Rumyantsev, Alexey Matveevich

He graduated from the Kharkov Institute of National Economy (1926).

• in 1925 - 1927 and in 1928 - 1929 he worked in the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the Ukrainian SSR;
• in 1927 - 1928 he served in the Red Army ;
• in 1929 - 1930 he worked in the People's Commissariat of Justice of the Ukrainian SSR ;
• in 1930 - 1943 - in scientific and teaching work: 1930-1933, graduate student of the Research Institute of Economics and Industrial Organization, at the same time associate professor, dean of the Institute of Economics and Economics , then 1933-1936 professor at Kharkov University , in 1936-1941 head. Department of Political Economy, Engineering Institute in Kharkov.

In 1940, at the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, he defended his thesis “The emergence of private ownership of movable property”, the scientific adviser was Konstantin Ostrovityanov , opponent D. T. Shepilov .

Since 1943, at party work ( Kharkov region ), in 1946-1949, the secretary of the Kharkiv Regional Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Ukraine.

• since 1949 he was the head of the department of the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute ;
• in 1950 - 1952 - director of the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, head of the Department of Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR;
• July 1952 - March 25, 1953 - Head of the Department of Economic and Historical Sciences and Higher Educational Institutions of the Central Committee of the CPSU (B.) - CPSU ;
• in 1953 - 1955 - head of the Department of Science and Culture of the CPSU Central Committee;
• in 1955 - 1958 - chief editor of the journal " Communist ";
• in 1958 - 1964 - chief editor of the journal " Problems of Peace and Socialism ";
• in 1964 - 1965 - editor-in-chief of Pravda , was dismissed due to dissatisfaction with L. I. Brezhnev of his article “The Party and the intelligentsia” ^[1] ;
• September 1965 - July 1966 - and. about. Academician-Secretary of the Department of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences;
• in 1966 - 1967 - academician-secretary of the Department of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences;
• May 17, 1967 - May 28, 1971 - Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, responsible for social sciences;

With his support, the Institute of Concrete Social Research (ICSI) of the USSR Academy of Sciences , the first sociological institute, was created on the basis of the Department of Concrete Sociological Research of the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences . In 1968 - 1972 - Director of the newly established Institute for Specific Social Research ^[2] .

N. I. Lapin recalled that after what happened with Yu. A. Levada, “the opposition in the Central Committee was growing, and it focused on Alexei Matveevich Rumyantsev as a key figure. The suspicious attitude towards the institute and its director was growing ... As a result, Rumyantsev was forced to resign simultaneously from two posts - both the director of the institute and the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences ” ^[3] . In 1972, ICSI as a too “liberal” scientific center was reorganized into the Institute for Sociological Research, which was accompanied by the dismissal of many leading employees (such as Yu. A. Levada, I. S. Kon , A. A. Galkin, and others). He was forced to leave the post of director and A. M. Rumyantsev ^[4] .

Since 1971, a member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences .

He was one of the academicians of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR who signed in 1973 a letter from scientists to the newspaper Pravda condemning the "behavior of Academician A. D. Sakharov ." The letter stated that Sakharov “made a number of statements defaming the political system, foreign and domestic policies of the Soviet Union”, and academics rated his “human rights activities” as “defaming the honor and dignity of the Soviet scientist” ^{[5] [6]} .

He was a member of the Main Edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia of the 3rd edition; the chief editor of the Economic Encyclopedia "Political Economy"; Chairman of the first scientific council on sociology - the Scientific Council on the problems of specific social studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He edited the textbook of political economy , which was the main one when teaching this subject, which is compulsory for students of all specialties.

A. M. Rumyantsev died on December 1, 1993, was buried in Moscow, at the Troekurovsky cemetery ^[7] .

• Wife - Alexandra Sergeevna Mazlakh (1910-1995), daughter of economist and revolutionary Sergei Mikhailovich Mazlakh (real name Robsman, 1878-1937), the first head of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine .
  • The daughter was married to Doctor of Economic Sciences Viktor Danilovich Belkin ^[8] .

He was awarded two Orders of Lenin , the Order of the October Revolution , two other orders, as well as medals.

Yu. A. Levada : “He was the embodiment of a certain type of party leader - a party liberal, not so far from literary liberals” ^[9] .

According to V. A. Yadov, Rumyantsev created at the institute

“Wonderful liberal atmosphere. Only at times did he gather the leadership of the institute — managers of large projects, departments, deputy directors — and we just spoke on different topics, as a rule, not so much administrative issues were discussed ... he was interested in the content, how we are doing, in which direction, what problems we will study. Rumyantsev actively insisted that we use state statistics because sociologists completely neglected it ... He said at one meeting, rather narrow: “You know, when I think about the situation in our country, in society as a whole, I think that all formations arose in a natural way, and only a socialist formation arose in an organized way - through the organized actions of the masses. Is this where all our problems come from? You have to think about it. " In general, he sometimes gathered us to propose a general philosophical idea: “Think about it ...” He didn’t dictate anything, he did not delve into any project in detail. But he offered some subject for thought. ”

L.V. Karpinsky recalled:

“I would define such a social quality of his, whether it’s a type that was quite rare at that time: an intelligent Marxist, supporter, if I may say so, of legal socialism. I also called him “Prague Social Democrat” to myself. He came from the journal Problems of Peace and Socialism. (There were Grushin , Karjakin , Boris Pyshkov - and they all reached out to him, knowing him precisely ...) ...

There was an episode that proves that he highly appreciated the issue of individual rights, including the right to an opinion. This is an episode with Boris Orlov , Izvestia correspondent who did not want to describe the occupation in Prague then. They returned him from Czechoslovakia, he was out of work for a long time, they did not know where to “stick him”. In view of the fact that I knew Rumyantsev from Pravda, and he already organized the Institute of Sociology, I remember asking him to meet. We drove in his car, I described Boris very well and asked me to take him to work. Of course I’ll take it, said Alexey Matveevich, of course. But he explained it interestingly. We did the right thing, that we entered Prague, stopped the counter-revolution. But everyone has the right to not immediately understand this, has the right to doubt ... Therefore, what questions can be? You say he is a good worker, an honest man. Yes, he probably honestly doubted the correctness of the decision. Is it possible to punish for this? I always said in the Central Committee that many people would not immediately understand us. We must patiently listen to them, re-educate. <...> That was Alexei Matveevich. Nevertheless, his institute at that time was an outlet, a roof, where there was a complete opportunity to move things forward in a predetermined direction. At least, it was under him that they managed to establish sociology. ”

• The emergence of private ownership of movable property, [Har.], 1947;
• Zrostannya to the good people of the glad people - the law of development of socialist suspension, Kiev, 1950;
• On the subject of political economy, M., 1960;
• About categories and laws of political economy of a communist formation, 2 ed., M., 1966;
• Lenin's stage in the development of political economy, M., 1967;
• Problems of modern science about a society, M., 1969;
• Sources and evolution of "ideas of Mao Tse-tung", M., 1972;
• Instrumentation of economic science and practice. Popular Science Handbook, M., 1985.

• Rumyantsev Alexey Matveevich // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Alexey Matveevich Rumyantsev. M., 1976 ( Materials for bio-bibliography of scientists of the USSR . Ser. Economics. Issue 6)
• The first director is academician A. M. Rumyantsev // Sociological studies . - 2008. - No. 6.

• Profile of Alexey Matveyevich Rumyantsev on the official website of the RAS
• Biography in the Handbook of the History of the CPSU
• Historical background on the website of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• The history of the creation of the Soviet Sociological Association
• Conversation (inaccessible link) with L. V. Karpinsky