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The Russian Intelligentsia is the first single-volume history of a small but tremendously influential group of Russian intellectuals who achieved world renown in a variety of spheres. While previous accounts have addressed the history of individuals within this collective, Christopher Read offers the first explanation of the intelligentsia as a group. Read traces the vast debates that broke out between, and within, a multitude of intellectual factions, and contextualizes the ideas of the group within the framework of cultural, social, political, and economic development from the late 18th century to the present day. This comprehensive yet accessible account demonstrates how the Russian intelligentsia morphed from one incarnation to the next, and effectively situates this change and continuity within a pan-European context. It considers the role of the intelligentsia throughout its origins, its transformation during the Russian Revolution, and since the collapse of communism, and highlights the beliefs of key figures such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan Pavlov, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Mikhail Gorbachev. In doing so, Read provides an essential guide to a fascinating aspect of Russia''s social and cultural history.
List of contents
List of Images
Introduction
Part I: Origins of the Intelligentsia (to 1860)
1. The Origins of the Intelligentsia: Priests, Monks and Moralists
2. The Age of Belinsky: Superfluous People and Liberal Aristocrats
Part II: Politicisation (1860-1890)3. Nihilism: Fathers, Sons and Raznochintsy
4. Populism and Feminism: the First Students
Part III: The High Point of the Intelligentsia (1890 - 1917)5. Marxism: Professional Revolutionaries
6. Science: Scholars and Academicians
7. Embourgeoisement?: Liberal Professionals
Part IV: Science, Sovietisation, Consciousness and Productionism (1917 - 1953)8. The Revolutionary Era: Transforming the Intelligentsia
9. The Intelligentsia and Stalin: Engineers of the Soul and Constructors of Utopia
Part V: Has the Intelligentsia survived the Collapse of Communism? (1953 to the Present)10. After Stalin: Dissidents and Reformers
11.The Intelligentsia since the Collapse of Communism: Public Intellectuals
Bibliography
Index
About the author
CHRISTOPHER READ is Reader in History at Warwick University, UK.
