Many historians note the fact that the autocracy had much more folk roots than the Russian intelligentsia. It can be said that this is true. This phenomenon was a drama and tragedy of national history. The Russian intelligentsia immediately arose as an anti-autocratic, anti-monarchist force, which means that in the conditions of that time it was considered an anti-state force. Almost all the creators of spiritual values (musical, artistic or literary) then worked not for the sake of a fee and material well-being, but in order to compensate and show humanity that behind them is a talented people, a great country, and they are able to respond to the challenges of world and Russian history.
Rise of the intelligentsia
The abolition of serfdom and the implementation of major, great reforms of the sixties and seventies of the XIX centuryled to major shifts in the development of society. The country broke away from the icy edge of the surf of a stagnant, autocratic, feudal state and passed into a rapid transformation of rapid development. Changes have captured all spheres of Russian life: the economy, politics, culture, as well as the social environment.
Already in the middle of the 19th century, contemporaries began to notice that in Russian society, which for many centuries remained structured by estates, a category of people began to appear who did not fit into the previous parameters. Formally speaking, in Russia it was believed that there were four types of population:
- Urban estate.
- Philistines.
- The clergy.
- Nobility.
The first two paid taxes, the second two types were considered privileged.
According to the laws, an individual had to fit into one of the social categories, and Russian society was not structured differently until the middle of the 19th century. But, as noted above, in connection with the development of the education system and the complication of the state, social and cultural life of the country, people began to appear who were neither nobles nor representatives of the clergy. But at the same time they were not peasants and city workers. This is how the formation of the Russian intelligentsia happened. In short, what was this category? These were people who had an education and received some kind of income in life not from the state, but, for example, from the exploitation of their intellectual labor.
The appearance of the term
In those days, such citizens began to be called notRussian intelligentsia, but raznochintsy, that is, people from different ranks. This happened because no one could find a specific name for them in legal literature and in legal treatises, or simply in ordinary people's speech. Raznochintsy began to be understood as a new generation or a new status of people who seem to be not city dwellers, but they do not have a low origin from peasants.
An interesting fact: at that time, most representatives of creative professions believed that the father of the Russian intelligentsia was S. N. Bulgakov.
But it wasn't until the 1960s that the term began to be used more and more widely. Many historians believe that it was put into mass circulation by the writer and publicist Babarykin, who worked in the middle of the 19th century. In Russian vocabulary, the word intelligentsia has acquired, so to speak, citizenship and has become more and more widely used in speech.
For example, you can see examples of literature of the first half of the 19th century, the work of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol. They have no concept of the Russian intelligentsia. It is impossible to find a single literary work of the first half of the 19th century where the author used this term, which means that there was no such category of people and there was no given social phenomenon.
The essence of the Russian intelligentsia
This phenomenon appeared in the post-reform era, after the abolition of serfdom and the transition of the autocracy to a forced policy of modernizing the country, that is, a policy of accelerated development of the economy, transport network, and new structuresmanagement, carrying out reforms of military, financial, educational institutions. It was precisely this autocracy that accelerated the formation of a layer of people of enlightened labor, representatives of intellectual professions.
Why such labor? The answer is simple enough. Because the country has switched to acceleration, the development of new economic structures in industry, transport, and agriculture. And all this meant that the needs of people increased mentally. And even the government itself understood that leaving the people in a state of darkness and ignorance is a very dangerous thing that could turn into a new round of Russia's stagnant backwardness. This means that it was necessary to speed up the process of forming people of intellectual professions. According to the government, the essence of the Russian intelligentsia is precisely to bring the country on a par with the West and Europe.
Feature of social appearance
In the Russian intelligentsia of the 19th century, former nobles begin to play a very prominent role, who, under the influence of the latest European ideas, came to the conclusion that their fathers and more distant ancestors lived wrong, that they exploited and profited from peasant labor, and this indelible sin lies precisely on them as on their descendants. They believed that it was their social stratum that was now called upon to correct this situation. The intelligentsia wanted to turn the whole pyramid of social relations over at once.
This problem was noticed by the great Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who wrote the famous novel "Fathers and Sons". It tells how children reproach their fathers forwrong way of life, for unfair social relations and social ties. It is these literary characters who are precisely the young intellectuals. They fundamentally renounce their privileges and want to dissolve, as it were, in new ideas, in a new way of life. This work reveals the main problem of the century - the confrontation between two generations in the Russian intelligentsia.
And it should also be noted that many seminarians began to play an increasingly prominent and even offensively aggressive role in the formation of this class.
The most prominent representatives of the Russian intelligentsia are, for example, Nikolai Dobrolyubov and Nikolai Chernyshevsky. It was they who were the basis of student youth, and therefore formed the intellectual stratum.
In the 19th century, representatives of part of the peasantry, so to speak, the plebeian composition of Russian society, appeared with might and main, therefore, an increasingly thicker social stratum gradually took shape, and at the same time it acquires a kind of unique appearance.
Consumption and Siberia
But not every enlightened Russian youth is considered an intelligentsia in Russian history. Only those whose convictions were colored with new ideas of liberation, struggle and new morality of the highest quality could call themselves intellectuals.
The one who is able to devote his life to serving not money and not some of his own material interests, but only serving the ideals of the struggle for good, was considered an intellectual in the 19th century. That's about it Nekrasovwrote about Grisha Dobrosklonov, such a typical Russian intellectual of the sixties: “Fate prepared a glorious path for him, a loud name of the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.”
For a long time this saying was walking among the people. Consumption is a disease of the Russian intellectual, because a person in a terrible struggle for his ideals burned out prematurely. It was a typical, so to speak, fate of many representatives of this class.
The phenomenon of the Russian intelligentsia
Representatives of the estate are uncompromising fighters for social ideas and ideas, for the renewal of mankind. The intellectuals wanted to bring immediate and immediate happiness to their newly liberated people.
In this sense, of course, representatives of the class have always opposed the power of the autocracy, the state system. Traditional institutions, religious and state political institutions were considered by the intelligentsia as unfair and improperly arranged, inhumane, which contradict the interests of the broad masses of the people and generally differ from the ideal of social liberation. This resulted in such a state that the intelligentsia immediately found themselves in opposition.
Serving power
If the raznochinets remained to the oppositionists, did not bend and did not bend, if he remained independent in his spiritual structure by his personality, then he retained his right to be called an intellectual.
And if he, even having received a diploma of education, was a highly intelligent person, but he wasan opportunist, that is, he made a career, served the state, he was never enrolled in the intelligentsia.
For example, Pyotr Alexandrovich Valuev, Minister of the Interior, a deeply intellectual person, graduated from two universities, wrote himself, read a lot, was even an accordionist, but never in his life was he ranked among the intellectuals. To serve the authorities means to be outside this estate, it is even to be an enemy and opponent of the intelligentsia.
The difference in estates
There is another very important aspect that must be mentioned when it comes to the role of the Russian intelligentsia in society. This is not only about how the appearance of this community developed, but also about a tragic circumstance.
Due to the fact that the intelligentsia was terribly culturally distant from the people, it studied at the university bench the latest achievements of European science in biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, social sciences, history, philosophy, political culture, vocabulary and etc. Character, behavior, lifestyle - all this was perceived as European cultural values, and outwardly, that is, by clothes, habits, it was impossible to distinguish a Russian student from a European who studied somewhere in Heidelberg, Berlin or France. Representatives of the intelligentsia often studied on an exchange basis and therefore felt confident in a solidarity student environment.
But in their own people, in the simple peasantry, they felt like foreigners. Yes, in fact, this is how the tax-paying estates themselves accepted them. People dressed in European dress, speaking some speciallanguage, were alien to the common people.
Speech, vocabulary, intellect, culture, and their way of life were so far from the peasants that the Russian intelligentsia seemed to be in a dramatic cultural gap.
Famous people
As mentioned above, it is believed that the father of the Russian intelligentsia is Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov, but despite this, there are more outstanding personalities in this class.
Everyone believed that he could move the course of Russian history on his own. And since such thoughts appeared, it means that they saw in this some kind of conduct, a necessary providence, which makes God appear in the world and lead the country. The intellectuals believed that it was on their shoulders that the burden lay, and it was impossible to evade it.
It all gave rise to a huge spiritual tension, an atmosphere of high pathos, self-denial and awareness of spiritual achievement, creative burning. To some extent, this applies to literally everything, and the spiritual life of Russia in particular.
Any historian knows that the second half of the 19th century is the time of Yakut culture, the period when the Wanderers created and the "Mighty Handful" of Russian composers arose. And also during this period, a brilliant group of Russian writers arises, starting from Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Lev Tolstov and so on. One can list further the huge list of talents of Russian literature, who then created masterpieces of world classics.
This was the phenomenon of the spiritual feat of the Russian intelligentsia, because practicallyall the creators of musical, artistic and literary works then did not create for the sake of fees and material well-being. And in order to compensate and show humanity that a great country and a mighty Russian people stand behind them, as Turgenev wrote. But the Russian intelligentsia of the 20th century went in a different direction.
Revolution
Intellectuals believed that the language with which they create can only be created by a great nation. The problem of the creators was that neither the Wanderers, nor the musicians of the "Mighty Handful", nor the writers were still understood by the people. The cultural level of the peasants remained in the 15th century. It was precisely this isolation from the people that prompted Russian intellectuals to revolutionary exploits.
And in the seventies of the XIX century, an incredible phenomenon happened, thousands of young intellectuals went to the people. Where else, in what society, at what time can one imagine a situation like this? So that several thousand students, leaving their classrooms and families, go to the people in the name of an unknown firebird.
It seemed to the intellectuals that one of their movement towards the people, their feat would bring the dark masses the light of liberation, the transformation of universal harmony and happiness. Of course, now it is clear that this was all a romantic dream, which soon crumbled.
But the spiritual energy is still transformed into an offensive struggle against the autocracy, the victims of which are political enemies. The era of revolution begins. The Russian intelligentsia is undergoing changes.
Summarizing the above
Intelligentsia is a state of continuous spiritual achievement, self-denial, struggle, heroism, incredible bestowal. All this is very important to understand, especially in modern conditions, when sometimes the history of the Russian revolution, especially spiritual life, is spoken of with indistinct mockery under the influence of some purely journalistic approaches. And yet, many have a desire to pay tribute and even bow their heads to the memory of those people who created. Here is another story about the selflessness of the people of that time.
Sitting in a cell, awaiting a death sentence, Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich, the son of a priest, is a typical Russian intellectual who gave his life in order, as he believed, to finally free the Russian people from economic oppression. He was convicted of making chemical throwing bombs with which Alexander II was killed. And, expecting a death sentence, Nikolai asks for a piece of drawing paper in order to pass on to his descendants the idea of his rocket engine, and draws its layout.
