Editing J. B. S. Haldane (section)

== Political views ==
Haldane became a [[socialist]] during the First World War, supported the [[Second Spanish Republic]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]], and then became an open supporter of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] in 1937. A pragmatic dialectical-materialist [[Marxist]], he wrote many articles for the ''[[Daily Worker (UK)|Daily Worker]]''. In ''[[On Being the Right Size]]'', he wrote that "while [[nationalization]] of certain industries is an obvious possibility in the largest of states, I find it no easier to picture a completely socialized British Empire or United States than an elephant turning [[somersaults]] or a hippopotamus jumping a hedge".

[[File:Old Low's Almanack - Prophesies for 1949; J.B. S. Haldane Wellcome L0073422.jpg|thumb|A [[David Low (cartoonist)|David Low]] cartoon featuring Haldane{{snd}}"Prophesies for 1949"]]
In 1938, Haldane proclaimed enthusiastically: "I think that Marxism is true." He joined the Communist Party in 1942. He was pressed to speak out about the rise of [[Lysenkoism]] and the persecution of geneticists in the Soviet Union as anti-Darwinist and the political suppression of genetics as incompatible with [[dialectical materialism]]. He shifted his polemic focus to the United Kingdom, criticizing the dependence of scientific research on financial patronage. In 1941, he wrote about the Soviet trial of his friend and fellow geneticist, [[Nikolai Vavilov]]:

{{blockquote|quote = The controversy among Soviet geneticists has been largely one between the academic scientist, represented by Vavilov and interested primarily in the collection of facts, and the man who wants results, represented by Lysenko. It has been conducted not with venom, but in a friendly spirit. Lysenko said (in the October discussions of 1939): 'The important thing is not to dispute; let us work in a friendly manner on a plan elaborated scientifically. Let us take up definite problems, receive assignments from the People's Commissariat of Agriculture of the USSR and fulfil them scientifically. Soviet genetics, as a whole, is a successful attempt at synthesis of these two contrasted points of view.'}}

By the end of the [[Second World War]], Haldane had become an explicit critic of the Soviet regime. He left the party in 1950, shortly after considering standing for Parliament as a Communist Party candidate. He continued to admire [[Joseph Stalin]], describing him in 1962 as "a very great man who did a very good job".<ref name=cochran /> Haldane has been accused by authors including [[Peter Wright (MI5 officer)|Peter Wright]] and [[Chapman Pincher]] of having been a Soviet [[Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)|GRU]] spy codenamed ''Intelligentsia''.<ref>{{cite book |first = Peter |last = Wright |title = Spycatcher |url=https://archive.org/details/spycatcher00wrig |url-access = registration |publisher = Heinemann |year = 1987 |page = [https://archive.org/details/spycatcher00wrig/page/236 236] |isbn=978-0-85561-098-2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last = Pincher |first = Chapman |title = Treachery: Betrayals, Blunders and Cover-Ups: Six Decades of Espionage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32xlXpcaBCIC&pg=PT52 |year = 2011 |publisher = Mainstream |isbn=978-1-84596-811-3 |page = 52 |url-status = live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111142103/https://books.google.com/books?id=32xlXpcaBCIC&pg=PT52 |archive-date = 11 November 2017 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>