A Convergence of Lives

The second half of the nineteenth century was an exciting time in European intellectual and social history. The period saw the growth of revolutionary activism, the rise of Darwinian evolu­ tionary biology, the emergence of women's rights movements, and other challenges to established ways of thinking. Progress and change were the key words of the day, and most members of the educated classes felt confident that the future would be bright. In Russia especially, the "intelligentsia" (an amorphous, pe­ culiarly Russian class of professors, writers, and thinkers) had the feeling that they were on the threshold of a great new age. Russia's ignominious defeat in the Crimean War in 1856 sig­ naled to many that wide-ranging political and social reforms were urgently needed. Most of the intelligentsia hoped that the defeat would be followed by the emancipation of the serfs, modernization of education, moves toward the equality of women, and other reforms. It was in this period that the Russian intelligentsia developed into an influential social group that concerned itself with much more than just cogitation and empty philosophizing. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian intellectuals increasingly assumed burdens that their counterparts in other European countries considered outside their province. The in­ telligentsia became the source of most political and social activ­ ism in Russia, the social conscience and often the sole voice of protest against autocratic and reactionary policies.