The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union / Edition 1

by Loren Graham

Overview

Stalin ordered his execution, but here Peter Palchinsky has the last word. As if rising from an uneasy grave, Palchinsky’s ghost leads us through the miasma of Soviet technology and industry, pointing out the mistakes he condemned in his time, the corruption and collapse he predicted, the ultimate price paid for silencing those who were not afraid to speak out. The story of this visionary engineer’s life and work, as Loren Graham relates it, is also the story of the Soviet Union’s industrial promise and failure.

We meet Palchinsky in pre-Revolutionary Russia, immersed in protests against the miserable lot of laborers in the tsarist state, protests destined to echo ironically during the Soviet worker’s paradise. Exiled from the country, pardoned and welcomed back at the outbreak of World War I, the engineer joined the ranks of the Revolutionary government, only to find it no more open to criticism than the previous regime. His turbulent career offers us a window on debates over industrialization. Graham highlights the harsh irrationalities built into the Soviet system—the world’s most inefficient steel mill in Magnitogorsk, the gigantic and ill-conceived hydroelectric plant on the Dnieper River, the infamously cruel and mislocated construction of the White Sea Canal. Time and again, we see the effects of policies that ignore not only the workers’ and consumers’ needs but also sound management and engineering precepts. And we see Palchinsky’s criticism and advice, persistently given, consistently ignored, continue to haunt the Soviet Union right up to its dissolution in 1991.

The story of a man whose gifts and character set him in the path of history, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer is also a cautionary tale about the fate of an engineering that disregards social and human issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674354371
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/01/1996
Series:	Russian Research Center Studies , #87
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	154
Sales rank:	516,480
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Loren Graham is Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

1. The Radical Engineer

2. From Political Prisoner to Soviet Consultant

3. Early Soviet Industrialization

4. Technocracy, Soviet Style

5. Contemporary Engineering Failures

Epilogue: The Ghost of Peter Palchinsky

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Editorial Reviews

A terrific read, and a needed reminder of what happens when technology is loosed from social responsibility.

Boston Globe - Chet Raymo

In this gem of a book, Loren R. Graham, our foremost authority on Soviet science and technology, draws the reader into the life story of Peter Palchinsky, a remarkable Soviet engineer who was executed in 1929 for treason...Like all memorable books, [this one] leaves the reader wrestling with large questions. The fate of Palchinsky was specific to Stalinist Russia, but the story Mr. Graham tells prompts us to reflect on the tenuous position of the state-supported social critic in all places, at all times.

Susan Gross Solomon

[A] provocative and engaging volume.

New Republic - S. Frederick Starr

This remarkable book by Loren R. Graham deals with one of the many independent minds crushed by the Soviet government.

Hiroaki Kuromiyan Historical Review

Loren Graham clarifies important questions concerning the interface between politics and technology, the significance of which extend beyond the Soviet experience. Among the most striking of these is the way his examples illustrate how arbitrary political power can be deployed both to impose irrational policies, which flew in the face of scientific laws, technical parameters and human capabilities, and to misrepresent their consequences for public consumption...This book will provide an invaluable insight into the long-term impact of Stalinism on Soviet technical culture.

Times Higher Education Supplement - Peter Kneen

Loren Graham has written a wonderful book about the relationship between technology and society. He has woven together an account of the life and work of a Russian engineer, Peter Palchinsky, and an analysis of the failures of Soviet engineering projects. The result is an elegant and concise essay on the dangers of engineering which ignores human values...This superb book distills in a vivid and moving way the results of Graham’s many years of research on Soviet science and technology.

Science - David Holloway

[A] provocative and engaging volume.--S. Frederick Starr "New Republic"

A terrific read, and a needed reminder of what happens when technology is loosed from social responsibility.--Chet Raymo "Boston Globe"

In this gem of a book, Loren R. Graham, our foremost authority on Soviet science and technology, draws the reader into the life story of Peter Palchinsky, a remarkable Soviet engineer who was executed in 1929 for treason...Like all memorable books, [this one] leaves the reader wrestling with large questions. The fate of Palchinsky was specific to Stalinist Russia, but the story Mr. Graham tells prompts us to reflect on the tenuous position of the state-supported social critic in all places, at all times.--Susan Gross Solomon "New York Times Book Review"

Loren Graham clarifies important questions concerning the interface between politics and technology, the significance of which extend beyond the Soviet experience. Among the most striking of these is the way his examples illustrate how arbitrary political power can be deployed both to impose irrational policies, which flew in the face of scientific laws, technical parameters and human capabilities, and to misrepresent their consequences for public consumption...This book will provide an invaluable insight into the long-term impact of Stalinism on Soviet technical culture.--Peter Kneen "Times Higher Education Supplement"

Loren Graham has written a wonderful book about the relationship between technology and society. He has woven together an account of the life and work of a Russian engineer, Peter Palchinsky, and an analysis of the failures of Soviet engineering projects. The result is an elegant and concise essay on the dangers of engineering which ignores human values...This superb book distills in a vivid and moving way the results of Graham's many years of research on Soviet science and technology.--David Holloway "Science"

This remarkable book by Loren R. Graham deals with one of the many independent minds crushed by the Soviet government.--Hiroaki Kuromiya "American Historical Review"

From the Publisher

This remarkable book by Loren R. Graham deals with one of the many independent minds crushed by the Soviet government.

American Historical Review - Hiroaki Kuromiya

A terrific read, and a needed reminder of what happens when technology is loosed from social responsibility.
— Chet Raymo

Boston Globe

This remarkable book by Loren R. Graham deals with one of the many independent minds crushed by the Soviet government.
— Hiroaki Kuromiya

American Historical Review

[A] provocative and engaging volume.
— S. Frederick Starr

New Republic

Loren Graham clarifies important questions concerning the interface between politics and technology, the significance of which extend beyond the Soviet experience. Among the most striking of these is the way his examples illustrate how arbitrary political power can be deployed both to impose irrational policies, which flew in the face of scientific laws, technical parameters and human capabilities, and to misrepresent their consequences for public consumption...This book will provide an invaluable insight into the long-term impact of Stalinism on Soviet technical culture.
— Peter Kneen

Times Higher Education Supplement

Loren Graham has written a wonderful book about the relationship between technology and society. He has woven together an account of the life and work of a Russian engineer, Peter Palchinsky, and an analysis of the failures of Soviet engineering projects. The result is an elegant and concise essay on the dangers of engineering which ignores human values...This superb book distills in a vivid and moving way the results of Graham's many years of research on Soviet science and technology.
— David Holloway

Science

In this gem of a book, Loren R. Graham, our foremost authority on Soviet science and technology, draws the reader into the life story of Peter Palchinsky, a remarkable Soviet engineer who was executed in 1929 for treason...Like all memorable books, [this one] leaves the reader wrestling with large questions. The fate of Palchinsky was specific to Stalinist Russia, but the story Mr. Graham tells prompts us to reflect on the tenuous position of the state-supported social critic in all places, at all times.
— Susan Gross Solomon

New York Times Book Review

After Soviet engineer Peter A. Palchinsky (1875-1929) was arrested in 1928, his voluminous files of correspondence and professional papers were carted away by the secret police to languish unknown in a Moscow archive until 1991 when Graham, a well-known historian of Russian science and technology, rediscovered them. Two chapters of this work cover Palchinsky's life and professional accomplishments; three show how Soviet engineering is the poorer for not adopting his ideas of ``humanitarian engineering.'' A graduate of the St. Petersburg Institute of Mining, Palchinsky was always interested in the political and economic facets of any construction project (such as housing and living conditions of the crew members). His ideas led to trouble with both the tsarist and Soviet governments. Some of the spectacular failures of Soviet construction (including Chernobyl and the steel complex at Magnitogorsk) Graham blames on Stalin's propensity for building the biggest, regardless of the human aspects. This short, specialized monograph belongs in both engineering and area studies collections.-- Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York

Library Journal

Graham tells the story of the ill-fated, visionary Soviet engineer, Peter Palchinsky--a story that is also the story of the Soviet Union's industrial promise and failure, and a cautionary tale about the fate of engineering that disregards social and human issues. Includes a 16-page glossy photographic insert. By no means for engineers only. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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