Petrograd Commission for Improvement of Scientists’ Living Conditions (CUBU) and Petrograd Mathematicians during the First Years of the Soviet Power

At first, the Soviet government paid as little attention to scientists as the French revolution which “had no need in chemists.” 1919-1921 went down in Russian history as years of terror and hunger. The Allied Forces besieged Petrograd. The country was torn apart by civil war. Food delivery to the city practically ceased. “Mass mortality,” wrote in her diary the resident of Petrograd O. Wendrich in the winter of 1919. At the initiative of Maxim Gorky approved by Vladimir Lenin, Executive Committee of Petrosovet issued a Resolution on establishing PetroCUBU, the Petrograd Commission for Improvement of Scientists’ Living Conditions. CUBU helped many outstanding scientists survive and saved them from death during this difficult time. Scientists’ rations were provided to such well-known Petrograd mathematicians as A.C. Bezikovich, A.V. Vasiliev, I.V. Vinogradov, N.N. Gernet, N.M. Günter, B.M. Koyalovich, A.A. Markov, K.A. Posse, D.F. Selivanov, Yu.V. Sochocki, V.A. Steklov, Ya. D. Tamarkin, Ya.V. Uspensky, G.M. Fichtenholz, A.A. Friedmann, Ya.A. Shohat.