Dead Again

Isaiah Berlin once argued that the concept of the intelligentsia was “Russia’s greatest contribution to world civilization.” Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Russian intelligentsia has shared a profound sense of responsibility for the fate of its country and a belief in the transformative power of the Word—a belief reinforced by the state, which has relentlessly tried to suppress any form of intellectual dissent. Starting in 1986, this belief has been sorely tested. The floodgates of information were opened, but no miracle followed. No new sense of morality was awakened,  no one rushed to redeem the nation. Indeed, once the novelty of free speech wore off, people lost interest in it. While the intelligentsia was watching its most treasured dream disintegrate,… Keep Reading