Soviet mathematics and dialectics in the Stalin era
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Soviet mathematics and dialectics in the Stalin era
zbMATH Open document ID: 0947.01010
author: Alexander Vucinich
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 2000-10-29T00:00:00Z
review text: The article is a sequel to an earlier one (1999) in the same journal on mathematics and dialectics in the pre-Stalinist period of the 1920s [ibid. 26, No. 2, 107-124 (1999; Zbl 0944.01006)]. The article gives short accounts of many articles published in Russian on the relation of mathematics to communist ideology in its Stalinist version, which the author mostly calls ``Marxist''. Vucinich does not restrict the report to ``dialectics'' (which is not clearly explained) but refers to many kinds of official political and ideological intrusion. In the case of the well-known (also from other sources) Luzin affair of 1936 the anti-religious, atheist motive of the persecution seems underrated. Author shows that with the exception of S. N. Bernstein, N. N. Luzin and a few others and frequently for tactical reasons almost no Russian mathematician denied the relevance of the communist ideology for mathematics. Even Marxist philosophers such as Janovskaja occasionally helped to build a protection belt for mathematics. With the beginning of World War II and the growing Russian isolation and nationalism reference to the past of Russian mathematics, e. g. the work of Lobachevskii in non-Euclidean geometry was a growing theme in the ideological discussion.
reviewed by: Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A60
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A80
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A72
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A74
zbMATH DE Number: 1437472
zbMATH Keywords: Stalinism and Mathematics
zbMATH Keywords: set theory and communist ideology
zbMATH Keywords: effectivism
zbMATH Keywords: Luzin affair
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: hmat.1999.2261
OpenAlex ID: W2001045135
cites work: Q5338270
cites work: Dmitrii Egorov: Mathematics and Religion in Moscow
cites work: Q5839880
cites work: Q3841974
cites work: Q3907542
cites work: Q3996841
cites work: Q4043282
cites work: Q5802085
cites work: Mathematics and dialectics in the Soviet Union: The Pre-Stalin period
DOI: 10.1006/HMAT.1999.2261
Recommended article: Mathematics and dialectics in the Soviet Union: The Pre-Stalin period
Recommended article: Q4513610
Recommended article: Q4278065
Recommended article: Mathematics and politics in the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953
Recommended article: From Petersburg to Moscow: On the history of Russian and Soviet mathematics between 1850 and 1975
Recommended article: Q4891358
Recommended article: The Struggle against Idealism: Soviet Ideology and Mathematics
Recommended article: A. P. Yushkevich -- P. Dugac: the story of one publication
Recommended article: Dmitrii Egorov: Mathematics and Religion in Moscow
Recommended article: Q4220728
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1437472