, sometimes confusing, was based on the false notion of "inheritance of acquired characters" (Lamarckism) combined with various forms of Darwinism ^{[ citation needed ] . With a procedure that mixed vernalization and hybridization, he recommended "practical instructions" to improve agricultural production, rather than its scientific study; for example, cooling the grain before sowing it. In general terms, Lysenko stated that plants could be modified only by the environment, without taking into account their genetic inheritance. Given the erroneous nature of his theories, the results were not as widely publicized or did not hold up over time.}

The political and ideological aspect

For both ideological and pragmatic reasons, Soviet leaders and especially Joseph Stalin supported and promoted Lysenko's ideas. At an ideological level, Lysenkoism came to "support" the supposedly Marxist postulates about the moldability of human nature beyond what was imposed by genetic inheritance. On the other hand, there was the obvious practical application of some theses that, if successful, would solve the problem of food shortages suffered by the Soviet people.

The identification of Lysenko's theories with the Soviet regime was total: it became, in some way, "Soviet science." Lysenko published his “discoveries” not in scientific publications, but in generic popular media. He became, for more than thirty years (between the late 1920s and the mid-1960s) the only authoritative voice of agricultural science in the USSR, directly influencing political decisions. His power was such, and his personality so extreme, that he turned numerous scientists opposed to his theses into political prisoners, some of whom died. Among them were the botanist and geneticist Nikolai Vavílov, who died in 1943 of malnutrition in the prison. Genetics became, in some way, an "enemy" of the working class world, and DNA (when it was discovered) a superstition of the Western media. Lysenkoism was welcomed in many countries of the Eastern Bloc and in China, with greater or lesser acceptance.

The scientific-political identification in the case of Lysenko is also demonstrated by his decline, closely associated with that of Stalin's ideas and procedures. Although Khrushchev would still maintain his support for a time, the elimination of the cult of personality and the excess of power of the Stalinist period (de-Stalinization) would open gaps through which criticism of Lysenko's ideas would creep in. By the mid-60s his thesis had already been discredited in the USSR itself, and he was removed from his positions of responsibility and sent to an experimental farm.

Figurative use

The term Lysenkoism is sometimes used figuratively, to denote the open submission of science to politics.