In the face of the era: the fate and scientific worldview of Balabek Jabbar Oglu Gasanbekov

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the biography and analyze the features of the scientific worldview of Balabek Jabbar oglu Gasanbekov, a prominent scientist and economist who made a significant contribution to the development of economic theory in Azerbaijan. The application of historical-biographical, diachronic and historical-systematic methods ensured the logical conditionality and consistency of the biographical facts established during the study, helped to include them in the historical context of the studied period. The research materials were archival documents, publications of the Azerbaijani press of the 1930s, Gasanbekov’s scientific works, as well as the works of Azerbaijani historians on the mass repressions of the Stalinist era. Starting the reconstruction of Gasanbekov’s biography from the period of his personal formation, the author successively considers the years of the future economist’s training in Tiflis and Ganja, his joining the ranks of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and subsequent party and public work in 1920-1922. The further stages of Gasanbekov’s biography connected with obtaining higher education in Moscow and subsequent scientific and pedagogical activities in universities of Moscow and in Azerbaijan are described. The author views the First All-Russian Conference of Marxist Agrarians (1929) as a forum that became one of the main events in Gasanbekov’s life. In the early 1930s, Gasanbekov created his main works on the issues of the development of collectivization, agricultural realities, and related production relations in the Soviet Union. In 1935, Gasanbekov became the rector of Azerbaijan State University, but two years later his active social and scientific activities were tragically interrupted by illegal arrest and a death sentence. The article analyzes Gasanbekov’s works on human resource formation in Azerbaijan. It is determined that he attached great importance to the development of the social security system and the improvement of workers’ living and cultural conditions. The analysis of Gasanbekov’s works on collectivization led to the conclusion that the scientist proposed a gradual implementation of partial collectivization in an evolutionary form, which over time would have created prerequisites for total collectivization. According to the author, it is these thoughts of Gasanbekov, expressed clearly and openly, that can be considered the main reason for his unfair conviction and tragic death.