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On the Times and My Contemporaries
and general designers. The name of the chief designer was given to all of the
aircraft created under his leadership as something akin to a trademark.There were
no democratic Councils in aviation similar to the Korolev Council until they
became involved with the development of air-defense and ABM missiles.
By the end of the 1970s, the Soviet Union had the strongest technocratic elite
in the world.While remaining outwardly devoted to the politics of the Communist
state, the leaders of this elite did not shy away from criticizing among themselves
the obvious shortcomings of the political system, the continuing offenses of
the Cold War, and the persecutions of “dissident” individuals that flared up from
time to time. However, the technocracy undertook no actions to exert political
pressure on the powers that be. The persecution of Andrey Sakharov serves as a
typical example of this. It seems to me that this case demonstrated a lack of skill in
organizing politically that is characteristic of the intelligentsia in general, and the
Russian intelligentsia in particular.
i have tried to remember the outstanding, unique individuals whom I have
worked with and encountered. They were all different, and it is impossible to
impose a certain standard on a Soviet scientist or Chief Designer. For all the diversity
of their characters, work styles, and the thematic directions of their activity,
they were characterized by common traits that distinguished their creative work
substantially from the established notions about great scientists of the past. This was
true not only for the people mentioned above, but also for other figures of Soviet
science and technology who were involved in the scientific military-industrial
complex. Perhaps a list of these general traits will, to a certain degree, serve as a
response to the question as to why, despite possessing colossal potential strength,
these individuals never tried to obtain real power in the country. Allow me to present
my formulation of these general traits.
1. Technical creative work was a vocation, the meaning of life. Pure science was
viewed not as an end in itself, but as a means for attaining technical results,
and in some cases, results in the interests of state politics.
2. Individual scientific-technical creative work was combined with organizational
activity and with the search for the most fruitful work methods for the
teams that each Chief Designer headed. To a greater or lesser degree each
one tried to be an organizer of science.
3. Chief Designers, scientists, and leading specialists were personally responsible
to the state for the final results of their creative activity. The greatest
scientists of the past never had such a degree of responsibility. Maxwell,
Einstein, Rutherford, Mendeleyev, Tsiolkovskiy, Zhukovskiy, Oberth, the
Curies, and others, the names of which are firmly ensconced in the history
of science, were also born to create.They accomplished scientific feats, but
they did not have state structures standing over them to monitor their scientific
activity and demand compulsory scientific results within strictly regulated
deadlines.
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