Comrade Haldane Is Too Busy to Go on Holiday

by Gavan Tredoux

  25.Not identified. Possibly Bob Jones, the trade union leader and Soviet agent.

  26.An abbreviation for “phonetically.”

  27.Phonetic transcription. Possibly Klement Gottwald (1896–1953); see below.

  28.Sir Walter Layton (1884–1966), the newspaper proprietor.

  29.Possibly Klement Gottwald, chairman of the Czech Communist Party.

  30.Sic.

  31.Paul Eisler (1919–1966) had lost his job owing to the Slansky show trials and had to work as a lathe-operator. Later he was dismissed there, too. He was Slansky’s economics adviser and may also have been under suspicion because he was Jewish, as was Slansky. He was spared a show trial by the death of Stalin. See Catherine Epstein (2003).

  32.The Communist Party newspaper.

  33.Pavel Kavan (?–1960), who was merely imprisoned. He had been in London during the war.

  34.Medawar (1996) pp. 86–93.

  35.Montagu (1956).

  36.Montagu (1974).

  37.Macintyre (2010) p. 319.

  38.Clark (1968), 281.

  10. LYSENKO AND LAMARXISM

  1.This article was republished in Haldane (1939a), pp. 134–138. The exact date that it appeared in the Daily Worker is not known to me.

  2.W. W. Garner (1875–1956) and H. C. Allard (1880–1963) discovered photo periodism. V. I. Razumov was a physiologist and Lysenkoite. V. N. Liubimenko was a botanist.

  3.D. A. Dolgushin was a collaborator, close friend, and biographer of Lysenko.

  4.In fact, the Soviet delegation had been forbidden to attend by their minders.

  5.Contrary to Graham (2016), p. 98, who claims, on p. 82, to have read absolutely everything Lysenko ever wrote and denies that he, or any Soviet leader, ever subscribed to the notion of the Soviets making new men!

  6.Haldane (1940a), pp. 81–85.

  7.Haldane (1947b), p. 76.

  8.Haldane (1947b), p. 212.

  9.Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900–1975) came to the United States in 1927.

  10.Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky (1900–1981) remained in Germany during the Second World War and was sent to the Gulag after the war.

  11.Sergei Chetverikov (1880–1959) was one of the first Russian geneticists.

  12.Haldane (1947b), pp. 223–225.

  13.In Haldane (1940a), p. 82, the claim is that Harland lost his job for having a “coloured wife,” “among other things.”

  14.Harland (2001), pp. 95–107.

  15.H. J. Muller to H. P. Riley, 1953. Quoted in Carlson (1981), p. 243.

  16.See Howell (2008).

  17.V. P. Efroimson, “On the Rate of Mutational Processes in Humans” (unpublished manuscript, 1932). Cited by Babkov (2013), p. 543. Babkov does not mention Muller’s allegation.

  18.Haldane (1935). Consider also V. P. Efroimson, “On Some Problems of Accumulation and Action of Lethals,” Biological Journal 1 (1932), pp. 87–101. (I have not been able to consult this last reference.)

  19.Babkov (2013), p. 543.

  20.Haldane (1947b), pp. 223–225.

  21.Haldane (1947b), pp. 223–225.

  22.Haldane (1941a), pp. 13–14.

  23.Haldane (1940d).

  24.See The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science, edited by John L. Heilbron (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 121.

  25.Haldane (1941a), p. 110.

  26.Haldane (1944).

  27.Sic.

  28.Haldane (1947a), pp. 151–152. Here, S. C. Harland and his move to South America make another appearance, as a domestic example of the sort of thing meted out to geneticists in the USSR.

  29.F. G. Gregory to J. B. S. Haldane, August 21, 1947, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 5/1/2/8/6.

  30.L. C. Dunn, “Science in the USSR: Soviet Biology,” Science 99 (1944), pp. 65–67. Reprinted in Zirkle (1949).

  31.Karl Sax, “Soviet Biology,” Science 99 (1944), pp. 298–299. Reprinted in Zirkle (1949).

  32.Anton R. Zhebrak, “Soviet Biology,” Science 102 (1945), pp. 357–358.

  33.Pravda, March 6, 1947. Cited in Soyfer (1994), pp. 165–166.

  34.Pravda, September 2, 1947. Reprinted in Zirkle (1949).

  35.K. Mather, “Genetics and the Russian Controversy,” Nature 151 (1942), pp. 68–74. Reprinted in Darlington and Mather (1950).

  36.Lysenko to Haldane, correspondence via the Soviet Embassy, December 27, 1944. Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 4/9/1/1.

  37.Haldane to Lysenko, cover letter dated January 3, 1945, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 4/9/1/1.

  38.Letter from Kurt Stern et al. to J. B. S. Haldane, April 17, 1946, Stern Papers. Cited by Krementsov (1997), pp. 122–123 and p. 331 n. 129.

  39.Letter from J. B. S. Haldane to Herman Muller, May 15, 1946, Demerec Papers. Cited by Krementsov (1997), pp. 122–123 and p. 331 n. 130.

  40.Cyril Darlington, “The Retreat from Science in Soviet Russia,” Nineteenth Century 142 (1947), pp. 157–168. Reprinted in Zirkle (1949).

  41.Angus John Bateman to Haldane, November 6, 1947, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 5/1/1/2/8/32. The letter is incorrectly dated 1948 there.

  42.Genetical Society. Bateman uses “tabled” in the British sense of proposing a resolution for discussion.

  43.Cyril Dean Darlington.

  44.Soyfer (1994), pp. 183–184.

  45.Medvedev and Medvedev (2003), p. 195.

  46.Berg (1983). Raissa L’vovna Berg (1913–2006) was a Soviet geneticist who had studied under Hermann Muller in Leningrad. She was dismissed from Moscow University as a result of Lysenkoist pressure and later migrated to the United States in the mid-1970s.

  47.Quoted in Soyfer (1994), 190. There is a translated copy in the Haldane Papers at University College London, HALDANE 5/1/2/8/14.

  48.Time 52 (13) (September 27, 1948), p. 70.

  49.Haldane (1945?), pp. 12–13. Due to a mislaid research note the precise source cannot be identified, but image snippets of the original have been retained.

  50.Third programme, 18:50. The broadcast was repeated on Friday, January 7, 1949, at 23:10. See Haldane (1948).

  51.Letter from W. A. Thompson, February 9, 1952, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 5/1/4/257.

  52.MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/254C and following pages.

  53.Angus Bateman, “In Support of Lysenko.” Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 4/9/1/7. See Appendix 5.

  54.Penrose is known from MI5 reports to have attended a personal meeting with Ivan Glushchenko organized by Haldane. These “insider” details were attributed to an anonymous source in Almond (1954), pp. 314–318, but it follows from there that the same source was also present at the public Glushchenko meeting (of which see more below). Penrose, a colleague of Haldane’s at UCL, is the only viable candidate.

  55.Haldane (1949).

  56.February 11, 1949, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/258b.

  57.John Mahon (1901–1975).

  58.March 25, 1949, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/261a.

  59.Bernal (1949).

  60.Saturday, October 15, 1949. The meeting was held at Beaver Hall and chaired by J. G. Crowther. The Anglo-Soviet Journal (Autumn 1950), pp. 4–17.

  61.Not traced. A draft survives in the Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 5/1/2/8/48.

  62.Langdon-Davies (1949).

  63.Letter from Bernal to Haldane, October 6, 1949, including the draft review. Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE/5/1/2/8/48.

  64.MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/268Y.

  65.MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/268Y.

  66.October 27, 1949, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/269b.

  67.Julian Huxley (1949).

  68.Penrose seems to have been within the Party orbit in 1949
. As stated above, he is almost certainly the source for the anonymous descriptions of these events given in Almond (1954). However, Penrose confused the order of events.

  69.December 12, 1949, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/272a.

  70.Maynard Smith incorrectly remembered the date of the meeting as “very soon after I graduated, in about ’51, ’52.” Interview with Richard Dawkins, “Web of Stories,” http://www.webofstories.com/people/john.maynard.smith/33?o=SH.

  71.Almond (1954), p. 317. We have deduced that Almond’s anonymous source here is Penrose, as per above.

  72.Soyfer (1994), pp. 91–92.

  73.Morton (1951).

  74.Fyfe (1950).

  75.Bernal (1953).

  76.See the letter from Haldane to Bernal, January 4, 1954, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 5/1/4/17.

  77.February 2, 1950, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/273z.

  78.April 4, 1950, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/276a.

  79.Probably the Fabian Arthur Creech Jones (1891–1964).

  80.Expletive omitted by the bashful MI5 transcriber.

  81.April 11, 1950, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/280l.

  82.July 26, 1950, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/286a.

  83.Bernal may have been boasting here, as his own private life included numerous conquests without any repercussions whatsoever, apart from several stray children.

  84.Macleod (1997), pp. 26–27.

  85.December 12, 1950, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/299b.

  86.Presumably Emile Burns (1889–1972) and his wife Margaret Elinor Burns (1888–1978).

  87.December 21, 1952, MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/335A.

  88.Macleod (1997), pp. 26–27.

  89.Macleod (1997), p. 55.

  90.Paul Kammerer (1880–1926), who is generally believed to have faked experiments showing inheritance of acquired characters.

  91.Sic.

  92.Letter to the Society for Cultural Relations, June 1, 1951, Haldane Papers, University College London.

  93.Haldane (1953), p. xi.

  94.Schaechter (2009), p. 44.

  95.Haldane may have meant Øjvind Winge (1886–1964), the Danish yeast geneticist, and Sol Spiegelman (1914–1983), the American molecular biologist.

  96.Haldane (1954b).

  97.Haldane (1954c), pp. 112–114.

  98.Haldane (1959), p. 111.

  99.Haldane (1964a). See Appendix 3 for the complete text.

  11. SOCIAL BIOLOGY

  1.Haldane (1923).

  2.Muller (1925); Horatio Newman (1929).

  3.The reader should note the careful use of differences in this discussion. This was well understood by Haldane himself, though he does not dwell on it. Logically, no outcome at all is possible without the presence of both nature and nurture; the question is which differences matter in producing outcome differences.

  4.Burks (1927, 1928).

  5.Spearman (1927).

  6.Haldane (1932a), p. 21.

  7.Haldane (1932a), pp. 137–138.

  8.Muller (1935).

  9.Loren Graham’s attempted explanation for this rejection—that “Stalin had by this time discarded visions of a radical transformation of Soviet Society and had moved toward greater attention to religion, established social norms, and patriotism in the face of the looming threat of Nazi Germany”—is unfathomable. This was 1936. See Graham (2016), p. 59.

  10.Haldane (1938a), p. 128. JBS often repeated this joke. In 1963 at a CIBA foundation symposium, Julian Huxley immediately interjected “Ceteris paribus!”

  11.Crew et al. (1939).

  12.Haldane (1947a), p. 110.

  13.Haldane (1947a), p. 116.

  14.Haldane (1946c).

  15.Haldane (1954b).

  16.See Herrnstein (1973).

  17.Haldane (1962).

  18.Haldane (1963).

  19.Haldane (1964b).

  12. ANIMAL BEHAVIOR FROM LONDON TO INDIA

  1.Maynard Smith to Haldane, October 1, 1947, Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE/5/2/4/144.

  2.Maynard Smith (1985). But see Maynard Smith’s recollections during a prior era, in his preface to Haldane (1968), p. vii, where he recalled first reading The Inequality of Man, not Possible Worlds, at Eton.

  3.Maynard Smith (1985).

  4.Maynard Smith (2004).

  5.Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 3/5/1.

  6.Morris (2006), p. 112.

  7.Kruuk (2003), p. 197. Note that Kruuk gives no reason for the antipathy.

  8.Mayr told this story many years later to S. Sarkar (2005).

  9.Medawar (1996), p. 129.

  10.Lorenz (1952); Spurway (1952).

  11.Morris (2006), pp. 108–123.

  12.Medawar (1996), pp. 86–93.

  13.Marler (1985), p. 322.

  14.“Lecturer Stamped on Dog’s Tail,” The Times (London), November 14, 1956, p. 7.

  15.“Mrs. Haldane Freed: Fine Paid,” The Times (London) November 19, 1956, p. 6. Waller is identified by Clark (1968), pp. 235–237, who gives a very inaccurate account of this incident.

  16.Bonner (2002), p. 119.

  17.MI5 Personal File, J. B. S. Haldane, National Archives, KV 2-1832/276B.

  18.Haldane (1963), p. 337.

  19.Volkogonov (1994), p. 361.

  20.Lederberg interview with Steven J. Dick, November 12, 1992, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine.

  21.Lewontin (1985), p. 682.

  22.Haldane to Lederberg, March 7, 1959, The Joshua Lederberg Papers, NIH National Library of Medicine, http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Collection/CID/BB.

  23.Haldane to Lederberg, October 6, 1962, NIH National Library of Medicine.

  24.Bonner (2002), pp. 119–120.

  25.Singapore Free Press, January 19, 1961, p. 1.

  26.Kosygin was First Deputy Premier to Khrushchev at this time.

  27.Letter from Haldane to Lederberg, May 16, 1960. NIH National Library of Medicine, https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/BBAEAL.

  28.Clark (1968), pp. 259–260.

  29.Haldane (1964c).

  30.Haldane to Kosygin, circa October 24, 1964. Reproduced in Clark (1968), p. 299.

  31.See, for example, Dronamraju (1968, 1985, 1995).

  13. A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF MURDER

  1.See Hollander (2006).

  2.A fresh perspective on this is given in McMeekin (2009).

  3.Conquest (1990).

  4.Maynard Smith (2004).

  5.The Times (London), issue 45825, May 18, 1931, p. 13; issue 45826, May 19, 1931, p. 17; issue 45827, May 20, 1931, p. 15.

  6.The Times (London), issue 45765, March 7, 1931, p. 14.

  7.Wiener (1956), pp. 206–207.

  8.Dronamraju (1995), p. 89.

  9.Dronamraju (1995), p. 90.

  10.Dronamraju (1995), p. 139.

  11.Julian Huxley (1965), p. 60.

  12.Pirie (1966).

  13.The Times (London), issue 56184, Wednesday, December 2, 1964, p. 13.

  14.Preface to Clark (1968).

  15.Kevles (1985), p. 215.

  16.Preface to Majumder (1993), p. vi.

  17.Neel (1993), p. 331.

  18.Roberts (1997), p. 207.

  APPENDIX 1. WHY I AM [A] COOPERATOR

  1.Haldane Papers, University College London, HALDANE 1/2/63.

  2.[Ed.] Sir Clarence Henry Kennett Marten (1872–1948).

  3.[Ed.] H. C. Hollway-Calthrop.

  4.[Ed.] Haldane’s stray quote marks in the manuscript have been corrected, for clarity.

  5.[Ed.] Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope (1874–1947), who had first risen to prominence in the Boer War.

  6.[Ed.] Chandra Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1863–1929).

  7.[Ed.] Kair
ouan.

  8.[Ed.] Leslie Hore-Belisha (1893–1957).

  9.[Ed.] Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945), evolutionary biologist and geneticist, and winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

  10.[Ed.] Francis William Aston (1877–1945), winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

  11.[Ed.] Sir James Hopwood Jeans (1877–1946), the cosmologist.

  12.[Ed.] Harold Whitridge “Pete” Davies (1894–1946), professor of physiology at the University of Sydney, 1930–1946. After a spell at New College, Oxford, assisting John Scott Haldane, he taught briefly at the University of Adelaide. In 1920 he went on to various positions in Britain and the United States before accepting a chair at Sydney in 1930.

  13.[Ed.] Donald Dexter Van Slyke (1883–1971).

  14.[Ed.] Ernest Laurence Kennaway (1881–1958).

  15.[Ed.] The gods decided otherwise.

  16.Henri Barbusse, L’Enfer, 1.101.

  17.Jeremiah 17:9.

  18.[Ed.] Here Haldane leaves the rest of the page blank and abandons the topic of Aldous Huxley.

  19.[Ed.] Walter Russell Brain, first Baron Brain (1895–1966), and Eric Benjamin Strauss (1894–1961).

  20.[Ed.] Dame Janet Maria Vaughan (1899–1993).

  21.Please Miss Antivivisectionist, this is not cruelty to a dog. The dog’s gastric juice is three times as acid as a man’s. You can therefore give him stronger acid to drink without hurting him. He also secretes more gastric juice than a man in proportion to his size, so you can give him a relatively larger volume to drink.

  22.[Ed.] Carl Erich Correns (1864–1933), a pioneering German geneticist, one of several, including the more well-known Hugo de Vries (1848–1935), to independently rediscover Mendel’s laws at the turn of the century.

  23.[Ed.] Alfred Henry Sturtevant (1891–1970), an American geneticist who was the first to map the chromosome. Calvin Blackman Bridges (1889–1938). Sturtevant’s colleague Hermann Joseph Muller is mentioned often in the text and notes above.

  24.[Ed.] Alexandra A. Prokofyeva-Belgovskaya (1903–1984), a Soviet geneticist.

  25.[Ed.] J. B. Bradbury (1841–1930), Downing Professor of Medicine at Cambridge. His assistant, Walter Ernest Dixon (1871–1931), was his junior by thirty years and the first pharmacologist at Cambridge.

  26.[Ed.] Alfred James Lotka (1880–1949), an American mathematician chiefly remembered for his contribution, with Vito Voltera (1860–1940), to the so-called Lotka-Voltera differential equations, which describe the dynamic behavior of predator-prey relationships.