Becoming a Market Society 5the early support of Stalin, he directed all plant genetic research for
the Soviet Union. But his methodical and scientific approach to collect-
ing, testing, and selecting different varieties of seeds was slow. He could
demonstrate consistent improvements, but he could not compete with
the pseudoscience of another researcher, Trofim Lysenko. Playing to
Stalin’s demand for instant gratification, Lysenko had convinced the
Soviet leader that simply cold-treating seeds would alter their develop-
ment, hasten their maturity, and increase yields.
In the summer of 940 , Vavilov was arrested and held as a politi-
cal prisoner. The official press release stated that he was helping Stalin
craft a new strategy to feed the people. In reality, and unbeknown
to his family as well as the institute’s staff, he was dying from hunger.
Intent on extracting a confession of squandering the state’s resources to
foolishly establish a seed bank instead of feeding the masses, the KGB
was torturing Vavilov’s emaciated body and mind. He died in prison—
no confession was rendered.
Meanwhile, with virtually no support from the government, and
no word from their director, the institute’s staff carried on their work.
Under extraordinary risk from both Russian and German armies, they
collected, divided, and relocated seeds to different sites for safekeeping.
At some point, “the scientists and curators locked themselves into the
dank, unheated building, guarding the other set of seeds as well as all
of their potatoes in the dark, damp conditions of the near-freezing
basement. Numb with cold and stricken with hunger, the staff took
shifts caretaking the seeds around the clock. Nine of Vavilov’s most
dedicated coworkers slowly starved to death or died of disease rather
than eat the seeds that were under their care.”
Each time I revisit their story, I am touched by their prescient
understanding, which eluded their own government. They must have
realized the hostility that awaited them should word of their actions—
hoarding seeds that could keep fellow countrymen from starving—leak
to the public. Yet they also understood the value of seeds to produce
living tissues that could ensure the lives of generations yet born.
Knowing what they did, they devised a plan to preserve this treasure,
then backed it up with a commitment greater than their commitment
to their own lives. They were protecting not just a mere collection of
seeds, but human sustenance itself. That knowledge sealed their fate,