Soviet Scientific Elite of the 1930s under the Patronage of the Commission for the Promotion of Scientists under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR: Life, Health, International Book Relations (1934-1937)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the Commission for the Promotion of Scientists (CPS) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which existed in 1931-1937. It is reported that the CPS replaced the Central Commission for the Improvement of the Life of Scientists (CCILS), which had operated under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR since 1921. It is shown that in the first years of its existence, the Commission continued the traditional directions of state supervision over the material, logistic, housing, and leisure aspects of the life of Soviet scientists (which was typical for CCILS), and then, from the mid-1930s, the Commission acquired new functions and strengthened some of the previous areas of activity that have become more in demand among scientists. Among these areas, in particular, the propaganda of scientific achievements of the USSR, which had been updated by that time, the provision of scientists with foreign scientific literature, and the improvement of medical and health resort services for the highest stratum of the scientific intellectuals are mentioned. The author of the article claims that the Commission for the Promotion of Scientists was an effective tool for managing the Soviet scientific community from a totalitarian state. It is proved that in the 1930s it solved the problem of “buying” loyalty and devotional service of the top scientific intellectuals to the communist government in exchange for benefits, privileges and preferences.