Intelligentsia in Russia, Intellectuals in Slovenia

Abstract

During their complex, initially spontaneous and later predominantly dictated modernisation, the western countries accepted intellectuals into their state apparatuses. As a result, the latter never formed an independent, oppositional group of citizens. They subscribed to various ideological trends while working as intellectuals in the public sphere. Russia, on the other hand, underwent a different process. Under the special circumstances accompanying the development of an autocratically ruled Russian Empire, which was drawn into modernisation processes by orders ‘from above’ (Peter I, Catherine II, Alexander II), the educated stratum organised itself as a particular group of citizens – the intelligentsia. These were crucially defined by their critical attitude to the government. In 1917, following the downfall of the imperial rule, which was incapable of a quick and radical self-reform, this stratum found itself in the ruler’s capacity, but their inability for constructive work soon deprived them of power. They were superseded by professional revolutionaries, who were their rivals in opposing the Empire. Most of the intelligentsia emigrated abroad, where they initially tried to work as they had in Russia, but the new currents in their host countries transformed their status into that of intellectuals. In Soviet Russia, on the other hand, the newly trained intelligentsia gained a different role: they were to ensure a professional construction of socialism. This was likewise the case in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, including Slovenia, where the concept of the intelligentsia first appeared in its Soviet variety, after the Communist revolution.