The fucking weird thing about Lysenkoism was that it was ridiculous and unscientific, but it never precipitated a catastrophic failure. In fact the years of Lysenkoism saw productive increases, which just goes to show how extremely far behind the starting point of the Soviet Union was. They could adopt and enforce statewide pseudoscience and still do better than they were.
I'm convinced that communal farms didn't fully adopt Lysenkoism because the farmers weren't idiots. I know in China they'd bundle up wheat and pretend like it grew that way when the inspections happened.
I'm also sure a lot of the people who were supposed to enforce it saw that it wasn't working and just stopped enforcing it because it would mean they'd also go hungry.
I can't remember which article had the factoid about walking on top of the grain. I went down a bit if a rabbit hole a year ago and remember reading it. Those sources should be enough to show that even if Lysenkoism was being practiced, it wasn't having a serious effect on crop output and the greater factors were improved water/irrigation systems.
The communes kinda sucked for reasons beyond what you usually read about, mainly weird pay tiers and poor infrastructure. Those problems seem to have been fixed now though and they're much less insane today.
Edit: the numerical evidence for the false reporting would be the difference between the initial and later reports (~350million Ton -> ~250million Ton) there was still a net productivity increase through collectivization, but not as drastic as expected. That would point to the investigators just saying that the output was what the Lysenkoists expected when it was more closely aligned with output of traditional farming methods.
His biggest impact on Soviey agriculture was promoting vernalization (which is tricking autumn seed to growing in the spring by cooling them), which is a real phenomenon and useful in some cases like when you have a harsh winter. His claim that it could double crop yields however was very false. Most of his really kooky beliefs couldn't really be put into mass use. Like his real crime was stopping a lot of useful agricultural research for a decade.
The fucking weird thing about Lysenkoism was that it was ridiculous and unscientific, but it never precipitated a catastrophic failure. In fact the years of Lysenkoism saw productive increases, which just goes to show how extremely far behind the starting point of the Soviet Union was. They could adopt and enforce statewide pseudoscience and still do better than they were.
I'm convinced that communal farms didn't fully adopt Lysenkoism because the farmers weren't idiots. I know in China they'd bundle up wheat and pretend like it grew that way when the inspections happened.
I'm also sure a lot of the people who were supposed to enforce it saw that it wasn't working and just stopped enforcing it because it would mean they'd also go hungry.
No one obeys laws like that
Workers know best :quokka-wink:
Cool, where can I read more about this?
Here's an article that talks about economic output of the Communes
A breakdown of the communes
I can't remember which article had the factoid about walking on top of the grain. I went down a bit if a rabbit hole a year ago and remember reading it. Those sources should be enough to show that even if Lysenkoism was being practiced, it wasn't having a serious effect on crop output and the greater factors were improved water/irrigation systems.
The communes kinda sucked for reasons beyond what you usually read about, mainly weird pay tiers and poor infrastructure. Those problems seem to have been fixed now though and they're much less insane today.
Edit: the numerical evidence for the false reporting would be the difference between the initial and later reports (~350million Ton -> ~250million Ton) there was still a net productivity increase through collectivization, but not as drastic as expected. That would point to the investigators just saying that the output was what the Lysenkoists expected when it was more closely aligned with output of traditional farming methods.
Underrated points right here.
I'm glad we finally agree on something
:sankara-salute:
His biggest impact on Soviey agriculture was promoting vernalization (which is tricking autumn seed to growing in the spring by cooling them), which is a real phenomenon and useful in some cases like when you have a harsh winter. His claim that it could double crop yields however was very false. Most of his really kooky beliefs couldn't really be put into mass use. Like his real crime was stopping a lot of useful agricultural research for a decade.