Natalia Melnikovich
The Court of Honor over Soviet science:
the cure for cancer and the case of "KR"
the cure for cancer and the case of "KR"
Humanity has been searching for an effective cure for cancer for several centuries. In the 1930s, biologist and cytologist Grigory Raskin and his wife microbiologist Nina Klyueva offered their means of combating malignant formations. The drug "KR" developed by them aroused the interest of Western colleagues, and such attention almost ruined Soviet scientists: for the authorities, state borders turned out to be more important than scientific achievements.
Historical context
The Great Patriotic War united the Soviet people in the face of the enemy, but with its completion, the socio-political situation in the country has changed. The victory of the USSR gave people hope for the liberalization of the regime and the weakening of strict control over many areas of life, but these expectations were not destined to come true.
Cooperation with the West in the fight against Nazi Germany allowed us to count on further expansion of contacts and cultural ties. In addition, after the end of the war, Soviet citizens who had been abroad returned to the USSR, who saw with their own eyes the life of capitalist states, so that stories about the "horrors" of the imperialist system and, in general, the propaganda of the ideas of socialism and communism no longer affected them, at least not to the extent and not by the same methods as this it was before the war.
At the same time, relations with the capitalist camp were heating up, the Cold War was beginning, and in order to maintain the state system, it was necessary to rally the population again, to create one common Soviet "nation". This state of affairs eventually led to a large-scale patriotic propaganda campaign in the country in 1947-1953, which remained in history under the name "campaign against cosmopolitanism".
Cooperation with the West in the fight against Nazi Germany allowed us to count on further expansion of contacts and cultural ties. In addition, after the end of the war, Soviet citizens who had been abroad returned to the USSR, who saw with their own eyes the life of capitalist states, so that stories about the "horrors" of the imperialist system and, in general, the propaganda of the ideas of socialism and communism no longer affected them, at least not to the extent and not by the same methods as this it was before the war.
At the same time, relations with the capitalist camp were heating up, the Cold War was beginning, and in order to maintain the state system, it was necessary to rally the population again, to create one common Soviet "nation". This state of affairs eventually led to a large-scale patriotic propaganda campaign in the country in 1947-1953, which remained in history under the name "campaign against cosmopolitanism".
The worldview of "world citizenship" was henceforth declared the ideology of the imperialist bourgeoisie, alien to the working people and organically contraindicated to the communist movement. And if the capitalist West in general and the United States in particular were recognized as an external enemy, then the "rootless cosmopolitan" and "low–worshipper of the West" became the new "enemy of the people". Thus, the term "cosmopolitanism" in our country has had a negative connotation for many years, preserved, perhaps, to this day.
The campaign against cosmopolitanism was directed against skeptical and pro–Western – i.e., "anti-patriotic" from the point of view of the Soviet government - tendencies among the intelligentsia.
The campaign against cosmopolitanism was directed against skeptical and pro–Western – i.e., "anti-patriotic" from the point of view of the Soviet government - tendencies among the intelligentsia.
Campaign progress
- The struggle against the downplaying of the role of the peoples of the USSR in world history and culture
- Search for "Russian priorities" in key areas of science, technology and culture
- "Lysenkoism", the persecution of geneticists, cybernetics, etc.
- Negative attitude to contacts of Soviet scientists with colleagues from abroad
It even came to arrests: according to I. G. Ehrenburg, 431 people were imprisoned until 1953: 217 writers, 108 actors, 87 artists, 19 musicians. What was happening had quite a serious impact on the development of culture and science during this period, especially humanitarian.
However, arrests during the campaign against cosmopolitanism were still relatively rare. Most often, the accusation of a person in "worship of the West" was accompanied by deprivation of work and a "court of honor". One of the most famous cases of such a "trial" was the case of "KR".
However, arrests during the campaign against cosmopolitanism were still relatively rare. Most often, the accusation of a person in "worship of the West" was accompanied by deprivation of work and a "court of honor". One of the most famous cases of such a "trial" was the case of "KR".
Courts of Honor: "The case of the KR"
Corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR microbiologist Nina Klyueva and Professor of Moscow State University, Head of the Department of Cytology and Histology Grigory Roskin developed a fundamentally new biotherapeutic method for the treatment of oncological diseases. Back in the early 1930s, Raskin noticed that the single-celled protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas disease, suppresses the growth of malignant tumors. In 1939, the scientist met microbiologist Nina Klyueva, a major specialist in the field of infectious allergies and the author of several vaccines already introduced into medical practice. She saw in the problem studied by Roskin a real prospect for therapy in oncology and took up the development of a scheme for the preparation of experimental samples of the drug. Already the first clinical trials have shown that some types of tumors under the action of the drug, which will later be called "KR" or "crucin", decrease in size or disappear altogether.
Grigory Roskin
Nina Klyueva
The research was interrupted by the war, but at the end of 1944 the work was resumed and by December 1945 scientists had accumulated enough material to prepare a monograph "Biotherapy of malignant tumors", which was published in 1946. The results of the work of Klyueva and Roskina became interested abroad. By agreement with the Soviet authorities, including the USSR Foreign Ministry and the Minister of Health, the American Ambassador to Moscow W. Smith met with the researchers. He proposed a joint program with the Americans to develop the drug, as well as the publication of the work of scientists abroad.
Academician-Secretary of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Vasily Parin went to the USA as part of a group of doctors, who, as part of the exchange of experience, handed over to foreign specialists the manuscript of the book and samples of the drug "KR" that had already been developed, but not yet properly tested. Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and I. V. Stalin himself sharply opposed the transfer of information.
Vasily Parin
In March 1947, the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the Courts of Honor in the Ministries of the USSR and central departments" was adopted. It was assumed that a special body would be created in each department – the "court of honor", which would deal with "anti-patriotic, anti-state and anti-social acts and actions" that are not a criminal offense.
The Courts of Honor were called upon to promote "the cause of educating employees of state bodies in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and devotion to the interests of the Soviet state... to combat misconduct that degrades the honor and dignity of the Soviet worker."
A "court of honor" was immediately organized over Klyueva and Roskin, accused of betraying the interests of the Motherland. A.A. Zhdanov took an active part in the trial: he wrote his own statement to the chairman of the court, A. N. Shabanov, in which he objected to the testimony of scientists at the preliminary meeting of the Court of Honor, and also edited the prosecutor's speech himself.
The Minister of Health was removed from office, and Vasily Parin, who handed over the work of Soviet scientists to the Americans, was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Klyueva and Roskin "got off" with a public reprimand and were forced to continue working on "crucin" in an atmosphere of secrecy.
Everything was not limited directly to the "Court of Honor". Newspapers published articles about corrupt scientists, Konstantin Simonov wrote the play "Someone Else's Shadow". Based on another play – "The Law of Honor" by Alexander Stein – director Abram Room directed the film "The Court of Honor". The story tells about two Soviet biochemists who made a discovery in the field of pain therapy, shared it with their American colleagues and for this appeared before the court of honor. In 1949, the painting received the Stalin Prize of the first degree.
The story ended only after Stalin's death. In 1953, Parin was released, and two years later he was fully rehabilitated. At the same time, in 1955, all charges against Grigory Roskin and Nina Klyueva were dropped. Work on "crucin" lasted until the late 1960s, when the drug was supplanted by a more effective means for the treatment of cancer. Crucin required a long (at least two years) treatment period to obtain a stable result, and synthetic cytostatics were much more effective in suppressing malignant growth in a short time.
The exact number of trials conducted by the "Courts of Honor" remains unknown. According to indirect data of researchers, their number can range from several dozen to one and a half hundred: 82 such "trials" took place in 1947 alone. It is only clear that the holding of "courts of honor" turned out to be an effective tool to combat any manifestations of dissent among the intelligentsia and an effective way to control the directions of scientific research.
Frame from the movie "Court of Honor"
