The 1950 Joint Scientific Session: Pavlovians as the accusers and the accused

In 1950, Stalin and the Soviet Government prevailed upon the USSR Academy of Sciences and the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences to organize the 1950 Joint Scientific Session for the purpose of formalizing the teachings of I.P. Pavlov. During the Session, some of Pavlov's erstwhile students--the Pavlovians--split into accusers and accused. The more prominent of the latter were denounced for deviating from the orthodox Pavlovian path, and urged to admit their mistakes, to work within the framework of Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity, and to avoid Western influence. Within this context, the travail of the prominent Pavlovian physiologist L. A. Orbeli is discussed. Contemporary Russian historians and scientists, evaluating the consequences of the 1950 Joint Scientific Session, point out its negative effects; namely, the general moral decline of Soviet physiologists pressured to accept a dogmatic ideology, the lowering of the quality of research in physiology, and the self-imposed exclusion of Soviet physiology from the worldwide scientific community.