Intelligentsia

Intelligentsia Intelligentsia or Intelligentsiac' The Intelligentsia within Russia began as early as December 14, 1825 when the Decembrists were put down at the hands of loyalist troops commanded by Nicholas I. From the tragedy that befell the Decembrists, a movement would spring forth that would strive for a Russia where justice and equality were rights to be had by all. After the Decembrists movement occurred, Nicholas severely punished or hung people involved with the movement. The movement for equality then went underground but was kept alive by writers of the period such as Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. The writings of these authors were very influential upon a class of people that had not existed under Russian laws of the time. These people were known as raznochintsy, or people of other ranks. It was these people who formed the Intelligentsia. The Intelligentsia started radical because of Nicholas’ policies towards dissenters. Nicholas did not tolerate any ideas that were contrary to his own very well. This changed under Alexander II for a time. Alexander made many changes but progress slowed after movement, intelligentsia, people, russia, assassination, within, reforms, nicholas, decembrists, believed, alexander, after, westernizers, voices, very, under, time, should, revolution, radical, ii, follow, equality, changes, because, attempt, about, writings, writers, world, wonder, voice, ussr, upon, unfortunately