К вопросу о месте и роли интеллигенции в общенациональном кризисе России начала XX в.
On the question of the place and role of the intelligentsia in the national crisis in Russia at the beginning of the XX century

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the role of the intelligentsia in the unfolding of the nationwide crisis in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the XX century. The main features and causes of this crisis are indicated. The necessity to identify the role of the intelligentsia in the split of the Russian society and the rocking of public consciousness is determined. The author applies the following scientific research methods: analysis and synthesis of facts; induction and deduction; system and structural-functional approaches; comparative analysis. The essence, structure and numerical composition of the intelligentsia, its role in the formation of the “new middle class” are discussed. The social situation, activities and socio-political activity of Russian scientists, professors and other teachers of higher and secondary educational institutions, as well as students are considered in detail. The position of the intelligentsia in national and religious issues is analyzed. It is concluded that at the beginning of the XX century the social composition of the Russian intelligentsia was all genealogical and heterogeneous. The political views and economic situation of the intellectuals also differed. The intelligentsia was ideologically differentiated into different political groups, leading a fierce confrontational struggle with each other about choosing the path of social development, about methods of achieving their goals. Lacking a solid social support, the intelligentsia tried to attract to its side both new (workers, employees) and traditional (peasantry, urban philistinism) layers, introducing into their consciousness a multi-vector ideology, various party programs. At the beginning of the twentieth century such a flood of information about the ways and methods of Russia’s transformation poured into the split traditional consciousness that it was unable to not only comprehend it, but also even just to “digest” it. The shake-up of traditional consciousness performed by the intelligentsia in the conditions of confrontation between the government and society turned out to be fraught with powerful political and social cataclysms that brought Russia to the brink of a national catastrophe.

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