Intelligentsia exhumed: nationalist trends among contemporary Russian intelligentsia

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, we witnessed vigorous attempts to bury the Soviet intelligentsia along with Soviet literature. Some efforts along these lines were truly inspired (Anninsky, 1992; Yampolsky, 1991). And yet, forecasts about the imminent demise of Russian intelligentsia have proved premature. Plenty of people still identify themselves with this vaunted group. Some go out of their way to sell their services to the official authorities, to Vladimir Putin – the surprising monarch that emerged after breakup of the Soviet Union. Others, still in self-criticism mode, agitate against the reigning powers and official establishment or sport a decidedly apolitical attitude. Then there are those who enjoy a cozy relationship with the establishment and milk it to their advantage. Structurally, the situation uncannily resembles the one that prevailed in the Soviet era (Beyrau, 1993). The notion that the intelligenty will transform themselves into pragmatic intellectuals – a common assumption in the 1990s – didn’t pan out (Kordonsky, 1994). The intelligentsia is still very much with us, even though it has adapted to the circumstances. It’s been at least a hundred-fifty years since basic literacy has secured a foothold in Russia, but the conflict between faith and reason continues unabated. And the feeling appears to be winning over the intellect. In1866, Tyutchev memorably quipped that you cannot fathom Russia without applying its unique measuring rod – arshin – which almost no one of my acquaintances is able to identify with any precision. Hence, the continued befuddlement on the part of those trying to understand Russia and its intelligentsia in rational terms. That Tyutchev formula – ‘Reason fails those who seek to fathom Russia’ – still rules the day can be gleaned from the political slogan made popular in the 1996 election, ‘Vote with your heart.’ There is a kind of self-serving condescension lurking behind the tired wisdoms of intelligenty: ‘If you have to explain, you have already failed,’ ‘You’ve got to figure this out on your own,’ ‘People won’t understand if we attempt this.’ Do nothing, however, excuse your idleness as virtue, and people will not only understand but also sympathize with you. The intelligenty are more likely to get a pass for its feeblemindedness amidst the harsh realities of Russia. Don’t they love their poor country and its people? That alone should have dissuaded Lenin from complaining to Maxim Gorky that the intelligentsia ‘is not the nation’s brain but the nation’s shit’ (Lenin, 1919/1970).