Intelligentsia
From Wikinfo
The word intelligentsia came into the modern global vocabulary from Russia. In contemporary Russian language Intelligent is used as a noun or adjective(интеллигент, интеллигентный) to denote a well-rounded, cultured, well reared, publicly active person.
Intelligentsia is mistakenly believed to be a social class of professionals. The meaning of the term is closer to a social group of likeminded people with the aforementioned qualities who were usually, but not necessarily professionals. An intelligent is a person who can converse on any topic: literature, philosophy, history, politics, art. But the temperament of an intelligent is somewhat more social than that of an intellectual. Knowledge for an intelligent is more a currency for high tone conversation than an end in itself. Soviet intelligentsia was a cohesive community with an unwritten honor code.
Many intelligents were Jews. Many intellectual Jews were active in the revolution. In Zarist Russia there were a lot of artificial restrictions for Jews in regards to professional advancement. Jews were restricted to live in certain areas, and could only move to the capital if they had absolutely perfect grades. Because of this bright Jewish intellectuals couldn�t fully actualize themselves. They saw the revolution as an opportunity for self-actualization and comprised a large percentage of Bolsheviks. After the revolution Jews strived to play an important role in the cultural life of their country. Some of the most famous intelligents were revolutionaries (Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky). During the Soviet times however the Communist Party didn�t identify itself with Intelligentsia. Because USSR was a very well read and well cultured nation, and because most of highly skilled professionals belonged to the intelligentsia, Soviet intelligents had considerable influence over the regime. They were a sort of informal opposition to the government.
Most dissidents came from intelligentsia social group (Andrei Saharov)and intelligentsia provided a loyal support network for them in times of trouble. Political patriotism was frowned upon, as Soviet intelligents considered themselves cosmopolitan. But cultural patriotism was one of their cherished values. Few Soviet intelligents dared to openly criticize the government. Criticism was expressed through humor and allegory. A spiritual person may say that an intelligent is a contemporary incarnation of the court jester. He is the conscience of the nation: loving his country on the one hand and humoring the political atmosphere of the day on the other.
Vladimir Vysotsky sang in one of his signature songs "whoever said that the earth is dead?" If he lived today he might sing "whoever said that the intelligent is dead?" It has become fashionable to say that Intelligentsia has become, or is becoming extinct in Russia. Many intellectuals in post-Communist Russia from �intelligent� families, began to deny that they were intelligents. Ultranationalists that seemed to dominate the political atmosphere in the New Russia tried to amplify this trend, because they knew that a true intelligent would be the first to spot and ridicule their cheesy vulgar behavior. For example a clownish fascist leader Vladimir Zhirinovski has been the laughing stock of intelligentsia for a decade.
In a letter to his grandson in America, Aleksander Kamensky, a well-known Soviet art-critic wrote: "In our suffering country there is a special quality, which perhaps can�t be found anywhere else � a tendency to see a hidden spiritual essence in everything. (Of course I am speaking about people with rich spiritual life. God forbid you�ll encounter the psychology of the Russian Brute, shallow and impudent and in many ways reigning in our midst, despite (and now even because of) various �perestroikas�)"
The popularity of American pop-culture in the New Russia with its anti-intellectualist slant was another contributing factor to the demise of an intelligent's prestige.
It would not be an understatement to say that powers that be want to erase the Soviet intelligentsia as a historical body from history books and the memories of people. But the Soviet Intelligent always was and always will be, from Polish court jester [[Sta�czyk]], to Russian bard Yulij Kim, to the American success coach Doc Love. The archetype is immortal. Remember, if you will not be the court jester, you will be the fool.
