1930s British scientists equated communism with scientific method itself

Evidence

Under the leadership of J. D. Bernal, P. M. S. Blackett, Joseph Needham, and Lancelot Hogben, the “social relations of science movement” put forward a fuller integration of society, industry, and science, in which the latter, rationally planned and emancipated from capitalism, would fulfil its natural object of serving human welfare. They adopted the conclusion of Soviet scientists that “only in a socialist society will science genuinely belong to all mankind.” Capitalism, they thought, had led to a scientific regression, introducing competition between researchers “when what is really needed is more science applied to the convenience of living instead of to profit-making.” Bernal, their most vocal spokesperson, denounced liberalism as the method of chaos, “spontaneously grown,” hindering the use of knowledge in society because innovation was corrupted by private profiteering. On the contrary, communism as a political system bore the closest resemblance to the collaborative method used by researchers. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 77

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s task of fracturing the neoliberal caricature — this is the intellectual opponent the Mont Pelerin Society defined itself against, showing the stakes were scientific method itself, not just economics. — connects to: By the 1930s economic planning had acquired scientific credibility — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 76; The Depression radicalized British intellectuals toward socialism and communism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2369; British scientists in the 1930s embraced a Marxist view of science serving ruling-class interests — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 76
• DEFINE: Defines the ‘social relations of science movement’ and its leader Bernal, a key reference point for understanding what early neoliberalism organized against.

Broader Connections

• The Depression radicalized British intellectuals toward socialism and communism #corroborates (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2369
• By the 1930s economic planning had acquired scientific credibility #corroborates (0.78) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 76