The Intelligentsia

One cannot fully appreciate the evolution and dissemination of the new ideas that appeared in Ukraine, as in all of Europe, in the 19th century without taking into account the emergence of the new category of people that produced them.

The “newness” of the intelligentsia manifested itself in several ways. The intelligentsia perceived life in terms of ideas and ideologies and not, as was the case previously and with other social groups, in terms of concrete social rights, privileges, and obligations. Instead of viewing society from the narrow perspective of a nobleman, townsman, or peasant, members of the intelligentsia believed that they looked at society as a whole and considered the interests of all. In time, criticism of the status quo became a standard feature of intelligentsia discourse – so much so that in the late 19th century, a part of the intelligentsia even dedicated itself to changing the status quo at any cost and by whatever means necessary.

In the Russian Empire, as in all of Eastern Europe, the appearance of the intelligentsia was a development of great importance. This was especially true for societies, such as that of Ukraine, that had “lost” their noble-elites through assimilation to imperial culture and service. For it would be the intelligentsia that would provide Ukrainians with cultural and, eventually, political leadership throughout the modern period.

As might be expected, the intelligentsia usually appeared in cities, especially those where institutions of higher learning were located. Thus, Kharkiv, where in 1805 the first university in Russian-ruled Ukraine was founded, became an early center of the land’s evolving intelligentsia. The circumstances in which this university appeared were noteworthy: they differed greatly from those of the empire’s other universities, which were founded at the initiative of the government for the purpose of training servants of the state. Fueled by local patriotism and a desire to raise the cultural level of Ukraine, a group of local gentrymen, led by the indefatigable Vasyl Karazyn, successfully lobbied Emperor Alexander I for permission and raised the funds necessary for the establishment of the university. Only in 1834, when St Vladimir’s University was founded in Kiev, did that city displace Kharkiv as the intellectual center of Ukraine.

The social milieu from which the first generation of Ukrainian intelligentsia primarily emerged was that of the old Cossack starshyna-nobility. However, this group was not that of the wealthy and influential aristocrats whose contacts allowed them to obtain easily high ranks in the imperial bureaucracy. It was, instead, the impoverished gentrymen whose shrinking estates forced them to seek other means of livelihood that were most drawn to higher education. A small fraction of these early intellectuals consisted of sons of priests, townsmen, and Cossacks. Members of the intelligentsia who were of peasant background were extremely rare before 1861.

In Ukraine, as elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the numbers of the intelligentsia were quite small. Prior to 1861, Kharkiv University produced a total of 2800 graduates, while the newer and larger university in Kiev had about 1500 alumni. From this tiny pool of well-educated individuals, only a small number evinced an interest in things Ukrainian. Thus, those who were involved in the creation of a new sense of identity in Ukraine were only a minute fraction of its populace.

Members of the intelligentsia generally congregated in “circles” (kruzhky) – small discussion groups where ideas, philosophies, and ideologies would be introduced, analyzed, and debated. Another focal point was the journals that provided like-minded intellectuals with a forum for their works. The intelligentsia’s contacts with other sectors of society, especially the peasants with whom, in theory, they were primarily concerned, were minimal. For much of the 19th century, the Ukrainian intelligentsia, like the Russian, remained a minute sector of society, frequently fragmented by intellectual debates, increasingly alienated from the government, isolated from the masses, and immersed in activities that were of interest only to itself. Yet when the appropriate conditions emerged, the impact of these seemingly irrelevant, esoteric activities was much greater than the intelligentsia could ever itself have imagined.