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p Academician Mikhail Millianshchikov,
Vice-President, USSR Academy of Sciences

p “In order to build communism we must take technology and science and make them available to wider circles.”

p V. I. Lenin

p Present-day scientific and technological development, which is now proceeding at a pace that has no parallel in history, is a social and economic factor of the utmost importance. This scientific and technological revolution is no mere background to the struggle being waged to make the world a better place for man to live in; it is more and more becoming a means of that struggle, an effective instrument of social progress.

p Therefore, as was stated in the Main Document passed by the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Moscow in 1969, “An important requisite for the development of socialist society is to give full scope to the scientific and technological revolution, which has become one of the main sectors of the historic competition between capitalism and socialism."  [13•1 

p The practical task set down in the Directives on the FiveYear Economic Development Plan of the USSR for 1971-75, adopted by the 24th CPSU Congress, is “to make broader use of the potentialities, created by the scientific and technological revolution in order to accelerate the development of the productive forces".  [13•2 

p To comprehend the tremendous historic significance of this revolution, the great importance of the problems it 14 raises in the technological, economic and social fields, we must first take into account the relative historical novelty of this phenomenon and its rapidly increasing role in all spheres of life. This feature of the scientific and technological revolution is directly observable because the changes it brings about are now occurring within periods shorter than the average human lifespan.

p Social studies and detailed statistics bear out this intuitive impression of ours. Thus, we learn that 90 per cent of all scientists known to history are our contemporaries. Expenditures on science and technology, the volume of scientific information and other parameters of scientific and technological advance are growing at an even faster rate. This enormous burgeoning strikes us as the more amazing because it has begun in relatively recent times, a mere 30 or perhaps 50 years ago.

p How did it all begin? From what origins? A full reply to this question will probably be provided only by the future philosophers and historians of science; yet even now we can take stock of a number of causes that have given rise to this phenomenon.

p The most outstanding feature of present-day scientific and technological progress is the establishment of much closer ties and much more rapid interaction between man’s activity in getting to know the deeper laws of nature and his activity in producing socially useful goods, that is, between science and industry. In the past, these two areas of human activity were completely or almost completely independent of each other. It took so long for links between them to be formed that many decades would elapse between the appearance of a scientific idea and its industrial application. As a result, science was at times regarded merely as a means of satisfying man’s curiosity, as something beyond society’s vital interests.

p Driven on by their immediate needs engineering and industry developed, for the most part, independently of science and amassed a vast store of experimental data, practical devices and inventions which formed the basis for a gradual improvement in methods of production. The specific methods and even the language of engineers, technicians and technologists who were guided mainly by experience, intuition and tradition, had, it would seem, little in 15 common with the purely logical, abstract methods and phraseology of the science of earlier days.

p It was only when each of these two spheres gradually proved its ability to exert a positive influence on the other, and when the tremendous benefit of that influence was realised, that the rapid process of interpenetration of science and industry began and the common language and common methods which we witness today were established.

p The further development of science and the inclusion of industry in the general process of the technological revolution have in great measure been linked with the emergence and extraordinarily wide adoption of a new type of scientific research designed to close the gap that existed between science and industry in the past. This new type of purposeful research, which has come to be known as “applied research”, plays a tremendous part in technological advance, converting the new ideas and fresh knowledge about nature provided by science into the projects and designs for new technical devices, which are then realised in industry, transport, communications and other branches of the economy.

p Applied research is also exerting an enormous influence on science as a whole, through the development of new measuring and technical devices that scientists now stand in ever greater need of. The steadily mounting role of applied research in science is reflected in the fact that it now accounts for about half of all research being conducted.

p This in no way belittles the role of so-called basic research, i.e., research directed towards gaining new knowledge of nature and new forms of the organisation of matter. On the contrary, the history of science has proved beyond dispute that progress in all other scientific research, in technology and industry as a whole, stems in ever greater degree from basic research, providing, as it does, the theoretical foundation of all scientific and technological progress. This is where new ideas and principles are brought forth from which all lines of scientific and technological advance draw strength.

p It is now recognised that the farther we penetrate into the structure of matter, and learn, at all levels, the laws of its organisation, the greater the practical results we obtain. Thus, basic research is among the leading areas of human 16 activity and a source of future radical changes in the life of the world.

p Although individual scientific discoveries frequently do not occur just where they are expected, it may be safely said, that at present the most revolutionary advances in our ideas of nature are to be expected in such fields of science as astrophysics, the physics of elementary particles, and biology. Basic regularities as yet unknown to us lie concealed in the vast concentrations of matter located millions and thousands of millions of light years away from us, in the world of elementary particles that are infinitesimaUy minute in scale and lifespan, and in the marvellously intricate organisation of biological systems.

p Of course, nobody can foretell exactly when decisive discoveries in these sciences will be made. However, the rates at which new facts that do not fit into the framework of existing theories are being amassed along with the concentrated efforts of a huge army of scientists using unique equipment—all provide ground for optimistic hopes.

p In the last few decades tremendous progress has been made in the development of astronomy and astrophysics, and discoveries of fundamental significance have taken place under the influence of new concepts of the structure of matter obtained in the study of elementary particles, the atomic nucleus and plasma, and also thanks to the creation of powerful means of astronomic observation such as radio telescopes. Thus, a few years ago radio telescopes helped to register intensive sources of cosmic radiation which scientists managed to link up with rather faint stars. A thorough examination of the nature of such radiation led to the conclusion that the objects discovered are located almost at the boundary of the observable region of the Universe, at a distance of 5,000 million light years, and the radiation power exceeds anything hitherto known. To explain the gigantic energies radiated by them from the standpoint of thermonuclear synthesis—the most powerful energy-producing mechanism yet known—it would be necessary to assume that its source must be a synchronous thermonuclear explosion of a hundred million stars, each equal to our Sun in size. Other explanations of this phenomenon lead to even bolder surmises that contradict all existing concepts. This provokes the thought that here we 17 encounter certain new laws of the behaviour of matter under exceptional conditions.

p Another outstanding event in the world of astronomy was the discovery of pulsars, stars that emit radio impulses, light and X-rays. The importance of this discovery lies in the fact that pulsars have a very short period of impulse repetition, which means that their dimensions are minute as compared with the energies they radiate. Astronomy has never had to deal with objects possessing such an immense concentration of energy. The most generally accepted explanation of this paradox is that pulsars are what is known as neutron stars, i.e., each of them is made up entirely of a huge atomic nucleus. The degree to which the physical conditions in such a star differ from anything hitherto known to science can be seen from the fact that a single cubic centimetre of a neutron star on earth would weigh ] ,000 million tons. Research into such phenomena, which are linked with insufficiently studied processes of the emission of huge energies, holds out promise of ample new material for an understanding of as yet unperceived basic laws ol nature and their possible future application.

p In recent decades the world has witnessed an impressive demonstration of the global significance of nuclear-physical research and its profound influence on technological progress. Nuclear physics has served as the starting point of many radical changes that have taken place as a result of harnessing nuclear energy, not only in science and technology but even in international relations.

p The results of nuclear research have found application in controlling and automating various industrial processes, in prospecting minerals and in finding new supersensitive methods of analysis, and in other areas of science and technology. Entirely new scientific branches have emerged and developed on the basis of nuclear research, such as radiation chemistry and radiation genetics.

p All the past achievements in nuclear physics—advances made at the stage of semi-quantitative ideas of the properties of the atomic nucleus—were merely results of the first discoveries in the study of elementary particles and their interaction. A striving to attain greater accuracy in this approximated picture of nuclear structure and to explain the nature of nuclear forces has brought in its train such a 18 series of new problems and discoveries in the field of elementary particles that their significance has far exceeded the framework of the targets originally set.

p It is generally accepted by experts that the solution of problems which have accumulated since the development of the physics of elementary particles must be accompanied by a revolution in the fundamental views concerning the structure of matter, a revolution whose significance will be commensurable with the appearance of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. However, each new step in this field requires highly complex experiments which call for heavy expenditures. In the first place, progress in nuclear physics is now determined by the available giant accelerators of elementary particles (like the proton accelerator in Serpukhov, with a power of 70,000 million electron-volts), many miles long, whose power consumption runs into dozens of megawatts.

p The impending revolution in biology is becoming more and more tangible, especially in one of its main lines, dealing with uncovering the mystery of life mechanics, heredity and evolution. The characteristic thing about the presentday condition of science is that the greatest advance towards the solution of these problems, which are of vital importance to all people, is linked with the utilisation of quantitative methods based on the achievements of physics and chemistry and with the penetration into the very structure of living cells and the processes in them. Such major achievements in this field as the cracking of the DNA code, the elucidation of the role played by desoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids in transmitting heredity features, and a number of other outstanding discoveries, give reason for hoping that the time is not far off when biologists will find the key to controlling life processes and purposeful changing of living nature. All this holds out a promise of unparalleled opportunities in the fight against disease and hunger in the world.

p Of special significance to progress in the main areas of natural science and to all present-day scientific and technological development as a whole are the achievements in cybernetics, which works out the general methods of analysing the logical processes and nexuses existing in nature and society. A great stimulus to the development of cybernetics 19 was provided by the appearance of computers, which have marked a new stage in raising labour productivity in many spheres of human endeavour. Various functions which were once considered the prerogative of the human brain may now be entrusted to electronic machines. Today no country can successfully develop its economy, technology or science unless it possesses up-to-date computers for purposes of management, information, and so on. Owing to this new branch of science mankind is entering a new stage in controlling a variety of processes.

p The overall trend in scientific and technological progress reflects a kind of division of labour between the stages of basic and applied research, technical development and industry. Each stage must ensure continuity and speed in the general scientific and technological advance—from the discovery of new laws and phenomena in nature to technological and industrial innovations.

p The sharp decrease in the time required for circulation of the stream of ideas and methods of production has greatly increased the dependence of the general rate of scientific and technological progress on improvements in the entire system of its lines of advance and the rapidity with which work is carried out at each stage. Indeed, since the links between the individual components of this process are becoming the decisive factor, their development should be studied in total. This approach reveals a number of characteristic and qualitatively new features that arise as a result of the greater complexity and the mutual influence of science, technology and industry. The development of each of the components of scientific and technological progress stimulates the development of many other components and, at the same time, is stimulated by the other components.

p Thus, research into the structure of solids, which among other things has led to the discovery of superconductivity, has recently made it possible to build magnets with windings made of superconductive alloys which completely eliminate heat losses. It is now practicable to obtain magnetic fields of tremendous tensions in small devices. The creation of such superconductive magnets has given an impetus to many branches of science and technology, including solid state physics.

p Other conditions being equal, the overall rate of 20 development in individual branches of scientific and technological progress hinges, in considerable measure, on reduction of the time spent on the achievement or introduction of any new advance in each of these fields. The avalanching, geometrically progressive nature of this factor’s influence is of great significance. It is this feature that gives such great importance to the optimum planning of scientific and technological development, since within a very short period any substantial errors may cost far more to rectify than modifications introduced at the proper time.

p Hence another characteristic of scientific and technological progress—the need for advance along the entire front and the elimination of blank spots on the map of scientific and technological progress.

p The highly ramified nature of the connections between individual branches of present-day science, technology and industry, as well as the unexpectedness of new and promising discoveries, means that all branches of science and technology must be maintained in a condition conducive to the acceptance, development and utilisation of new ideas and discoveries.

p There have been many instances of new discoveries converting areas of science previously regarded as unpromising, and even forgotten, into arenas of intensive progress.

p Thus, the discovery of the principle of coherent radiation generation within the radio and optical bands with the aid of masers and lasers has led to rapid progress in creating perfect crystals, and also in the wave theory of light, although the latter was considered a completed science in the early years of this century; and in a number of other traditional fields. The same discovery has also provided a powerful impetus to further application of the wave theory of light which, for instance, has found expression in such a splendid achievement as holography, i.e., genuinely threedimensional photography, which is leading up to the threedimensional films and television of the future.

p Although, at each stage of scientific advance, the efforts of scientists and industrial personnel are concentrated on certain major fields, an analysis of scientific development over a lengthy period shows that no concentration of forces and means in individual spheres can substitute for a general 21 high level of a country’s scientific and technological potential, for overall and deep-going progress in science and technology.

p Consequently, it is a vital condition for the rapid development both of science and industry that harmonious development be achieved along the entire front of scientific and technological progress—ranging from basic research to production.

p Mention may be made of a number of fields where the influence of science has had maximum effect, and where its technological application has been of great practical significance. The complex of scientific research connected with the development of power engineering, for example, provides a vivid example of extensive and deep-going research applied to practical purposes.

p The development of power resources, characteristic of most countries and expressed, in particular, in the ever mounting consumption of electrical energy, has created favourable preconditions for progress in large-scale nuclear power engineering. Here the efforts of technologists to design sufficiently advanced, safe and economical types of nuclear reactors and develop sources of fuel for nuclear power installations should provide a solution to the major problem of nuclear power engineering—making nuclear electric power stations economically competitive with conventional power stations. The most promising solution of this problem at present is work on the so-called breeder reactors that reproduce or extensively reproduce nuclear fuel. The use of such reactors will multiply the natural reserves of nuclear fuel about a hundred times, reducing its cost to a fraction of the value of the electricity produced.

p The development of effective methods of transforming heat energy into electrical energy is of considerable significance to the future of power engineering. Here the greatest prospect is held out by the magneto-hydrodynamic method of transformation, which is based on a current being excited in hot ionised gas moving across a magnetic field. The successful solution of this problem will be of tremendous importance both in the creation of a fundamentally new type of generator and in increasing the efficiency of conventional power stations. As higher working-gas temperatures 22 and ever more heat-proof materials are created, the role of this method of obtaining electrical energy will grow continuously, and it may be expected that in future a large share of electric power will be provided by MHD- generators.

p The special significance of research in solid state physics is connected with the demands of technological progress and, in particular, the problem of creating new materials required by numerous branches of engineering and industry. The fundamental task in the development of new and advanced construction materials is the achievement of a whole range of properties, such as strength, corrosion resistance, plasticity and so on. The solution of these problems calls for profound theoretical research into the structure of the electron, defects in crystals, the influence of admixtures and the like. Thus, research into superrefined ideal monocrystals has already produced materials with unprecedentedly high mechanical properties which give them many advantages over metals.

p No country today can exist without a variety of means and devices for communications and navigation such as radio, television, radar and telemetry. This branch of technology, perhaps, most vividly reflects the latest scientific achievements, particularly in solid state physics. The revolution in radio engineering brought about by the discovery of semi-conductor devices, which have replaced electron valves, is developing towards the utilisation of film elements, entailing further miniaturisation, higher operating speeds, reliability and efficiency in electronic circuits.

p These improvements are especially important in computer technology since, when applied to each of the thousands of components, they signify a qualitatively new level of development. The role of computers in science, technology, industry and other spheres of human activity is common knowledge. Hardly a single important scientific experiment or theoretical calculation is conceivable today without the use of computers. Space studies, gas- and hydrodynamic calculations, meteorological research and economico- mathematical studies now depend to a considerable degree on progress in computerisation. It would be hard to find any branch of the economy in which computers were not being used.

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p In our times of breath-taking scientific and technological progress, due heed should also be given to the rational exploitation and restoration of the natural wealth which is the foundation of mankind’s future development. Great attention is now being paid to working out the fundamental principles for the economic and geographical assessment of the development and complex utilisation of natural resources in various parts of the world, including the seas and oceans. One of the main problems, on whose solution advance in agriculture hinges, is that of the study of the soil resources, of increasing fertility on the basis of irrigation, land reclamation and employment of scientifically grounded methods of tilling and fertilising the soil.

p The need for biological resources to be more rationally utilised demands further work on the problem of the conservation and reproduction of natural animal and plant populations. Research now being conducted into their number and dynamics, as well as the interrelations between various species of animals and plants, makes it possible to evolve effective measures to counter agricultural pests and carriers of diseases.

p When considering the tremendous socio-economic role played by science in human progress, we cannot but take pride in the fact that in the Soviet Union—the first land of victorious socialism—scientific development has become a matter of state importance.

p This turning point in the development of Soviet science is closely bound up with the name of Lenin, who constantly insisted that communism and science must go hand in hand, and that communism can be built only on the basis of scientific knowledge. Lenin’s confidence in the boundless possibilities of discovering the laws of nature, in the unlimited possibilities of science, is expressed in his words written as far back as 1909 in Materialism and Empirio-Criticism: “The electron is as inexhaustible as the atom."  [23•1  This confidence exerted a tremendous influence on the shaping of the CPSU’s policy towards science.

p Lenin considered technological progress and the reorganisation of the country’s entire social and economic life on a scientific basis as one of the main conditions for the 24 triumph of socialism. He thought it essential that “learning shall really become part of our very being, that it shall actually and fully become a constituent element of our social life".  [24•1 

p A utilitarian approach to the significance of science was alien to Lenin, who did not restrict his attention only to those fields of science that could make an immediate contribution to the development of the economy and to improving the working people’s well-being. He showed concern and gave support to all other lines of scientific advance even at a time that was most difficult for the Soviet republic.

p This profound understanding of the role of science has ensured the development in the Soviet Union of a broad front of scientific research, ranging from the most abstract fields to concrete technical projects. This approach to scientific development has shown itself to be the only correct one and is in accord with the objective development of the productive forces and of science, which is drawing ever closer to them. It is thanks to such a policy that the Soviet Union has become a pioneer in technological progress, with scientific research attaining an unparalleled sweep. In the USSR today there are almost 5,000 scientific institutions possessing such unique equipment as powerful accelerators of charged particles, nuclear reactors, optical and radio telescopes, ocean research vessels, and highly complex experimental installations for the study of technological processes.

p A first-class basis for research into the physics of elementary particles, including the world’s largest proton accelerator in Serpukhov, has been established in the USSR. Work is approaching completion on the world’s largest, six-metre optical telescope; unique radio telescopes are being built and extra-atmospheric astronomy is developing. The basis for research into all the fundamental areas of physicomathematical, chemical and biological sciences, and sciences that study the Earth and the Universe is being ever more rapidly improved. The intimate links between science and the life of the country—a characteristic feature of Soviet science— have led to the establishment of new branches of technology 25 and industry, which are playing an important part in today’s scientific and technological revolution and have exerted a beneficial influence on the development of science itself.

p Soviet scientific achievements in a number of fields of aerodynamics and other departments of mechanics, and also in the theory of combustion and explosion made it possible to lay the theoretical foundation for the development of present-day aviation and rocketry. Successful definition of the theoretical fundamentals of chemistry, petrochemistry, and non-organic and element-organic chemistry had provided the theoretical basis for advances in various branches of the chemical industry and metallurgy. Theoretical research conducted by geologists has provided the groundwork for what can indeed be described as a fantastic extension of the country’s mineral and raw material resources—one of the essentials of rapid progress in industry.

p Work done by Soviet scientists in radiophysics and electronics, optics, solid state physics, the physics of cryogenics, the theory of automatic control and other branches has paved the way for the solution of major scientific and technical problems.

p The results of biological research have helped to raise the level of agricultural production and the food industry and have provided the theoretical basis for solving public health problems.

p Research by Soviet physicists, chemists and mathematicians has created the necessary preconditions for the speediest harnessing of nuclear energy. A powerful atomic power industry has been established in the USSR, and nuclear weapons that are vitally necessary for the defence of the Soviet Union and other socialist states have been built. The USSR pioneered the peaceful use of nuclear energy and initiated research into the problem of controlled thermonuclear synthesis.

p The alliance between science and industry has found splendid embodiment in Soviet successes in rocketry and in one of the most outstanding achievements of our era—man’s penetration into outer space. Space studies have not only opened up vast opportunities for research in geophysics, astronomy and other sciences, and enriched our knowledge of the Earth and the Sun, but have also made it possible to solve many important problems of telecommunications, 26 navigation and meteorology. They have opened up a real prospect of human flight to other planets.

p The enormous attention paid in the Soviet Union to the natural sciences and their technological application is in keeping with the rapid growth of their role in society’s development which we have been witnessing during recent decades. This in no way belittles the significance of sciences that study society, the individual and various forms of social consciousness. Marxist-Leninist theory is the guideline in the development of socialist society and a powerful instrument for cognising and transforming the world.

p The front of research is exceptionally wide in the Soviet Union—from the study of nature’s profound laws and phenomena to the work that is directly linked with the concrete tasks of the national economy. Each of these areas is ultimately directed towards getting the knowledge of nature and subordinating it to man, consolidating the economic and defensive might of the Soviet state and enhancing the wellbeing and culture of the people.

p The scientific and technological revolution is making a vital contribution to the world-wide triumph of socialism, a scientifically grounded social system. Its role stems from the dialectical nature of the changes in the material life of society. Indeed, on the one hand, the results of the scientific and technological revolution are too attractive not to be sought after. On the other hand, participation in scientific and technological progress inevitably brings in its train a conflict between all-pervading scientific ideas of the world and the unreasonable, outmoded and unjust social institutions of a society based on exploitation.

p Our faith in the future and our confidence in the ultimate victory of socialism and communism are based on the major scientific conclusion drawn by Marxism-Leninism: technological and social progress is incompatible with the system of exploitation of man by man and the principle of private ownership of the means of production, which inevitably give rise to antagonistic contradictions in society. The historical experience of the Soviet Union as well as that of a number of other countries whose economies are organised on socialist lines have fully borne out this proposition. The balanced and purposeful utilisation of the results of scientific and technological progress for the benefit of the people’s 27 welfare in the socialist countries leads to a continuous growth of their economic power and to the improvement of social and cultural life.

p In bourgeois countries, however, the scientific and technological revolution runs counter to the very nature of the capitalist system, which hampers the establishment of a planned and co-ordinated economy. The course of this revolution will undoubtedly exacerbate such contradictions and increasingly expose the historical obsoleteness of the principle of private enterprise in the age of nuclear energy, electronics and cybernetics.

p In the developed capitalist countries, the process of the scientific and technological revolution prepares, on the one hand, the material and technical basis of the socialist society of the future in the form of large-scale industry based on automation. On the other hand, capitalism increasingly discredits itself in the eyes of the working people, since the activities of huge monopolies, dictated by the drive for maximum profits, come more and more into conflict with the national interests, thereby creating the fundamental pre-conditions for the triumph of socialism in the countries concerned. Of course, the concrete forms of that transition depend on a number of causes and cannot be foretold in detail.

p At present, the swiftly growing gap between the developed capitalist countries and the developing countries stands out among the contradictions resulting from the domination of the capitalist mode of production. In view of the rapid rate of scientific and technological progress, this gap is growing at the technical, economic and social levels, thus fostering greater exploitation of the developing countries by the big capitalist powers. The natural and legitimate striving of the developing countries to escape the fate of becoming new colonies and to protect their economies from domination by foreign monopolies makes them realise the unacceptability of the capitalist road of development and broadens the basis of socialism in the world.

p Although in capitalist countries the scientific and technological revolution is developing in conditions of ever mounting contradictions, it has not ceased to stimulate progress in technology, industry, transport, communications and 28 other branches of the economy. This fact should not be neglected.

p As L. I. Brezhnev said in his speech at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Moscow in 1969, “We have no desire to underrate the strength of those with whom we have to compete in the field of science and technology."  [28•1 

p The attainment in a socialist state of a level of labour productivity higher than capitalism’s (which is impossible without the all-round development of science and technology) is an important condition of the new system’s uninterrupted progress.

p The socialist countries still have very much to do for the development of science and technology, for the greater application of their achievements in these spheres.

In the final analysis, the scientific and technological revolution is incompatible with social injustice; it will emerge as the crucial test in the great school of human history which, in our profound belief, socialism alone is able to pass.