THE EDUCATED CLASS AS A VARIABLE. THE BEGINNING OF THE BELATED END OF HISTORY IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The author underlines that an interaction between the ruling class and the so-called educated class is one of the most important variables in the political processes. No ruler can survive for long without justifications of his rule and behavior, without ideologemes to serve him. Educated class, and, in the Russian case, intelligentsia as its vital part, is needed for the production, support, and dissemination of that very ideological realm of power. Since the establishment of the Russian empire through its Soviet and post-Soviet surrogates, such ruling class-educated class cooperation has always been taking place. Even rebellious intelligentsia, in the form of radicals, revolutionaries, or dissidents, by and large, were supportive of imperialism in one form or another. The current war in Ukraine is dramatically changing this formula. Never ever in history was the Russian educated class so tired and scared of the imperial agenda. It feeds the hope that the days of the Russian empire are counted.