Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Italian Communist Party and the “Lysenko Affair” (1948–1955)

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article explores the impact of the VASKhNIL conference upon the cultural policy of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and Italian communist biology, with particular attention to the period between 1948 and 1951. News of the Moscow session did not appear in the Italian news media until October, 1948, and for the next three years party biologists struggled over whether to translate the official transcript of the proceedings, The Situation in Biological Science, into Italian. This struggle reveals the complex efforts of the PCI to confirm the ideological and political connection with the Soviet Union, without completely alienating significant milieus of the democratic and antifascist culture in Italy. The apparent impossibility of doing both is indicated by the fact that the project was finally abandoned in March–April, 1951. The article is divided into three sections, each focused on different actors and their response to Lysenkoism. The first section outlines the features of the PCI’s pro-Lysenko campaign, with particular regard to the intellectual militancy and organizational commitment of Emilio Sereni, head of PCI’s Cultural Commission between 1948 and 1951. The second section analyzes the reaction of the three most important figures in Italian communist biology during this period, Massimiliano Aloisi, Franco Graziosi and Emanuele Padoa. The third section interprets the decision not to publish a translation of The Situation in Biological Science as a consequence of the conflicts between PCI cultural program and the editorial policy of the left-wing publishing house Giulio Einaudi Editore.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajello, Nello. 1979. Intellettuali e PCI, 1944–1958. Rome-Bari: Laterza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aloisi, Massim. 1945. “Spiritualità della natura.” Rinascita 7–8 (July–August): 189–190.

  • Aloisi, Massim. 1948a. “Su un principio di indeterminazione biologica.” Società 2 (July): 196–218.

  • Aloisi, Massim., 1948b. “Il numero dei cretini non è in aumento.” L’Unità, 26 November: 3.

  • Aloisi, Massim. 1950. “Una cellula impazzita uccide i tessuti vicini.” L’Unità, 15 February: 3.

  • Aloisi, Massim. 1954. “La situazione nelle scienze biologiche.” Società 10: 1013–1042.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aloisi, Massim. 1955. “La situazione nelle scienze biologiche.” Società 11: 565–580.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aragon, Louis. 1948. “De la libre discussion des idées.” Europe 26(33–34): 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azzone Giovanni Felice. 2000. “Massimo Aloisi. Scienziato, filosofo e uomo del suo tempo.” Atti dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Rendiconti Lincei. Classe di scienze fisiche, matematiche e naturali. Supplemento 11: 27–47.

  • Azzone Licio [Giovanni Felice], Frontali Nora, Graziosi Franco, Toschi Libero. 1948. “Professori a rotocalco.” L’Unità, 19 November 1948: 3.

  • Bertain, Pierre. 1948. “‘Combat’ et le ‘Popu’ son partis en croisade sous la bannière du moine Mendel.” Action 208 (22–27 September): 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boringhieri, Giulia. 2010. Storia di libri, di mio padre e di noi. Dallo struzzo al cielo stellato. Turin: Einaudi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buican, Denis. 1988. Lyssenko et le lyssenkisme. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzzati-Traverso, Adriano. 1948. “In Russia si nasce secondo la legge di Lyssenko.” L’Europeo 4(46), 8–14 November 1948: 9.

  • Buzzati-Traverso, Adriano and Cavalli, Luca L. 1948. Teoria dell’urto ed unità biologiche elementari. Milano: Longanesi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassata, Francesco. 2006. Il fascismo razionale. Corrado Gini fra scienza e politica. Rome: Carocci.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassata, Francesco.——2008. Le due scienze. Il “caso Lysenko” in Italia. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassata, Francesco.——2011. Building the New Man. Eugenics, Racial Science and Genetics in Twentieth-Century Italy. Budapest: CEU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champenois, Jean. 1948. “L’hérédité n’est pas commandée par de mystérieux facteurs. Le savant soviétique Lyssenko porte un coup droit aux théories antidarwiniennes.” Les Lettres Françaises 222, 26 August: 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cogniot, George. 1948. “La science soviétique et les socialistes du Moyen Age.” L’Humanité, 10 September.

  • DeJong-Lambert, William. 2005. The New Biology: Lysenkoism in Poland. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeJong-Lambert, William. 2009. “From Eugenics to Lysenkoism: The Evolution of Stanisław Skowron.” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 39(3): 269–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graziosi, Franco. 1949. “La discussione sulla genetica nell’URSS.” Società 5(1): 53–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gundle, Stephen. 2000. Between Hollywood and Moscow: The Italian Communists and the Challenge of Mass Culture, 1943–1991. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haldane, J.B.S. 1949a. “Can You Inherit Cancer ?” Daily Worker, January 17: 2.

  • Haldane, J.B.S. 1949b. “In Defense of Genetics.” Modern Quarterly 4: 194–202.

  • Haldane, J.B.S. 1950. “Il cancro è ereditario?.” Vie Nuove 12 (19 March): 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harman, Oren Solomon. 2003. “C. D. Darlington and the British and American Reaction to Lysenko and the Soviet Conception of Science.” Journal of the History of Biology 36: 309–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haussmann, Giovanni. 1950. L’evoluzione del terreno e l’agricoltura. Turin: Einaudi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Höxtermann, Ekkehard. 2009. Lysenkoism in East Germany. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Lysenkoism (New York City, 4–5 December).

  • Kotek, Joël and Kotek, Dan. 1986. L’affaire Lyssenko. Bruxelles: Complexe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krementsov, Nikolai. 1997. Stalinist Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krementsov, Nikolai. 2000. “Lysenkoism in Europe: Export–Import of the Soviet Model.” Michael David-Fox and György Péteri (eds.), Academia in Upheaval: Origins, Transfers, and Transformations of the Communist Academic Regime in Russia and East Central Europe. New York: Garland Publishing Group, pp. 179–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krige, John. 2006. American Hegemony and the Post-War Reconstruction of Science in Europe. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo, Luigi. 1949a. “Nelle sabbie dell’Asia Centrale.” Vie Nuove 29 (17 July): 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo, Luigi. 1949b. “Dischiuse alla fertilità le porte di Turgai.” Vie Nuove 30 (24 July): 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo, Luigi. 1949c. “Siberia nuova terra promessa.” Vie Nuove 31 (31 July): 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lvov, L. 1948 “Contre l’idéalisme en physique.” Action 219 (8–14 December): 13.

  • Lyle, Louise. 2008. “Science Bourgeoise et Science Prolétarienne: French Literary Responses to the Lysenko Affair.” New Readings/New Screenings e-journal 9, http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/euros/research/journals/newreadings/index.html.

  • Mangoni, Luisa. 1999. Pensare i libri. La casa editrice Einaudi dagli anni trenta agli anni sessanta. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montalenti, Giuseppe. 1948. “Scienza e libertà: il caso Lysenko. Una polemica scientifica si trasforma in tragedia,” Corriere d’informazione 4(275), 23–24 November 1948: 3.

  • Muller, Miklos. 2009. Lysenkoism in Hungary. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Lysenkoism (New York City, 4–5 December)

  • Needham, Joseph. 1946. Ordine e Vita. Turin: Einaudi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, Diane B. 1979. “Marxism, Darwinism and the Theory of Two Sciences.” Marxist Perspectives 2: 116–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, DianeB. 1983. “A War on Two Fronts: J. B. S. Haldane and the Response to Lysenkoism in Britain.” Journal of the History of Biology 16: 1–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, DianeB. 1995. Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to Present. Atlantic Highland, NJ: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pons, Silvio. 1996. “A Challenge Let Drop: Soviet Foreign Policy, the Cominform and the Italian Communist Party, 1947–1948.” Francesca Gori and Silvio Pons (eds.), The Soviet Union and Europe in the Cold War, 1943–1953. London: Macmillan Press, pp. 246–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prenant, Marcel. 1949. Darwin. Turin: Einaudi.

  • r. [Roderigo di Castiglia, Togliatti’s pseudonym]. 1948. “Segnalazioni.” Rinascita 11 (November): 424.

  • Regelmann, Johann-Peter. 1980. Die Geschichte des Lyssenkoismus. Frankfurt am Main: Fisher Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rimbert, Alain. 1948. “La génétique nouvelle de Leissenko,” Action 207 (15–21 September): 13.

  • Rosini, Emilio. 2003. “Massimo Aloisi.” Belfagor 6: 637–663.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostand, Jean. 1949. Piccola storia della biologia. Turin: Einaudi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapp, Jan. 1987. Beyond the Gene: Cytoplasmic Inheritance and the Struggle for Authority in Genetics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schandevyl, Eva. 2003. “Soviet Biology, Scientific Ethos and Political Engagement: Belgian University Professors and the Lysenko Case.” The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 2: 93–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwerin, Alexander von. 2009. Lysenkoism and the Reform of Postwar West German Genetics. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Lysenkoism (New York City, 4–5 December).

  • Sereni, Emilio. 1949a. Scienza, marxismo, cultura. Milan: Le Edizioni Sociali.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sereni, Emilio. 1949b. “La natura non ha segreti per i giovani ‘miciurinki’.” L’Unità, 24 September 1949: 3.

  • Sereni, Emilio. 1949c. “Biondeggia nel colchoz Lenin il grano multiplo di Lyssenko.” L’Unità, 1 October 1949: 3.

  • Simunek, Michael. 2009. Lysenkoism in Czechoslovakia. Paper presented at the International Workshop on Lysenkoism (New York City, 4–5 December 2009).

  • Werskey, Gary. 1978. The Visible College. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, Audra J. 2010. “What Does It Mean to Go Public? The American Response to Lysenkoism, Reconsidered.” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 40(1): 48–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fondazione Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, Rome, Italy

    Francesco Cassata

Authors
  1. Francesco Cassata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco Cassata.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cassata, F. The Italian Communist Party and the “Lysenko Affair” (1948–1955). J Hist Biol 45, 469–498 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-011-9286-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-011-9286-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation