“Science Transforming the World is Created by Geniuses in Need of Protection and Assistance More than Anyone.” (On the Fate of Scientists in the Famine of 1920s)

Abstract

The October coup of 1917 and the Civil War negatively affected the fate of the country's population, particularly the Russian intellectuals. Representatives of the academic class, intellectuals, who are least adapted to disasters, had to fight for physical survival having left scientific work. The supply of food to university professors was carried out on a residual basis and was a "drop in the sea." The purpose of the article is to reveal the attitude of the leader towards the people of science, as well as the assistance provided by the republican power to alleviate the fate of Kazan scientists. Documentary evidence suggests that the government was indifferent to the fate of outstanding scientists. The catastrophic situation in the Tatar Republic is confirmed by the premature death of creators of science and culture such as N.F. Katanov, A.A. Shakhmatov and many other professors of Kazan universities due to the hunger.