Аннотация:A recent increase in general interest in the historical events of Stalin's time has led to greater attention being paid to the well-known linguistic debates of 1950 and to I.V. Stalin's attack on the ideas of Academician N. Ia. Marr. This episode is often taken out of its context, the entire history of Soviet linguistics, which leads to a sympathetic assessment of Marr, who is seen merely as a victim of Stalin. This leaves it unclear why Marrism was not denounced until the last years of Stalin's life, after more than two decades during which Marr's views were considered the essence of "Marxism in linguistics," a status that gave Marr a monopoly in that discipline and support from above. Moreover, the beginning of Marr's monopoly coincided with the establishment of Stalin's personal rule. The view of Marr as victim also makes it difficult to explain why, during the years following Stalin's death, the ideas that Marr had denounced were not developed at all; indeed, they aroused no serious interest among linguists.