The Katyn massacre was formally assigned to Nazi Germany but the subject was frequently concealed . Soviet famines were taboo . At the beginning of Stalin 's rule , the dominant figure in Soviet linguistics was Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr , who argued that language is a class construction and that language structure is determined by the economic structure of society . Stalin , who had previously written about language policy as People 's Commissar for Nationalities , read a letter by Arnold Chikobava criticizing the theory . He " summoned Chikobava to a dinner that lasted from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. taking notes diligently . " In this way he grasped enough of the underlying issues to oppose this simplistic Marxist formalism , ending Marr 's ideological dominance over Soviet linguistics . Stalin 's principal work in the field was a small essay , " '' Marxism and Linguistic Questions . '' " Pedology was a popular area of research on the basis of numerous orphanages created after the Russian Civil War . Soviet pedology was a combination of pedagogy and psychology of human development , that heavily relied on various tests . It was officially banned in 1936 after a special decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union " On Pedolodical Perversions in the Narkompros System " on July 4 , 1936
Katyn massacre
Katyn massacre
Suppressed research in the Soviet Union