I was surprised to learn that this was true for the “hard” sciences. In the early 30s, after Hubble published his research showing that the universe is expanding, the Big Bang Theory started to become accepted by the mainstream scientific community. However, the Soviet authorities declared (a secular fatwa) that it was against Marxist orthodoxy – apparently, on the basis that its concept of “creation” was crypto-Christian. As a result of this stifling and repressive atmosphere, George Gamow, fled the regime. He later developed the theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis (explaining how the Big Bang was responsible for the abundance of Hydrogen and Helium in the universe).

It was Alpher, Bethe, and Gamow's name on the paper ... I heard a story that they invited one of the authors just to get the A, B, G first letters of authors last names.

It was Gamow who included Bethe's the name when sending the manuscript. Alpher, who was his PhD student, was not pleased at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpher%E2%80%93Bethe%E2%80%93G...

"Stalin and the Scientists" by Simon Ing tells a very different story.

Many Soviet scientists were severely punished when they found themselves on the wrong side of Communist dogma. Making empty statements was not possible if, for example, you disagreed with Lysenkoism. If you refused to swallow unscientific nonsense you ran a very real risk of some combination of losing your job, being shipped off to a labor camp and losing your life.

Fortunately, the Grievance Studies folks have not yet figured out how to construct a gulag.

I was speaking about late soviet union, from Khrushev to Gorbachev, so 1953-1984.