Encyclopedia of Russian History

by James Millar

  In April 1952 the Ministry of Agriculture withdrew its support of Lysenko’s cluster method of planting trees, but Lysenko was not publicly rebuked until after Stalin’s death in 1953. Nikita Khrushchev tolerated criticism of Lysenkoism,

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  LYSENKO, TROFIM DENISOVICH

  but it took eleven years to completely confirm the uselessness of agrobiology. It was only with Khrushchev’s ousting from power in 1964 that Lysenko was fully discredited and research in traditional genetics accepted. He resigned as president of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1956, and his removal from the position of director of the Institute of Genetics in 1965 signified the full return of scientific professionalism in Soviet science. Lysenko kept the title of academician and held the position of chairman for science at the Academy of Science’s Agricultural Experimental Station, located not far from Moscow, until he died in November 20, 1976. See also: AGRICULTURE; SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY; STALIN, JOSEF VISSARIONOVICH; VAVILOV, NIKOLAI IVANOVICH

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Joravsky, David. (1970). The Lysenko Affair. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Medvedev, Zhores A. (1969). The Rise and Fall of T. D. Lysenko. New York: Columbia University Press. Medvedev, Zhores A. (1978). Soviet Science. New York: Norton.

  R?SA MAGN?SD?TTIR

  MACARIUS See MAKARY, METROPOLITAN.

  MACHINE TRACTOR STATIONS

  The Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) were budget-financed state organizations established in rural areas of the Soviet Union beginning in 1930. Intended mainly as a mechanism to provide machinery and equipment (including repairs and maintenance) to the kolkhozes (collective farms), they also exerted state control over agriculture. Payment for the services of the Machine Tractor Stations was made in kind (product) by the farms. The emergence of the MTS was closely tied to the introduction of the collective farms and especially the continuing debate over organizational arrangements in the countryside, notably the appropriate scale or size of the collective farms. The original model of the Machine Tractor Stations was based upon experimental arrangements of the Shevchenko sovkhoz (state farm) in Ukraine. The Machine Tractor Stations were introduced rapidly. By the end of 1930 there were approximately 150 Machine Tractor Stations controlling approximately 7,000 tractors. By 1933 there were 2,900 stations controlling approximately 123,000 tractors, roughly 50 percent of all tractors in agriculture, the remaining tractors belonging to state farms. Overall, the growth of the tractor park was rapid, from some 27,000 units in 1928 to 531,000 units in 1940.

  The Machine Tractor Stations became the dominant mechanism for providing equipment to the kolkhozes. While the stations themselves provided state support to kolkhozes, especially to those producing grain, the political departments of the MTS (the politotdely), established in 1933, became an important means for exercising political control over the collective farms. This control extended well beyond the allocation and use of machinery and equipment, and specifically involved the development of production plans after the introduction of compulsory deliveries in 1933. The MTS was, therefore, an integral part of kolkhoz operations, and conflict often arose between the two organizations.

  The Machine Tractor Stations were abolished in 1958 during the Khrushchev era. However, their abolition and short-term replacement with the Repair Tractor Stations (RTS) was in fact a part of a much more significant process of continuing agricultural reorganization in the 1950s and thereafter.

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  MAFIA CAPITALISM

  The first tractors coming off the assembly line at the tractor works in Stalingrad. © HULTON ARCHIVE In addition to changes within farms during the 1950s, there was continuing emphasis on consolidating farms, converting kolkhozes to sovkhozes, and changing the organizational arrangements above the level of the individual farms. In effect, state control came to be exercised through different organizations, for example, the Territorial Production Associations (TPAs). While the machinery and equipment were dispersed to individual farms, in effect the organizational changes in the agricultural sector during the post-Stalin era consisted largely of agro-industrial integration. The changes introduced during the 1950s were mainly reforms of Nikita Khrushchev, and they became a major factor in Khrushchev’s downfall in 1964. See also: COLLECTIVE FARM; COLLECTIVIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Miller, Robert F. (1970). One Hundred Thousand Tractors: The MTS and the Development of Controls in Soviet Agriculture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  ROBERT C. STUART

  MAFIA CAPITALISM

  Mafia capitalism is a term that emerged to describe Russia’s economic system in the 1990s. While the implied parallel goes to the classic protection rackets of the Sicilian mafia, the actual Russian practice was different. In order to reflect this, both scholars and journalists have taken to describing the Russian system of organized crime as “mafiya.”

  There are obvious similarities between mafia and mafiya, in the form of organized gangs imposing tribute on businesses. This is the world of extortion, hitmen, and violent reprisals against those who fail to pay up. In the case of mafiya, however, it mainly affects the small business sector. Major actors will normally have affiliations with private security providers that operate a “cleaner” business of charging fees for protection against arson and violent assault.

  To foreign businesses in particular, the latter offers plausible deniability in claiming that no money is being paid to Russian organized crime.

  MAKAROV, STEPAN OSIPOVICH

  Money paid to private security providers, or to officials “helping out” with customs or other traditionally “difficult” parts of public administration, may also frequently be offset against lower payments of taxes, customs, and other fees.

  The real outcome is one where the Russian state and thus the Russian population at large suffer great damage. Not only is the government’s traditional monopoly on violence both privatized and decentralized into hands that are under no effective control by the authorities, but money destined to have been paid to the Russian government ends up instead in the coffers of security firms.

  Moreover, businesses in Russia are subjected to demands for tribute not only from organized crime gangs, but also from a broad variety of representatives of the official bureaucracy. This far exceeds the corruption associated with mafia in many other parts of the world, and explains in part why, in the compilation of international indices on corruption, Russia tends to rank amongst the worst cases.

  Russian entrepreneurs will typically be subjected to several visits per month, maybe even per week, by representatives of public bodies such as the fire department or the health inspectorate, all of which will expect to receive a little on the side.

  The burden on the small business sector in particular should be measured not only in financial terms, as the tribute paid may be offset by tax avoidance. Far more serious is the implied tax on the time of entrepreneurs, which often tends to be the most precious asset of a small business. The number of hours that are spent negotiating with those demanding bribes will have to be taken from productive efforts.

  The overall consequences of mafiya for the Russian economy are manifested in the stifling of private initiative and degradation of the moral basis of conducting business. See also: CRONY CAPITALISM; ORGANIZED CRIME

  MAIN POLITICAL DIRECTORATE

  Officials from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) monitored workers in key occupations to ensure their adherence to party doctrine and loyalty to the CPSU and the Soviet Union.

  In the Soviet army and navy, the CPSU maintained a shadow system of command parallel with the military chain of command. In the early days of the USSR, Party commanders (politruks) ensured the political reliability of regular officers and soldiers. As the Party became more secure in the political allegiance of the military, party commanders became “deputies for political work” (zampolit). These officers were directly subordinated to the unit commander, but they had access to
higher party officials through a separate chain of command. By and large, the zampolit dealt with matters such as morale, discipline, living conditions, training, and political indoctrination. Security issues such as political reliability were the primary concern of the Special Section. The Main Political Directorate also scrutinized the content of military publications, including the official newspaper Krasnaya zvezda and military publishing houses.

  In the post-Soviet era, military discipline is handled by the Main Directorate for Indoctrination Work. Without the power of the Party behind this institution, problems such as discipline, desertion, crime, and others have become increasingly more serious. See also: COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION; MILITARY, SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Herspring, Dale R. (1990). The Soviet High Command, 1967-1989: Personalities and Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Whiting, Kenneth R. (1978). The Development of the Soviet Armed Forces, 1917-1977. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press.

  ANN E. ROBERTSON

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Center for Strategic and International Studies. (1997). Russian Organized Crime. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies. Handelman, Stephen. (1995). Comrade Criminal. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

  STEFAN HEDLUND

  MAKAROV, STEPAN OSIPOVICH

  (1849-1904), naval commander during Russo-Japanese War; prolific writer on naval affairs.

  Vice Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov, commander of the Pacific Squadron of the Russian navy

  MAKARY, METROPOLITAN

  during the Russo-Japanese War and the author of more than fifty works on naval tactics, technology, and oceanography, was born in Nikolaevsk on the Bug River and graduated from naval school at Nikolaevsk on the Amur in 1865. While still in school he was deployed with the Pacific Squadron in 1863, and after graduation he joined the Baltic Fleet. Serving on the staff of Vice Admiral A.A. Popov from 1871 to 1876, Makarov was involved in naval engineering projects, including studies of problems related to damage control.

  During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Makarov commanded the Grand Duke Konstantin and successfully conducted mine/torpedo warfare against Turkish units in the Black Sea, using steam launches armed with towed mines and self-propelled torpedoes. In 1878 he took part in the unsuccessful effort to construct a mine-artillery position to prevent the British Royal Navy from entering the Turkish Straits and began the development of techniques for underway minelaying. He conducted a major study of the currents in the Turkish Straits during the late 1870s, commanded the riverine flotilla that supported General Mikhail Skobelev’s Akhal-Tekke Campaign in Central Asia in 1880-1881, commanded the corvette Vityaz on a round-the-world cruise from 1886 to 1889, served with the Baltic Fleet during the early 1890s, and was inspector of naval artillery from 1891 to 1894. During the mid-1890s Makarov completed another round-the-world cruise. In December 1897 he published his essay “Discussions on Questions of Naval Tactics.” Makarov wrote extensively on the impact of technology on naval tactics and was one of the foremost authorities on mine warfare at sea. During the late 1890s he directed the construction of the Baltic Fleet’s first icebreaker, the Ermak. In 1899 he was appointed commander of the naval base at Kronstadt.

  After the Japanese surprise attack in January 1904, Makarov assumed command of the Russian squadron at Port Arthur, immediately instituting measures to raise the morale of its crews. On April 13 Makarov ordered a sortie to support Russian destroyers engaged with Japanese vessels. Shortly after getting under way his flagship, the battleship Petropavlovsk, struck a mine that detonated the forward magazine. Vice Admiral Makarov died along with most of the ship’s crew and the painter Vasily Vereshchagin. See also: ADMIRALTY; BALTIC FLEET; BLACK SEA FLEET; RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR; RUSSO-TURKISH WARS

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Makarov, Stepan Osipovich. (1990). “Discussions of Questions on Naval Tactics.” In Classics of Sea Power, ed. John B. Hattendorf. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.

  JACOB W. KIPP

  MAKARY, METROPOLITAN

  (c. 1482-1563), also known as Macarius; archbishop of Novgorod (1526-1542); metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus (1542-1563); prominent religious and political figure of the sixteenth century.

  Makary’s parentage is not known, and nothing is known about him before he was tonsured at the Pafnuty-Borovsk Monastery at the end of the fifteenth century. In February 1523, Metropolitan Daniel appointed Makary archimandrite of the Luzhetsk Monastery near Mozhaisk. He became archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov on March 4, 1526, the first archbishop to be appointed to that city since 1508. This appointment may have come about, at least in part, as a result of Makary’s support of the divorce of Grand Prince Basil III from his wife Solomonia in 1525 and the subsequent marriage of the grand prince to Elena Glinskaya. As archbishop, Makary undertook reorganization of the monasteries and promoted missionary activity to the Karelo-Finnic population in the northern reaches of his jurisdiction. He also undertook a number of building and restoration projects, including the direction of the unsuccessful construction of the first water mill on the Volkhov River. The greater complexity of Novgorodian church architecture in the 1530s, such as tri-apse constructions and five-cupola designs, has been attributed to Makary’s intervention. Makary also undertook a number of literary and mathematical activities, including updating the Novgorod Chronicle, compiling a menology, which became the prototype of the Great Menology, and calculating the date of Easter through the year 2072. In 1531 he participated in the council that tried the monks Maxim the Greek, Isaak Sobaka, and Vassian Patrikeyev for holding heretical views.

  Makary replaced Ioasaf (Joseph) as metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus on March 16, 1542, and took over responsibility for the education and upbringing of the young Ivan IV. He continued as a close adviser of the tsar until the end of his own life. In 1547 Makary presided over the coronation

  MAKARY, METROPOLITAN

  of Ivan as tsar (January), the marriage of Ivan to Anastasia (February), and (with Ivan) a church council (January-February) that canonized a number of Rus saints. Makary was badly injured in the Moscow fire in June of that year when he was being lowered from the Kremlin wall to escape the flames. Nonetheless, he continued to remain active in religious and political affairs while he recovered. In February 1549, along with Ivan, he presided over another church council that canonized more Rus saints. In June 1550, Makary and Ivan presided over the assembly that compiled the Sudebnik of 1550, the first major revision of the law code since 1497. During January and February 1551, Makary presided with Ivan over the Stoglav (Hundred-Chapter) church council, which codified the regulations of the Church similar to the way government laws had been codified the previous year in the Sudebnik. Also in 1551, Makary released Maxim the Greek from imprisonment and allowed him to move to the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery in Zagorsk but would not allow him to return to Greece.

  While Ivan IV was away on the campaign against Kazan from June through October 1552, Makary, along with Ivan’s wife Anastasia and brother Yuri, was left in charge of running the civil affairs of the Muscovite state. By 1553, his first large literary compilation project as metropolitan, the Great Menology, was completed. Makary also presided over several significant heresy trials, including those of the archimandrite of the Chudov Monastery Isaak Sobaka (1549), the military servitor Matvei Bashkin, the hegumen of the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery Artemy (1553-1554), and the monk Feodosy Kosoi (1554-1555). Also in 1555, Makary established the archiepiscopal see of Kazan. In addition, Makary directed the introduction of a new style of icon painting, which combined political and ideological concepts with religious themes. This new style was manifested in the wall and ceiling paintings of the Golden Palace in the Kremlin. The state secretary Ivan Viskovaty criticized a number of the new icons for violating the established standards of Eastern Christian icon painting. As a result, Viskovaty was brought to trial before a Church council in 1553 presided over by Makar
y. Viskovaty’s views were condemned, but he escaped punishment and maintained his position by recanting. During the remainder of his tenure in office, Makary concentrated on a number of construction projects, including the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat (1555-1561), popularly known as Basil the Blessed after one of its chapels, as well as two major literary compilations, the Book of Degrees and the Illuminated Compilation.

  As an ideologist, Makary is credited with formulating the Church-based justification for the Muscovite conquest of Kazan as well as solidifying into a formula the Church’s anti-Tatar diatribes. The close relationship between the Church and the State that he fostered was in accord with Eastern Church political theory and received visible articulation in the style of icon painting he helped to introduce. Several important letters and speeches are attributed to Makary, although he cannot be considered a major literary figure. There exist several letters of his from the time he was archbishop of Novgorod and Pskov. In his speech at the coronation of Ivan IV in 1547, Makary, in his role as metropolitan, reminded the new tsar of his duty to protect the Church. His Reply (Otvet) to Tsar Ivan IV was written around 1550 shortly before the Stoglav Church Council. In it, Makary cites a number of precedents concerning the inalienability of Church and monastic lands, including the Donation of Constantine, the Rule of Vladimir, and the false charter (yarlyk) to Metropolitan Peter.

  He ends the Reply with a plea to the tsar not to take away the “immovable properties” belonging to the Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral, the seat of the metropolitan. In his speech after the conquest of Kazan, Makary depicted victory as the result of a long-term religious crusade and thereby articulated the Church-based justification for Muscovy’s claim to Kazan.

  Perhaps Makary’s most remarkable achievement was the Great Menology (Velikie minei-chety), which consisted of twelve volumes, one for each month, and which comprised a total of approximately 13,500 large-format folios. The Great Menology included full texts of almost all Church-related writings then known in Russia, including saints’ lives, sermons, letters, council decisions, translations, condemnations of heretics, and so forth, all arranged in categories of daily readings. Makary had competed a shorter version of this menology while he was archbishop of Novgorod, and the resources of the Muscovite Church allowed him to expand it to comprehensive proportions.