Apology of the Intelligentsia. The Russian Elite in the Catastrophes of the 20th Century

The book project is a diptych by the renowned historian and political scientist, chief researcher at the Moscow Humanities University, academician of the Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts Alexander Nikitich Sevastyanov, dedicated to two of the most problem-ridden classes of Russian society – the intelligentsia and the nobility, which today are subjected to massive attacks and even harassment in public opinion. Who has not sought to cast a stone at the Russian nobility, at the Russian intelligentsia! This tendency, with roots going back to the 19th century, reached its peak in the post-revolutionary decades, and today it is once again on the rise along with the idea of a return to socialism.

By all means, the nobility and the intelligentsia were the main troops of the Russian elite before the revolution. The main accusation against our elite is that with its prompting and direct active participation in the 20th century, two total catastrophes occurred, twice placing Russia and the Russian people on the brink of survival: the October Socialist Revolution of 1917 and the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1991–1993. But was it really so? Perhaps the intelligentsia and the nobility are "innocently guilty"? You will find the answer to these questions in A.N. Sevastyanov's book.

"Apology" means "defensive speech". In this work, the author gives a decisive battle against noble and intelligentsia-phobia, challenging all who do not recognize the hierarchical arrangement of society. The nobility and the intelligentsia, in his understanding, are the salt of the Russian earth. This book is devoted to the apology of the intelligentsia. Its significance is heightened by the forecast the author makes regarding the place and role of the intelligentsia in the near future of Russia.

The present volume of the diptych addresses the sharpest issues of the theory and history of the new social class – the intelligentsia, partially touched upon in the volume on the nobility.