The beginnings of the Soviet encyclopedia

TL;DR

This paper explores the launch of the Large Soviet Encyclopedia in 1925, its historical context during the New Economic Policy, and examines early articles on randomness and probability to illustrate scientific debates in 1920s USSR.

Contribution

It provides a historical analysis of the Soviet encyclopedia's beginnings and highlights scientific discussions on probability during the 1920s.

Findings

The encyclopedia's launch was closely linked to the New Economic Policy.

Early articles reflect key scientific debates on randomness and probability.

The work sheds light on Soviet scientific priorities in the 1920s.

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the beginning of publication of the Large Soviet Encyclopedia, launched in 1925. We present the context of this launching and explain why it was tightly connected to the period of the New Economical Policy. In a last section, we examine four articles included in the first volumes of the encyclopedia and relative to randomness and probability, in order to illustrate some debates of the scientific scene in USSR during the 1920s.