This study of the early Soviet period of the Russian (Soviet) Academy of Sciences takes as its focus 'old academicians' i.e. those distinguished Russian scholars who were members of the academy in October 1917. By examining the post-revolutionary careers of these scholars, the book answers the following questions: What factors helped academicians to adjust to post-revolutionary conditions? On what grounds did they justify their cooperation with the Bolsheviks?

And what was the ideological basis of the regime's policy towards 'old academicians'?