Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical (96 page)

4
. In this connection, it should be noted too that in the first drafts of
We the Living
, Rand mentions a number of courses taught at the university, quite clearly drawn from the courses she herself took, as documented in this list. Rand mentions courses in historical materialism, the history of socialist movements, the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, Marxist theory, Greek philosophy, and the history of the Crusades—all of which she took while in attendance at the university (see Milgram 2012a, 7, 11). Scott McConnell (2012, 48) reports that Rand’s description of “Kira’s first year at university was practically ‘autobiographical, in the sense of background.’” Rand herself stated in her biographical interviews with Barbara Branden that she had been “somewhat reckless” in her overt anticommunism in her first year at university. The conditions of the student purge that Rand describes in
We the Living
were also autobiographical; Rand herself was expelled in December 1923 but was “later readmitted.” Federman (2012, 84 n. 24) tells us that Rand was actually “readmitted three months
later” (March 1924), and that she graduated in July 1924. As I reported in
Russian Radical
, Rand escaped the purge by “sheer accident” (above, p. <72>). As McConnell (2012, 49) puts it, “visiting foreign scientists who had complained about the purge” put pressure on Soviet authorities, who “let the purged students in their last year complete their degrees.” Among the documents in the current dossier is one that confirms the decision of the Board of Petrograd State University, dated 13 December 1923, discharging Rosenbaum for “not fulfilling academic activity.” Also of interest is a document that provides evidence of university tuition policies under the Soviets: because Alissa’s mother, Anna Borisovna Rosenbaum, was a teacher, tuition payment requirements were dropped, allowing the young Rand to receive a free university education. The petition to the Payments Commission of Leningrad State University is dated 7 February 1923.

5
. For a discussion of the problems I encountered in trying to secure the original Rosenbaum student records from the Ayn Rand Institute, see Sciabarra 1999b. It should be noted too that the problem of legibility is not distinctive to this transcript or even this period. Historian Michael David-Fox explains that “signatures with initials or scribbled flourishes are very typical of Russian signatures today, as well,” so illegibility is true not only for this transcript or transcripts in general, but “the way a lot of people sign all the time.” Personal correspondence, 15 June 2005.

6
. As Peter Konecny mentions (personal correspondence, 15 June 2005), many of these “young communist ‘careerists’” among both students and teachers were rising in their professions in the late twenties, only to find “themselves victims of Stalinist witch-hunts in the mid–late 30s.” On this point, see Konecny 1999. On Borichevsky, in particular, David-Fox informs me that “WorldCat shows an Ivan Abramovich Borichesvsk[y], born in 1892, as the author of a book called
Introduction to the Philosophy of Science: Science and Metaphysics
, published by the Petrograd branch of the state publishing house in 1922” (personal correspondence, 16 June 2005). Konecny mentions further (personal correspondence, 16 June 2005) a footnote in an article by L. D Shirokorad entitled “N. D. Kondrat’ev v Sankt Peterburgskom (Petrogradskom) Universitete” (“N. D. Kondratev at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) University,” online at
http://gallery.economicus.ru/cgi-ise/gallery/frame_rightn.pl?type=ruhttp://gallery.economicus.ru/cgi-ise/gallery/frame_rightn.pl?type=ru&links=./ru/kondratiev/biogr/kondratiev_b2.txt&img=brief.gif&name=kondratiev
). Konecny translates the relevant note from Russian into English: “In 1921, Borichevsky became a professor at Petrograd University. From the 1920s he became an active member of the Scientific Association of Marxists.”

7
. In
We the Living
, the last name of the villainous character “Comrade Sonia” was “Presniakova,” which McConnell (2012, 60) believes is an instance of a name Rand created for “symbolic” or “comical” effect. “Comrade Sonia’s last name,” writes McConnell, “means ‘bland.’” However, “Presniakova” is also the feminine of Presniakov; I had identified previously Aleksandr Evgen’evich Presniakov as Rand’s most likely teacher for Course #13, “History of Socialism.” So there might be a possible parallel here. (On Rand’s use of real people as inspirations for her characters in
We the Living
, see pp. <388–90> in this essay, and note 12 below.) David-Fox remarks that “Pres niakov was a very illustrious historian in the Petersburg School, a non-party historian who was influenced by Marxism in an unconventional (i.e., nonorthodox) manner in the 1920s.” Personal correspondence, 15 June 2005.

8
. In a report dated 26 May 2005, the researchers of Blitz Information Services confirm that “[i]n 1921, the Pedagogical Institute, where the pro-rector was L. P. Karsavin, was liquidated.” (And, confirming my points above at pp. <75–76, 86>, the researchers note that Karsavin—who may have taught Course #12—was among the university professors exiled on the ship
Prussia
on 15 November 1922, along with N. O. Lossky, I. I. Lapshin, A. A. Bogolepov, B. N. Odintsov, D. F. Selivanov, and P. A. Sorokin. See also
Finkel 2001; thanks to David-Fox for bringing that work to my attention.) In Fall 1921, the researchers continue, “178 students who had been enlisted in the Department of Russian Language and Literature were transferred to the Ethnology-Linguistic Division of the Faculty of the Social Sciences of the University. In addition, 83 persons were transferred to the Social-Pedagogical Division of the same Department. [The] Chairman of the first Presidium of the Association of Marxist Scholars (located at #11, Universitetskaia embankment) was Professor E. A. Engel. Then the association was headed by Professor M. V. Serebriakov (1879–1959). He became the rector of the University in 1927.” As noted on p. <387> in the current essay, Serebriakov’s name appears among the signatures in the Rosenbaum dossier.

A cross-comparison with the surnames of university professors in the 1920s and 1930s as listed in a variety of publications turned up very little. Such lists do not provide information about the specific departmental and programmatic connections of the professors or about the exact years in which they worked at the university. Among the names listed: L. P. Karsavin, P. A. Pletnev, I. I. Sreznevski, A. N. Veselovski, L. V. Shcherba (a philologist who was arrested in 1919), I. Yu. Krachkovski, V. F. Shishmarev, I. I. Tolstoy, B. A. Larin, V. V. Struve, G. A. Bialyi, V. A. Manuilov, G. P. Makogonenko, L. R. Zinder, F. A. Abramov, G. A. Gukovski, V. I. Sreznevski, I. P. Borodin, S. P. Glazenap, N. N. Glubokoski, S. A. Zhebelev, V. V. Latyshev, Yu. P. Novitski, V. E. Tishchenko, V. M. Shimkevich, A. E. Favorski, S. I. Kovalev, I. I. Meshchaninov, and E. V. Tarle (who is mentioned above at pp. <75–76> and “The Rand Transcript,” <375–77>). The Blitz researchers derived this information from a publication by Yu. A. Endoltsev,
Dvorets Petra II. Universitetskaia naberezhnaia, 11. Sobytiia I liudi
(Peter II Palace. #11, University Embankment. “Events and People,” Saint-Petersburg, 2002), which also includes photos of professors.

9
. See above, pp. <65–69>; “The Rand Transcript,” <367–69>. I had uncovered the fact of Rand’s attendance in the Stoiunin gymnasium when I was doing research for Sciabarra 1995a. I characterized that conclusion as a reasonable speculation, which was confirmed further by the memories of Helene Sikorski, sister of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, and Olga Vladimirovna Nabokov, a childhood friend of Rand’s. See “The Rand Transcript,” <367–68>. Rand’s attendance at the Stoiunin gymnasium has now been c onfirmed by Blitz Information Services. A collection of documents for the Stoiunin gymnasium is kept in the Central Historic Archive of St. Petersburg (Fond 148). Blitz emphasizes that “the personal files of schoolgirls were not preserved. After looking through the files, we found only one mention of Alissa Rosenbaum. She is mentioned in the list of schoolgirls of the second year for the 1915–1916 academic year (Fond 148, Inventory #1, file 420, pp. 1–2). 39 girls in total are listed in her class for the 1915–1916 academic year there, according to alphabetic order. Alissa is under number 27: ‘Rosenbaum Alissa. Address: #120, Nevski Avenue, Apt. 1. Parents: Anna Borisovna and Zinovy Zakharovich.’” See Britting 2004, 10 for a photo of the Stoiunin gymnasium building.

10
. Bernice Rosenthal reminds me (phone conversation, 6 June 2005) that a genuinely pre-Bolshevik Russian professor would not have meant “individualism” in the same way that a Western philosopher would use the term. For most Russian thinkers, individualism consists of developing one’s individuality within a community. This relates to the doctrine of
sobornost’
. See above, pp. <23, 26–27, 30>, passim.

11
. In a phone conversation on 10 May 2005, Alexis Lossky mentioned that he only possessed black-and-white photos of his grandfather, but his own father, the late Andrew Lossky, had blue eyes, and he believes his grandfather had them as well. Nicolas, Vladimir Lossky’s son, also confirms that his grandfather had blue eyes (phone conversation between Alexis and Nicolas Lossky, 16 June 2005). I was saddened to learn that my old friend Boris Lossky (another of N. O. Lossky’s sons)—who assisted me immeasurably in my previous transcript analyses—passed away in 2002. None of the famed professor’s sons survives.

12.
McConnell (2012) discusses a number of “parallel lives” in
We the Living
, that is, parallels between characters and real people: the main character Kira Argounova and Rand herself; Leo Kovalensky and Rand’s first love, Lev Bekkerman; Vasili Dunaev and Rand’s father; Galina Argounova and Rand’s mother; and Irina Dunaeva and Rand’s sister Nora.

A
PPENDIX
III: A C
HALLENGE TO
R
USSIAN
R
ADICAL
—AND
A
YN
R
AND

1
. Heller uncovers additional information on Rand’s education in her superb biography,
Ayn Rand and the World She Made
. See especially Heller 2009,
chaps. 1
and
2
. My own work in “The Rand Transcript, Revisited” benefitted greatly from Heller’s generous sharing of her original research.

2
.
Impact
, the newsletter of the Ayn Rand Institute (1994), announced in “A Look at the Future,” in its April 1994 General News column, that
Ayn Rand in Her Own Words: The Authorized Biography
was “being prepared for publication in 1996.” It was to be “edited by Richard E. Ralston (ARI Academic Affairs Officer and former book/newspaper publisher).” The text was to consist of “Ayn Rand’s own story of her life compiled from various sources, including her journals, correspondence, and interviews[,] … supplemented by interviews with Leonard Peikoff, Mary Ann Sures, and others.” The plan was abandoned, but the title was later used for a 2011 documentary on Rand’s life (see my preface herein,
401 n. 3
).

More than a decade later, in June 2004, it was announced by
Impact
(Journo 2004a, 1) that Shoshana Milgram was “working on an in-depth biography of Ayn Rand,” for which the author herself projected completion “at the latest by 2008” (in Journo 2004b, 4). ARI currently identifies “the authorized biography of Ayn Rand by Shoshana Milgram” as “in preparation.” See
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_archives_projects
, accessed 11 February 2013.

Given the
politics
that governs so much of Rand scholarship, it should be noted that, aside from a dismissive piece written by John Ridpath (1996), Milgram’s is the first by any ARI-affiliated scholar to refer to my work in any scholarly capacity; the Mayhew volume also lists the three relevant Sciabarra references in its “Select Bibliography,” though it misidentifies “The Rand Transcript, Revisited” as a 2006—rather than a 2005—publication (Mayhew 2012, 408).

3
. I owe Irfan Khawaja a debt of gratitude for making me aware of the newest Milgram contribution, “The Education of Kira Argounova and Leo Kovalensky,” to the second edition of Mayhew 2012.

4
. Milgram (2012, 106 n. 3) reports that she consulted specifically the Ayn Rand Special Collections (Box 2 and Box 3) and biographical interviews conducted by Barbara Branden and Nathaniel Branden in 1960 and 1961 (especially Interviews nos. 5, 6, and 7, dated 30 December 1960, 2 January 1961, and 15 January 1961, respectively). To my knowledge, the material in these Archives relevant to Rand’s early education has not been assessed by any independent scholar. For more on this issue, see note 7 below.

5
. Milgram transliterates all surnames ending in-sky as-skii. In keeping with my usage throughout
Russian Radical
, I have standardized the-sky form throughout.

6
. Milgram takes issue with my use of Peter Konecny’s dissertation, “Conflict and Community at Leningrad State University, 1917–1941,” as a source of information with regard to the “pass-fail” grading system. I checked and rechecked that information with several scholars, including Konecny himself, who personally reviewed both of my post–
Russian Radical
essays prior to their publication. He stated that I provided “a balanced assessment” of what was happening in the university curriculum (personal correspondence, 8 January 1999) and that he could not “see anything wrong” with my
discussion of university policies; he wrote that he did not “have anything to add … in the way of details” to that discussion (personal correspondence, 15 June 2005).

7
. The official policy of the Ayn Rand Archives remains highly restrictive. The Archives are administered under the auspices of the Ayn Rand Institute. In volume 2 of
Archives Annual
, archivist Jeff Britting (1999) tells us, “The Ayn Rand Archives is committed to creating public awareness and access to its holdings on a worldwide scale” (4). In volume 3 of
Archives Annual
, Britting (2000) reiterates that it is the mission of the Archives “to acquire, preserve, inventory, and make available Ayn Rand’s remaining papers and related documents to serious scholars and general writers” (3). Practically speaking, Britting tells us, access would not be regulated by any given researcher’s agreement or disagreement with Objectivism. But access would be denied “to individuals who, in the Ayn Rand Institute’s sole discretion, would use the Archives’ resources to legitimize theories that pose as Objectivist but which, in fact, contradict Objectivism’s fundamentals—thus contradicting the Intellectual Charter and the Archives’ institutional mandate.” Clearly, that proviso is one that can legitimize the Institute’s use of a litmus test for archival access to exclude those who are
persona non grata
with its trustees and affiliates. Nothing that Britting says in the
Archives Annual
has, therefore, changed the official access policy as defined on the current website of the Ayn Rand Archives. Access to Rand’s personal papers remains limited to ARI “staff and affiliates” (About the Ayn Rand Archives, Ayn Rand Institute website, online at
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_archives_about
[accessed 4 January 2003 and 4 February 2013]), though a few non-affiliated scholars have been accommodated. One of these scholars, Jennifer Burns, who conducted research at the Archives for her own book,
Goddess of the Market
, confirmed my serious reservations (Sciabarra 1998b) about how Rand’s papers were being edited (or, in some instances, butchered) for publication (Burns 2009, 291–93). Burns 2012b describes a less-than-ideal atmosphere for independent scholarly work.