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Isaak (Isay) Izrailevich Prezent (
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
: Исаа́к (Исай) Изра́илевич Презе́нт; 27 September
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O.S. 15 September1902 – 6 January 1969)
was a Soviet Union">Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
philosopher of biology
The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences. Although philosophers of science and philosophers generally have long b ...
,
best known for his work on
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
Scientific method">methodology of science
The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and medieval world. The ...
and as one of the key figures of Lysenkoism.
Early life and education
Prezent was born in 1902 in the town of Toropets in a Jews, Jewish family.
His father owned a shop in
Zapadnaya Dvina.
Prezent went to high school in
Dukhovshschina, and after completing it in 1919, he returned to Zapadnaya Dvina to teach in a local railway school. He became a
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
activist while still in high school. Parallel with being a teacher in Zapadnaya Dvina, he helped found a local branch of
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...
, and was finally accepted as a
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
member in 1921. Later that year he moved to
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...
to assume a gubernatorial-level party function. Following a party decision, he enrolled at
Leningrad State University (LGU) in 1922. He temporarily left university in 1923 to take part in the late stages of the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
as a political instructor. He soon resumed his studies, and graduated from Faculty of Social Sciences of LGU in 1926.
As a recognition for his work on biology, he was awarded a doctorate in biological sciences in 1936.
Career
After graduating, Prezent worked on achieving transition from social sciences to biology by acquainting himself to some of the lead Soviet
biologists
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize in ...
of the time, including geneticist
Nikolai Vavilov
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov ( rus, Никола́й Ива́нович Вави́лов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ vɐˈvʲiləf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Ivanovich_Vavilov.ogg; – 26 January 1943) was a Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet agronom ...
. Prezent even briefly worked for Vavilov at the
Institute of Plant Industry
The Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry or N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) (in ), as it is officially called since 2015, is a research institute of plant genetics and seed bank, ...
. However, the two would later become major adversaries, once Prezent joined Lysenko and denounced genetics.
After leaving Vavilov, Prezent started teaching at
Herzen Pedagogical Institute, where he quickly rose through the academic ranks and became a docent within a couple of years.
At the same time, he was active in the
Scientific Society of Marxists (NOM,
initialism
An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial letter of each word in all caps wi ...
for Nauchno obshchestvo marksistov). There he co-headed the group focused on biology. In 1930, NOM was merged into the
Communist Academy
The Communist Academy (Russian: Коммунистическая академия, transliterated ''Kommunisticheskaya akademiya'') was a higher educational establishment and research institute based in Moscow. It included scientific institutes of ...
, and in that or following year Prezent assumed a position of the head of biology sector of the natural science section of the
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
branch of Communist Academy. In 1931, he started teaching
dialectics
Dialectic (; ), also known as the dialectical method, refers originally to dialogue between people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to arrive at the truth through reasoned argument. Dialectic resembles debate, but the ...
of nature and
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
ary studies at LGU, parallel with his activities in the Communist Academy.
In this early part of his career, Prezent was mostly focused on
ecology
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
.
However, from 1932 on, many of the academic Marxist societies were shut down, after the proponents of
"cultural revolution" fell out of favor with the regime. In 1934, Prezent had to leave university, and he moved to
Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
, where he worked with
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (; , ; 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agronomist and scientist.''An ill-educated agronomist with huge ambitions, Lysenko failed to become a real scientist, but greatly succeeded in exposing of the “bourgeois enemies o ...
at
All-Union Institute of Selection and Genetics until 1938.
The alliance with Lysenko proved extremely useful for both men, as Lysenko got a politically savvy mentor in Prezent, while Prezent managed to return to political grace by associating himself with Lysenko and changing his views on biology and genetics in the process. From 1935 to 1941, Prezent was a deputy editor-in-chief of journal ''Yarovizaciya'' (Russian: ''Яровизация'', meaning
Vernalization
Vernalization () is the induction of a plant's flowering process by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter, or by an artificial equivalent. After vernalization, plants have acquired the ability to flower, but they may require additional season ...
).
In 1939, he became Lysenko's consultant for philosophical issues at
Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Science (VASKhNIL) in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, where he became a full member in 1948. From 1943 until 1951, Prezent held a chair of Darwinism and History of Biology at LGU, while for the final three years of that period (1948-1951) simultaneously being the dean of the Faculty of Biology of
Moscow State University
Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
(MGU).
In 1951, Prezent was made to leave both university positions due to concerns about his capacity to teach biology. He returned to VASKhNIL, where he stayed until the beginning of 1969, when he was dismissed due to his association with Lysenkoism.
Attacks on ecology
During the early 1930s, Prezent established himself as a critic of the leading Soviet ecologists of the time, and especially of the sub-field of
biocenology as such. His attack on biocenologists had three directions: attack on the
botanically-oriented ecologists, attack on then-most prominent Soviet educator in the field
Boris Yevgenyevich Raikov
Boris may refer to:
People
* Boris (given name), a male given name
*
*List of people with given name Boris
* Boris (surname)
Arts and media
* Boris (band), a Japanese experimental rock trio
* ''Boris'' (EP), by Yezda Urfa, 1975
* "Boris" (son ...
, and finally attack on
zoology
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
-focused ecologists.
Prezent's attack on plant ecologists occurred in February 1931. As a representative of Leningrad branch of Communist Academy, he had a role in the organization of the First All-Union Conference of Geobotanists and Floristics Experts. The conference was sponsored by the Botanical Institute, but Prezent nonetheless managed to overtake "methodological leadership" and put forward his agenda against biocenological botanists.
Boris Raikov was Prezent's former colleague from Herzen Institute, and as of 1930 he was already under attacks from the organization of
young naturalists. Prezent objected to Raikov's
conservationist views. He considered conservationism a "wrecking theory", holding that it opposed the Stalinist views on progress, understood here as a triumph of working men and their technology. Proponents of conservationism, such as Raikov, were therefore considered by Prezent to be "
agents of the world
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...
". In 1932, one of the Prezent's anti-Raikov speeches, titled ''Class Struggle on the Natural Science Front'' was published in 20,000 copies, which marked the demise of conservationism in ecological education. Raikov and his associates were arrested or exiled.
Raikov himself spent the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
teaching in
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...
.
The attack on zoologists started early, during the Fourth All-Union Congress of Zoologists, Anatomists, and Histologists in
Kiev
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
in May 1930, where Prezent first made his criticism of biocenology public in an exchange with the prominent zoologist
Vladimir Vladimirovich Stanchinskiy. Similarly to the tactics he employed in fighting the botanists, Prezent waited until the December 1931 All-Union Faunistics Conference, and navigated its organization into silencing and attacking conservationism.
Prezent's cooperation with Lysenko
Prezent first met Lysenko at the Congress of
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...
s and Breeders in 1929,
but it was not until 1934 that they started closely cooperating in Lysenko's lab in Odesa. By that time, Lysenko was already following
Michurin's version of
Lamarckism
Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...
, but he was not yet associating his work in the field of genetics with any political positions. However, after 1934, Prezent began introducing Lysenko to Marxist theory and party politics, which led to increasingly political tone of Lysenko's pronouncements, as well as to both Lysenko and Prezent denouncing
Mendelian genetics
Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularized ...
.
Prezent's influence on Lysenko was not limited to the philosophical and political aspects of the latter's work. Despite Prezent's lack of formal education in biology, he was one of Lysenko's main sources of information on
Darwinism
''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...
.
Lysenko eventually produced a
pseudo-scientific
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...
synthesis of Michurin's evolutionary biology, Prezent's philosophy of science, and
Stalinist
Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...
political theory that came to be known as Lysenkoism. Lysenko's teachings were based on his concept of "natural cooperation", as opposed to
Darwin's idea of
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...
that he rejected. According to Lysenko, not only were the
acquired characteristics of organisms inheritable, but it was even possible for organisms of one species to transform into another species by acquiring appropriate characteristics over the course of their lives. The proponents of Lysenkoism advocated for the use of these "findings" in agriculture in order to increase
yields, and alleviate the consequences of the
Soviet famine of 1930–1933
The Soviet famine of 1930–1933 was a famine in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union, including Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukraine and different parts of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russia, including ...
.
While many of Lysenko's views on
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
, as well as his prominence, predated his cooperation with Prezent, it was only after 1934 that his debate with the mainstream geneticists became politicized. In that period, and with the full support of
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, many of the Soviet geneticists were
purged
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...
or at least fired. In 1935 and 1936 Lysenko and Prezent brought the debates over genetics to the center of party politics. In those two years, the so-called "Academy Sessions" took place. It was a series of scientific debates chaired by Stalin himself, where Lysenko and Prezent counterposed their views to those of mainstream geneticists. The entire time, Prezent was extremely active in presenting Lysenko's works publicly as acts of genius. The full triumph came during a conference in 1948, when Lysenko announced genetics to be a
bourgeois pseudoscience
Bourgeois pseudoscience () was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideology, ideological perspective (cognitive), point of view due to their incompatibility with Marxis ...
, and that the
Central Committee supported such stance.
After this, any serious engagement with non-Lysenkoist genetics became impossible in the Soviet Union until 1964, especially at Lysenko-headed VASKhNIL, and Prezent-headed MGU Department of Darwinism.
Death
Isaak Prezent died of cancer on 6 January 1969 in Moscow. It was only several days after being dismissed from VASKhNIL.
Awards
In 1943, Prezent was awarded the
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...
.
Selected works
* ''The Outline of the Program of Historical Materialism'' (Презент И. И. ''Программа-конспект по историческому материализму''. — Л.: Б. и., 1927. — ? с.)
* ''The Origin of Speech and Thought'' (Презент И. И. ''Происхождение речи и мышления. (К вопросу об их приоритете)''. Предисл. Б. А. Фингерта. — Л.: «Прибой», 1928. — 128 с.)
* ''Bahaism'' (Даров И. ''Бехаизм. (Новая религия Востока)''. — Л.: «Прибой», 1930. — 55 с.)
* ''Darwin's Theory in the World of Dialectical Materialism'' (Презент И. И. "Теория Дарвина в свете диалектического материализма".
'Тезисы к 50-летию со дня смерти Ч. Дарвина. 1882—1932'' — Л.: Леногиз-Ленмедиздат, 1932. — 32 с.)
* ''Class Struggle on the Front of Science'' (Презент И. И. ''Классовая борьба на естественно-научном фронте. Обработанная стенограмма доклада на Конференции педагогов-естественников г. Ленинграда''. — М.-Л.: Огиз-Учпедгиз, 1932. — 72 с.)
* ''Selection and the Theory of the Stages of Plant Development'' (Лысенко Т. Д., Презент И. И. ''Селекция и теория стадийного развития растения''. — М.: Сельхозгиз, 1935. — 64 с.)
* ''The Great Innovator Trofim Denisovich Lysenko'' (Презент И. И. ''Замечательный новатор Трофим Денисович Лысенко''. — Р.-н/Д: Ростиздат, 1939. — 28 с.)
* ''The Reserves of Potato Tuber'' (Презент И. И. ''Резервы картофельного клубня''. — М.: Пищепромиздат, 1943. — 15 с.)
* ''In Cooperation with Nature. I.V. Michurin and His Teachings'' (Презент И. И. ''В содружестве с природой. И. В. Мичурин и его учение''. — Л.: Лениздат, 1946. — 132 с.)
* ''The Great Transformator of Nature I.V. Michurin'' (Презент И. И. ''Великий преобразователь природы И. В. Мичурин''. — М.-Л.: Детгиз, 1949. — 63 с.)
* ''I.V. Michurin - The Founder of Soviet Creative Darwinism'' (Презент И. И. ''И. В. Мичурин — основоположник советского творческого дарвинизма''.
тенограмма доклада, посвящённого 15-летию со дня смерти И. В. Мичурина — М.: «Правда», 1951. — 24 с.)
* ''J.-B. Lamarck - A Materialist Biologist'' (Презент И. И. ''Биолог-материалист Ж. Б. Ламарк''. — М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1960. — 59 с.)
* ''I.V. Michurin and His Teachings'' (Презент И. И. ''И. В. Мичурин и его учение''. — М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1961. — 198 с.)
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prezent, Isaak
1902 births
1969 deaths
People from Toropetsky Uyezd
Academic staff of Herzen University
Academicians of the VASKhNIL
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Philosophers of biology
Philosophers of science
Pseudoscientific biologists
20th-century Russian biologists
20th-century Russian philosophers
Soviet biologists
Soviet philosophers