The Central Commission for Improving the Life of Scientists under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (TSEKUBU) was the name of an institution created by the Soviet Government in the early 20s, which provided great assistance in preserving scientific institutions and consolidating the personnel of domestic science. The civil war unleashed by the internal counter-revolution and the imperialist intervention brought enormous disasters to Soviet Russia, devastation and famine. Nevertheless, many scientists continued their scientific work and persevered through the difficulties. "I have observed with what modest heroism and courage the creators of Russian science endured agonizing hunger and cold, I have seen them work and die," A. M. Gorky addressed Soviet scientists on the occasion of the anniversary of the Academy of Sciences in 1925. - My impressions during this time have formed a deep delight in you-heroes of free, fearless, exploring thoughts. I think that Russian scientists, their energy and work during the war and the blockade gave the world a great lesson of courage and endurance. " 1
From the very first days of Soviet power, the Communist Party and the workers 'and Peasants' government showed exceptional care for scientific workers, and were careful to provide scientific institutions with equipment, materials for conducting research, and funds. On December 23, 1919, at the initiative of V. I. Lenin , the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a resolution "On improving the situation of scientific specialists"2, and in January 1920, a special Petrograd commission for improving the life of scientists headed by Gorky began to operate. Somewhat later, a similar commission is being created in Moscow. On January 24, 1921, Lenin signed a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On the conditions for ensuring the scientific work of the Academy. Pavlova I. P. and its employees " 3 . Vladimir Ilyich repeatedly met with scientists, talked with them, and gave instructions on providing assistance to representatives of science. On January 27, 1921, he had a conversation with Gorky, a prominent mathematician V. A. Steklov, a prominent indologist S. F. Oldenburg, and the head of the Military Medical Academy V. N. Tolkov. One of the results of this meeting was the creation of TSEKUBU.
November 10, 1921 The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, having listened to the report of A. B. Khalatov, a member of the food department of the Moscow City Council, chairman of the Commission on labor Supply, on measures to improve the material situation of scientific specialists, adopted a resolution on the creation of a special commission for "comprehensive examination and improvement of the life of scientists", to develop the issue of "the procedure for awarding the most necessary workers in the field of science for the Republic". At the same meeting, the composition of the TSEKUBU headed by Khalatov is approved. It included M. N. Pokrovsky from the State Academic Council, N. A. Semashko from the People's Commissariat of Health, V. P. Volgin from the Socialist Academy, as well as representatives of the Supreme Economic Council and the People's Commissariat of Health. 4 The creation of a special body of assistance to Soviet scientists was carried out on the initiative and directives of V. I. Lenin, who, according to A. B. Khalatov, formulated this task as follows: "Establish the necessary number of scientific workers and supply them so that they can work calmly and systematically, and make this task a constant concern."5
On behalf of the Government, the commission developed draft resolutions on improving the way of life of scientists, instructions on improving the quality of life of scientists.-
1 "Lenin and Science", Moscow, 1969, p. 16.
2 " Organization of science in the first years of Soviet Power (1917-1925)". Collection of documents, L. 1968, pp. 339-340.
3 SU, 1921, N 10, article 67.
4 TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 4, d. 665, ll. 2, 42.
5 A. Khalatov. Soviet power and improving the life of scientists. Izvestia, 7. XI. 1924.
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about the protection of housing rights of researchers, the procedure for obtaining publications from abroad. On March 16, 1922, the Small Council of People's Commissars approved the Regulations on TSEKUBU 6 . To consider the issue of awarding authors of scientific works, an Expert Commission headed by Pokrovsky is being created at TSEKUBU. Its members included representatives of the Academy of Sciences, the Socialist Academy, the People's Commissariat of Education, the People's Commissariat of Health, the Moscow Commission for Improving the Life of Scientists, and the Scientific and Technical Society of the Supreme Economic Council. The members of the Expert Commission were well-known scientists: medical doctor V. M. Bronner, geologist A. P. Pavlov, zoologist A. N. Severtsov, head of the State Publishing House mathematician O. Y. Schmidt, director of the Higher Literary and Artistic Institute poet V. Ya. Bryusov, President of the State Academy of Art Sciences literary critic P. N. Kogan, musicologist B. L. Yavorsky. The expert commission was also engaged in determining the qualifications of researchers and determining the amount of additional academic support in this regard. In 1922, the commission held 29 meetings, where it reviewed about 10,000 applications from scientists and registered 2,713 researchers for academic support in Moscow, 2,623 in Petrograd, and 1,363 in other cities .7 Outstanding scientists, art historians, and writers participated in its work. Employees of the Academy of Sciences and individual research institutes, teachers of higher educational institutions, and highly qualified specialists who worked in libraries, museums, and archives were enrolled for additional monetary and food support. Along with scientists from Moscow and Petrograd, K. E. Tsiolkovsky, the Chuvash people's educator I. Ya. Yakovlev, an employee of the Solvychegod Museum I. I. Tomsky, and the Vesyegon local historian A. A. Vinogradov received "academic rations". The lists of people who received food assistance from TSEKUBU include M. N. Ermolova, G. N. Fedotova, L. V. Sobinov, M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, K. S. Stanislavsky and many other prominent art masters, historians M. V. Alpatov, M. N. Tikhomirov, N. I. Konrad and other famous scientists. .
The Commission provided assistance not only to Russian scientists, but also to their relatives. "Chugaev was a major scientific figure and actively worked to restore the national economy during the entire revolution," 9 he wrote to TSEKUBA on October 12, 1922. G. M. Krzhizhanovsky. Academicians P. P. Lazarev, A. E. Fersman, and V. A. Steklov asked the commission to help the families of chemist L. A. Chugaev and mathematician A. A. Markov. TSEKUBU helped the families of these scientists and petitioned the Council of People's Commissars for the appointment of personal pensions to their relatives. The Government supported the commission's request. On October 17, 1922, Professor I. A. Stebut of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy was enrolled in the "academic ration", whose students included such soil scientists and agronomists as N. A. Kostychev, A. G. Doyarenko, A. F. Fortunatov and D. N. Pryanishnikov. "With his scientific works, he made a rich contribution to Russian agronomic science," says the review of Stebut sent by the People's Commissariat of Agriculture to TSEKUBA. - His inspired speech from the department of the Goretsky Institute and the Petrovsky Academy for about forty years gave a certain scientific agricultural direction to many, many students. It provided not only agricultural knowledge, but also nurtured it. " 10 The Commission provided assistance to the famous lawyer A. F. Koni, who, as stated in one of the documents, "endures life's difficulties and hardships with extraordinary calm and meekness, regretting only that he cannot devote the short rest of his days exclusively to scientific and literary work"11 . On March 20, 1923, TSEKUBU instructed A. B. Khalaggov and N. A. Semashko to develop measures to assist this lawyer and writer, and from April 1923, A. F. Kony began to receive two academic rations, and as a one-time allowance he was given 2 thousand rubles. 12 V. D. Bonch-Bruevich recalled: "When he had to I did not inform Vladimir Ilyich about the personal petitions of persons belonging to the world of scientists and writers, Vladimir Ilyich not only paid special attention to them, but also found means and ways to satisfy them himself.
6 TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 6, d. 86, ll. 4-5.
7 Ibid., f. 4737, op. 1, d. 1, ll. 82-91; d. 33, ll. 29-30.
8 Ibid., d. 1. l. 68; d. 4, l. 40; d. 12, l. 12; d. 47, ll. 169-184; d. 51, l. 32.
9 Ibid., 22, l. 33.
10 Ibid., 23, l. 32.
11 Ibid., 63 p.167.
12 Ibid., l. 169.
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I know of a case when Vladimir Ilyich would not have voted most decisively for granting allowances to a scientist in need, pensions to his family, for the implementation of any benefits when traveling around Russia or abroad, when writing books, when approving research trips. " 13
TSEKUBU had a special fund to provide researchers with one-time assistance for the treatment of niches and preparation for the publication of their works. On November 18, 1925, TSEKUBU approved the instructions on the procedure for spending the benefits fund, and in February of the following year created a special commission for granting benefits, which also considered applications for the appointment of personal pensions. Of the 375 cases referred by her to the Pension Commission of the People's Commissariat of Education, about 300 were resolved positively .14 The Commission assisted researchers in purchasing consumer goods and providing scientists with fuel. During the civil war and in the first post-war years, firewood was usually purchased on the market at an expensive price, up to 50 million rubles in the then denznaks per fathom. August 16, 1922 TSEKUBU instructs its Department of Affairs to take measures to procure fuel 15 . The Petrograd and Moscow commissions for improving the way of life of scientists did a lot of work on harvesting firewood.
Along with the issues of material support, since October 1922, TSEKUBU meetings regularly review the decisions of the Expert Commission on awarding authors of scientific papers, which were evaluated on a five-point system. Scientists who received one point for their work were awarded a bonus equivalent to double the monthly additional academic support of the second category; two points - triple, three points-four times; four points-five times. For authors whose works received five points, the amount of the award was set individually ("o" is not higher than ten times the monthly academic support of this scientist). The prize was awarded to original works that have practical application in the national economy or are of great scientific importance. Among the first scientists to receive the TSEKUBU prize were the mathematician V. R. Eiges, the astronomer A. D. Dubego, the chemist S. N. Skadkovsky, the neurologist G. I. Rossolmmo. A. A. Svechin was awarded the prize for the work "History of Military Art", V. K. Nikolsky-for "Essays on Primitive Culture", V. I. Ogorodnikov - for "The History of Narodnik Unrest" and "Essays on the History of Siberia up to the beginning of the XIX century". TSEKUBU awards are awarded to the works of chemists N. D. Zelinsky and S. V. Lebedev, pathologist A. I. Abrikosov, physicists I. E. Tamm and S. I. Vavilov, art historians V. Ya. Adaryukov and I. A. Evdokimov, lawyer M. A. Reisner, musicologist N. A. Garbuzov, literary critic P. N. Sakulin 16 . From February 1922 to October 1925, 407 works were submitted to the Expert Commission for the prize; 172 of them were awarded and 128 were rejected by the end of 1925; the rest were reviewed by 17 and some of them were awarded prizes in 192618 . Among the latter - scientific piles of A. A. Novoselsky ("Monuments of the history of peasants and serfs in the Moscow state of the XVII century"), Yu. V. Gauthier ("Essays on the history of material culture of Eastern Europe before the foundation of the first Russian state"), B. G. Kubalov ("Decembrists in Eastern Siberia" and "Siberian Society and Decembrists"), S. V. Bakhrushin ("Essays on the history of the colonization of Siberia in the XVI-XVIII centuries"), M. V. Nechkina ("Society of the United Slavs", "The Uprising of the Chernigov Regiment", "Three Letters of the Decembrist Peter Borisov" and "New Materials on the Decembrist Uprising") 19 .
The Commission also provided scientific specialists with novelties of foreign literature. When Semashko founded the Moscow House of Scientists, subscriptions to foreign publications were organized for persons registered in TSEKUBU, and from the end of December 1922 they were issued to customers. New scientific literature from England, Germany, France, and the United States was received by scientists from Moscow and Petrograd, as well as university teachers from Saratov, Samara, Yaroslavl, Omsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, and Tashkent. Every year the activity of the TSEKUBU book department expanded. In 1923, he ordered more than 5 thousand books and magazines from foreign bookselling firms .20 Scientific institutions-
13 "Questions of literature", 1963, N 4, p. 83.
14 TsGAOR USSR, f. 4737, op. 1, d. 181, l. 3.
15 Ibid., d. 17, l. 30.
16 Ibid., 185.
17 Ibid., d. 150. l. 13.
18 Ibid., 200, l. 94.
19 Ibid., d. 158, l. 5; d. 201, l. 54; d. 253, l. 120; d. 231, l. 23.
20 Ibid., 68, l. 12.
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In 1925-1926, 231 French, 344 English, 438 German, and 30 Italian magazines were published in the USSR. Regular visitors to the book department were, in particular, the oceanographer Yu. M. Shokalsky, the automobile manufacturer E. A. Chudakov, the physiologist M. N. Shaternikov, the geographer A. A. Borzov, the historians S. D. Skazkin and V. K. Yatsunsky, the mathematician A. P. Kotelnikov and others. In 1927, the book department served 701 individual customers and 226 scientific institutions, issued 1,247 journal titles, and 9,312 books21 .
The central and local commissions for improving the life of scientists were also charged with organizing the recreation of researchers. In Moscow, Petrograd and other cities, there were houses of scientists-a kind of centers for political, educational and cultural work among scientific workers .22 TSEKUBU sent scientists on trips to health resorts in the Moscow region ("Uzkoe", "Sosnovy Bor"), the Crimea (Gaspra) and the North Caucasus (Kislovodsk). Near Leningrad, the Peterhof and Detskoye Selo health resorts were opened .23 The commission paid great attention to the protection of housing rights of researchers, applying to the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR with proposals to improve their housing conditions. The Council of People's Commissars adopted a resolution on providing researchers registered in TSEKUBU with an additional room in excess of the norm due, as well as (with the commission's permission) premises for laboratories, drawing rooms, libraries and storage of collections .24 TSEKUBU participated in the development of legislative acts on the rights of researchers to additional space, on benefits when paying for utilities, and helped the families of many researchers to improve their living conditions (TSEKUBU had several houses built on a cooperative basis).
Many scientists have noted the success of TSEKUBU in protecting housing rights, providing sanatorium services to researchers and creating conditions for scientific activities. Participants of the meeting of employees of local commissions for improving the life of scientists telegraphed V. I. Lenin in October 1922: "The first All-Russian Meeting of KUBU welcomes you as the initiator of the foundation of TSEKUBU, which successfully performs a great responsible work of improving the life of scientists, as a political leader who has always listened sensitively to the needs of Russian scientists and correctly appreciated the great importance of the Union of Labor and sciences " 25 . At this meeting, delegates of local commissions discussed reports on the activities of TSEKUBU, sanatorium services and food supply for scientific specialists. The meeting participants approved the commission's activities.
On July 23, 1926, at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, Khalatov made a report on TSEKUBU. The resolution of the Council of People's Commissars noted that the commission had done significant work to improve the life of scientists; it was recommended to continue providing sanatorium services to researchers, protecting the housing rights of scientists, supplying them with scientific literature; it was mentioned about expanding the activities of scientists ' homes. The Council of People's Commissars approved the new composition of TSEKUBU. Khalatov was still the chairman of the commission. This commission functioned until May 1931. Both it and its successor, 26 the Commission for the Promotion of Scientists under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, play a major role in creating the material base of scientific institutions, attracting scientists to active research and public work, and consolidating scientific forces to solve the problems facing the country under construction of socialism.
21 Ibid., d. 246, l. 8.
22 For more information, see N. S. Zelov. Moscow House of Scientists. Voprosy Istorii, 1972, No. 10.
23 TsGAOR USSR, f. 4737, op. 1, d. 68, l. i.
24 SU, 1922, N 6, article 73.
25 TsGAOR USSR, f. 130, op. 6, d. 869, l. 26.
26 In May 1931, TSEKUBU was reorganized into the Commission for Assistance to Scientists (CCU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. The KSU was assigned the tasks of assisting science and technology workers in their research work (publishing scientific papers, extracting foreign literature, issuing allowances), improving the material and living situation (medical and sanatorium-resort assistance, housing conditions).
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