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Description
Science for Peace and Socialism is a collection of two 1949 articles on the problems of science, socialism and imperialism. The first article, by Professor J.D. Bernal, addresses the international situation, proving that western scientists are held by the neck in producing not that which satisfies human necessities but rather profits and for the needs of imperialism and war. Instead of investing capital in science to perfect the agricultural methods of cultivation, for example, scientists are sent to work in the building up of armaments. It is this situation which stunts the development of science and creates an antagonistic competition between scientists bound by strict secrecy. The second article, by Maurice Cornforth, elaborates how science is not only afflicted in form by imperialism but in content. He dispels the idea that science has nothing to do with classes as, after all, nobody pays for scientists without definite aims and expectations. Thus, capitalist science and socialist science have entirely different outlooks — one is paid for by the rich for profits, exploitation and domination, while the other is paid for by the entire people to advance the progress of society. They must, therefore, produce different findings, with the latter undoubtedly more accurate. It is in this light that Cornforth discusses the controversial topic of Lysenko, giving a robust defence of Soviet science in the Stalin period.