The lecture illuminates the ethos of postwar soviet social scientists as expressed in the wedding of party activism and scientific professionalism. Examining the biographies of social scientists, we learn that they moved in and out of state, Party and scientific positions throughout their professional lives. They did not distinguish between these roles, and viewed social science as a tool of social transformation in the service of the Party and state. As a result their scientific production was not limited to academic publications. Rather it encompassed a wide range of activities: writing letters to Party leaders, participating in decision making in the localities they researched, and sharing their findings in public lectures. Yet, though they rejected Western objectivity, Soviet social scientists nonetheless produced scientific knowledge with its own truth claims.