From a Conversation with Yu.A. Zhdanov, November 10, 1947

From a Conversation with Yu.A. Zhdanov, November 10, 1947
Source: Tom 18

...Our universities after the revolution went through three periods.

In the first period, they played the same role as in tsarist times. They were the main forge of cadres. Alongside them, the workers' faculties [rabfaki] developed only to a very limited extent.

Then, with the development of the economy and trade, a large number of practitioners, businesspeople, were needed. Universities took a blow. Many technical schools and branch institutes arose. Economic managers ensured their own supply of cadres, but they were not interested in training theorists. The institutes devoured the universities.

Now we have too many universities. We should not establish new ones but improve the existing ones.

One cannot pose the question as follows: universities train either teachers or research workers. One cannot teach without conducting and knowing research work.

A person who knows theory well will have a better grasp of practical questions than a narrow practitioner. A person who has received a university education, possessing a broad horizon, will be more useful for practice than, say, a chemist who knows nothing beyond his chemistry.

Universities should enroll not only green youth straight from school but also practitioners who have gained a certain production experience. They already have questions and problems in their heads but lack the theoretical knowledge to solve them.

For the immediate period, the greater part of graduates should be retained at the universities. The universities must be saturated with teachers.

On Moscow University. The leadership there is not strong. Perhaps it would be worth dividing Moscow University into two universities: one concentrating the natural sciences (physics, physics-engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and soil-geography faculties), and the other the social sciences (history, philology, law, philosophy faculties).

The old building should be renovated and given to the social sciences, and for the natural sciences a new building should be constructed, somewhere on the Vorobyov Hills. One of the large buildings being constructed in Moscow should be adapted for this purpose. Make it not 16 but 10, or 8 stories, and equip it to meet all the requirements of modern science.

The level of science in our country has fallen. In fact, no serious discoveries are being made now. Before the war, something was being done; there was a stimulus. But now it is often said among us: give us a sample from abroad, we will take it apart, and then build it ourselves. What, do we have less curiosity? No. It is a matter of organization.

Given our capabilities, we should have an I.G. Farbenindustrie cubed. But we do not. Chemistry today is the most important science; it has an enormous future. Should we not create a university of chemistry?

We have too few restless people in the leadership... There are people who, if things are good for them, think that everything is good for everyone...