From Jon Miltimore writing at Intellectual Takeout:
The Historical Origin of 'Political Correctness'
In the November issue of Claremont Review of Books, Angelo M. Codevilla wrote a deep-dive article on the rise of political correctness in America.
The phrase “politically correct” is ubiquitous in America today. I complain about political correctness now and again, but I’d never given any thought to the phrase's origins. Codevilla, however, offers a fascinating look.
“The notion of political correctness came into use among Communists in the 1930s as a semi-humorous reminder that the Party’s interest is to be treated as a reality that ranks above reality itself,” writes Codevilla, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at Boston University.
The semi-humorous reminder went something like this:
“Comrade, your statement is factually incorrect.”
“Yes, it is. But it is politically correct.”
The anecdote was a vital reminder in Stalin’s empire: Stray from the party’s official position and it could mean death. Whether or not something was true mattered less than whether or not it advanced the Idea (i.e. the Party’s interest).
So true - it was the forced adherence to politically correctness that allowed for the rise of Trofim Lysenko in Russia in the 1930's and 1940's - from Infogalactic:
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (Russian: Трофи́м Дени́сович Лысе́нко) was a Soviet biologist and agronomist. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of pseudoscientific ideas termed Lysenkoism.
His experimental research in improved crop yields earned the support of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, especially following the famine and loss of productivity resulting from forced collectivization in several regions of the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. In 1940, he became director of the Institute of Genetics within the USSR's Academy of Sciences, and Lysenko's anti-Mendelian doctrines were further secured in Soviet science and education by the exercise of political influence and power. Scientific dissent from Lysenko's theories of environmentally acquired inheritance was formally outlawed in 1948.
Though Lysenko remained at his post in the Institute of Genetics until 1965, his influence on Soviet agricultural practice had declined by the 1950s.
Lysenko had a few breaks with fantastic weather in his early career so he was able to demonstrate increased crop yields. Later experiments turned out to be a disaster for him and for the poor Russian people needing the crops to eat. Still, Lysenko was very politically correct - knew the right people, said the right things, displayed the correct virtue signaling - so he stayed in power.
We are seeing the same elements in our universities with the same disasterous results.
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