this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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I'm really interested in what sources this article cites.
Good call.
I tracked it down: [37] is from a popsci book called "The Lady Tasting Tea" by retired statistician David Salsburg, pages 147-149. While I'm sure he's knowledgeable about statistics, he doesn't seem to have any special qualifications regarding history.
I also went to the trouble of tracking down a pdf:
The claims about the government of the USSR seeing statistics as "an insult" seem to be partially his own speculation and partially the speculation of a statistics journal from the 50's, rather than being drawn from any kind of official statements. The only claims that seem to have something to do with material reality are:
The parts about the Vestnik Statistiki, which was not shut down but rather used as an official publication of the Central Statistics Administration (TsSU)
A couple researchers leaving the field of statistics
I see absolutely nothing that suggests the study of statistics was banned or sidelined in any way.
I have heard of this before, but I haven't looked into it much. There's a book on the early PRC and statistics (that I haven't read) that goes into the relationship between socialism and statistics - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691179476/making-it-count