The Hypocrisy of Communism and Science

I find it fascinating that when we discuss the Russian Revolution and its affect on Russia’s scientific policy and scientists; we overlook completely the hypocrisy of it all. Karl Marx once said that "In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic." It is this ideology that motivated the October Revolution in 1917. The Bolsheviks quickly turned Russia into a communist state, by taking control of the banks and factories and attempting to eliminate all private property. They wanted a classless/proletarian society. That science should be brought to the masses and you could turn your average factory worker into a physicist overnight. The days of exploiting the workers would be over and the elitist scientific community abolished. This obviously had many issues, the main one being that science is an elite profession for a reason, and you can’t turn factory workers into scientist.
Rather to ensure rapid industrial progress they needed the scientists and this is where we see the re-establishment of scientists as a privileged community. While most of Russia was facing famine and poverty, a so called scholar’s ration had been set up that provided financial, health, cultural, housing assistance and monthly gold ruble allowances based upon seniority. The workers are no longer taking precedence over the scientist. This is not to say that the scientists had it easy, they were the subject of relentless persecution over accountability of their research. Physicists became forcibly focused on finding solutions to pressing technological issues such as metals, fuels, electrification and communications. As time went on we begin to see Russia becoming protective of their scientists and scientific research. Russian scientists became isolated from the rest of the world. The Soviets spent massive amounts of money to bring foreign speakers to lecture about the latest discoveries and research. This was a one way deal as Russian Scientists were unable to travel abroad and soon Russia disappeared behind the “Iron Curtain”.
While Soviet Russia had realized that in order to survive they had to reintroduce capitalism at a low level, where everyone would still work for the state but as well as for themselves (New Economic Plan 1924). This marked the beginning of Russia’s ascension to one of the world’s superpowers at the end of World War 2.

When looking at the different types of physics, it is best to start off with asking ourselves exactly what physics is. What separates physics from other sciences? The simplest one that I discovered was “the science of matter and energy and their interactions”. This still just is too much for my history focused brain; to me physics is an attempt to describe reality. That is dependent on two very important things: Quantification and Empirical Laws. While over the last few decades the science of physics has evolved rapidly from the time of Aristotelian Physics; basically using logic to discern information and postulate theories. To having a particle accelerator that stretches out for sixteen miles and has a five story detector, underground (CERN). As you can see the way modern scientist approach physics has become an insanely complicated sounding process, I have no idea what a particle accelerator is but apparently it is the future of physics. Generally modern physics is known as the time period near the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th. Any discoveries or developments before this can be classified as classical physics. This is not the only thing that separates the two, the way that physics was viewed and approached was different as well. Physicists of the classical time period used a clock metaphor to describe the physical world. That the motion and interaction of the gears were predictable, and that with a little more work, they soon would have a complete understanding of the whole clock. They were so certain of this that they developed a blind eye to the big questions like; where does the sun get its energy. Instead the know-it-all attitude was developed. This apparently is a common attitude for scientist it has been exhibited numerous times over time.
Germany is a perfect example of this, during the Weimar Republic; the attitude German scientist was one of extreme superiority. After the war Germany had little upon which to rest its laurels and they began to take great pride in their status as one of worlds leading scientific countries. That is fine, Germany had just lost a war and their country was in major debt having to pay for wartime reparations as well as having to deal with a failing economy. It is when you pollute the purity of science with politics that you run into problems and complications. George Hale had the noble idea of beginning an international research program in attempt to connect scientist to learn from each other. The only issue was that no one really wanted Germany to be a part of this program, except the neutral countries. That’s because they were able to look past the politics and at what was best for scientific growth. However others were harboring a personal vendetta against Germany; like France who were suffering heavy personal and economic loss due to the war. America refused to participate in any exclusion of Germany from this council. Wilson had continually stated that “America’s quarrel was with the rulers, not the people of Germany”. By the time the Allie-International Committee realized their mistake in isolating one of the most powerful scientific countries in the world they were to late. Germany wanted nothing to do with anyone but Germany. Science had been propelled to a position of power and it was one of the few things that Germany could be proud of. The citizens looked after their scientist, treating them like superstars and the government took care of their scientist through government funding.
One of Germany’s superstars was a physicist known as Albert Einstein. Einstein left his mark in scientific history, with his theory of relativity something that was so revolutionary that it completely changed people perception of the world and themselves. Einstein was much more than that however, he was a genius. His life and career were filled with complications and turmoil. His theories though wildly popular to most of the world faced great persecution from others (Lenard), he was subjected to anti-semantic feelings that targeted not only his religion, and heritage but also his research. Einstein was on a rollercoaster of public opinion. From one of the most beloved citizens to the most hated. All due to his refusal to allow personal politics to hamper or impede scientific progress. As impressive all of his discoveries and research and theories were. That is not what I find truly fascinating about Einstein. I don’t full understand the importance of his theories in relevance to everyday life. What made an impact on me was his dedication to his causes; he was a Zionist and pacifist. He believed in the Zionist cause the cultural cause , that Palestine could become a place for Jews to pursue their dreams and establish a safe place in which they did not have to fear persecution. Einstein had three main beliefs concerning politics: 1) Rejection of autocratic forms of governments. 2) “the individuals creativity is more precious than the political state as well as a more important asset.” 3) That a military mentality was a heinous thing. Einstein during this period was deeply offended by those Jews who readily attempted to assimilate into Germanys new vision of a model citizen. He was a man who was about taking a stand and having self respect. As a pacifist, he was in favor of disarmament he was also an idealist who had visions of world peace. He was warmly welcomed in America where he was officially able to sever ties from Germany and start anew in a democratic society that welcomes and nourishes the individual. Einstein continued to spread his political views in hopes that it would make a difference one day. He discussed with American youths about rebel against conscription and not to allow themselves to be brainwashed and sacrificed for the cause. Rather to take their idealism, passions, and intellect and direct it towards politics.
“One of the strongest motives leading to scientific and artistic creativity stems from a longing to escape the painful realities of the everyday world in a search for higher truths.” (Schopenhauer)
This is how Albert Einstein lived his life, In pursuit of those “higher truths” and it was a battle that encompassed many different areas of life. Anyone who can dedicate their life to this sort of monumental quest and make significant progress deserves to be made timeless figure.