Remember TV debates and programs from the 90s?

A rare pass was not complete without a kick from V.I. Lenin. because, you see, he insulted the Russian intelligentsia, the intelligentsia is not the brain of the nation, but its shit.

Did the leader of the world proletariat really treat the entire intelligentsia this way? No, this is far from true.

Let's look at where these words of Lenin came from and what was really written there.

Lenin spoke so bluntly about the intelligentsia in a letter to Gorky A.M. dated September 15, 1919:

“The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, it’s not a brain, it’s shit.”

“We pay above-average salaries to intellectuals who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital). It is a fact.
We take care of them. It is a fact.
Tens of thousands of our officers serve the Red Army and win despite hundreds of traitors. It is a fact".

It is very interesting that in this regard Lenin classified officers as the intelligentsia; try to say this to the creative intelligentsia now, they will tear you apart.

As we see, Lenin divided the intelligentsia into those who serve the interests of capital and those who bring knowledge to the common people, who serve the interests of the people.

According to Ilyich, those who served capital are precisely the substance that is released as a result of metabolic processes in the human body.

Lenin had previously spoken harshly against intellectuals, for example, in a letter to Gorky on February 7, 1908, then, after the defeat of the first Russian revolution in 1905, the tsarist regime “tightened the screws” and all sorts of intelligentsia who had attached themselves to the party cheerfully fled from it, Lenin wrote:

“The importance of the intelligentsia public in our party is falling: there is news from everywhere that the intelligentsia is fleeing the party.
This is where this bastard goes. The party is being cleansed of bourgeois rubbish. Workers are getting more involved.”

In general, these representatives of the “intelligentsia” march only with the winners, the revolutionary upsurge they are revolutionaries, the defeat of the rebels and the strengthening of the regime are zealous guardians of order and in general they are moderate conservatives.

By the way, Lenin was not alone in this regard.

In our media you will not see or hear opinions about the Russian intelligentsia, the liberal intelligentsia of the classics of Russian culture.

For example, Dostoevsky F.M. - " Our liberal is, first of all, a lackey who is only looking to clean someone’s boots.”

And Gumilyov L.N. In general, he was offended that he was included in the creative intelligentsia - Lev Nikolaevich, are you an intellectual? Gumilyov - God save me! The current intelligentsia is such a spiritual sect. What’s typical: they don’t know anything, they can’t do anything, but they judge everything and don’t accept dissent at all...”

Tyutchev F.I. -

“...It would be possible to give an analysis of a modern phenomenon that is becoming increasingly pathological. This is the Russophobia of some Russian people... They used to tell us, and they really thought so, that in Russia they hated the lack of rights, the lack of freedom of the press, etc. etc., that it is precisely the undeniable presence of all this in it that they like Europe...
Now what do we see? As Russia, seeking greater freedom, asserts itself more and more, the dislike of these gentlemen towards it only intensifies.
They never hated the previous institutions as much as they hate the modern trends of social thought in Russia.
As for Europe, then, as we see, no violations in the field of justice, morality and even civilization have in the least diminished their disposition towards it... In a word, in the phenomenon I am talking about, there can be no talk of principles as such; only instincts..."

The great Russian poet Pushkin A.S. also went through our liberal intelligentsia in his poetry:

You illuminated your mind with enlightenment,

You saw the face of truth,

And tenderly loved alien peoples,

And wisely he hated his own.

Solonevich I.L. very short:

“The Russian intelligentsia is the most terrible enemy of the Russian people.”

Blok A.A. : "

I am an artist and therefore not a liberal."

Klyuchevsky joked:

“I’m an intellectual, God forbid. I have a profession."

In addition, he gave a very clear definition of the liberal intelligentsia: “... it would be more correct to say the declassed lumpen intelligentsia, temporarily redistributing material wealth.”

You read these lines from the classics of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and how modern it is!

How similar everything is to our “creative” intelligentsia.

Or rather, these words are intended for the pseudo-intelligentsia.

On September 15, 1919, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin wrote a letter to Maxim Gorky, which said:

“The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, the intellectuals, the lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, it’s not a brain, it’s shit.”

Lenin's famous phrase about the intelligentsia:“In fact, it’s not a brain, it’s shit”Anti-Soviet intellectuals each time put forward the attitude of the Soviet leader towards this stratum of society and his low intellectual level as an indicator. Let's see how it really was. Lenin, in a letter to A.M. Gorky, sent on September 15, 1919 to Petrograd, spoke quite sharply about the intelligentsia (in particular, about V.G. Korolenko), irreconcilably opposed to the “fair”, according to Lenin, Civil War, but not condemning enough what happened in the First World War; about the inadmissibility of mixing the “Intellectual forces” of the people ... with the “forces” of bourgeois intellectuals” who refuse to conduct constructive cooperation with the new government and participate in various conspiracies and subversive actions. In the letter, Lenin also acknowledges the facts of erroneous arrests of the intelligentsia, facts of assistance to the “Intellectual Forces” who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital),” and mentions the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on September 11, 1919, where the issue of arrests of bourgeois intellectuals (the Politburo invited F.E. Dzerzhinsky, N.I. Bukharin and L.B. Kamenev to review the cases of those arrested). It's hard to disagree with Ilyich.
***

About Lenin’s phrase: “this is not the brain [of the nation], but shit”...

A rare pass was not complete without a kick from V.I. Lenin. because, you see, he insulted the Russian intelligentsia, the intelligentsia is not the brain of the nation, but its shit. Just like yesterday, so today, liberal citizens lie shamelessly...

As always, let's go back to the source...

It is wrong to confuse the “intellectual forces” of the people with the “forces” of bourgeois intellectuals. I’ll take Korolenko as an example: I recently read his pamphlet “War, Fatherland and Humanity,” written in August 1917. Korolenko is, after all, the best of the “near-cadets”, almost a Menshevik. And what a vile, vile, vile defense of the imperialist war, covered up with sugary phrases! A pathetic bourgeois, captivated by bourgeois prejudices! For such gentlemen, 10,000,000 were killed in the imperialist war? causes that deserve support (in deeds, with sugary phrases “against” war), and the death of hundreds of thousands in a just civil war against landowners and capitalists causes gasps, groans, sighs, and hysterics. The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, it's not a brain, it's shit. We pay above-average salaries to the “intellectual forces” who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital). It is a fact. We take care of them. It is a fact. Tens of thousands of officers serve the Red Army and win despite hundreds of traitors. It is a fact...
(V.I. Lenin, Complete Works, fifth edition Publishing House of Political Literature, 1978, vol. 51, pp. 48-49)

Dear Alexey Maksimych! I received Tonkov, and even before his reception and before your letter, we decided to appoint Kamenev and Bukharin to the Central Committee to check the arrest of bourgeois intellectuals of the near-cadet type and to release anyone possible. For it is clear to us that there were mistakes here too.

It is also clear that, in general, the measure of arrest of the cadet (and near-cadet) public was necessary and correct.

When I read your frank opinion on this matter, I especially remember your phrase that stuck in my head during our conversations (in London, in Capri and after):
“We artists are insane people.”

That's it! For what reason are you saying incredibly angry words? Regarding the fact that several dozen (or at least hundreds) cadet and near-cadet gentlemen will spend several days in prison to prevent conspiracies like the surrender of Krasnaya Gorka, conspiracies that threaten death dozens thousands of workers and peasants.

What a disaster, just think! What injustice! A few days or even weeks in prison for intellectuals to prevent the beating of tens of thousands of workers and peasants!

“Artists are insane people.”
It is wrong to confuse the “intellectual forces” of the people with the “forces” of bourgeois intellectuals. I’ll take Korolenko as an example: I recently read his pamphlet “War, Fatherland and Humanity,” written in August 1917. Korolenko is, after all, the best of the “near-cadets”, almost a Menshevik. And what a vile, vile, vile defense of the imperialist war, covered up with sugary phrases! A pathetic bourgeois, captivated by bourgeois prejudices! For such gentlemen, 10,000,000 killed in the imperialist war is a cause worthy of support (business, with sugary phrases “against” war), and the death of hundreds of thousands in fair the civil war against landowners and capitalists causes gasps, gasps, sighs, and hysterics.

No. It’s not a sin for such “talents” to spend a week in prison if it’s necessary do for warnings conspiracies (like Krasnaya Gorka) and the death of tens of thousands. And we discovered these conspiracies of the cadets and “near-cadets”. And we know m, what cadet professors often give to conspirators help. It is a fact.

The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, it’s not the brain, but the g..but.

We pay salaries to the “intellectual forces” who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital) above average. It is a fact. We take care of them.
It is a fact. Tens of thousands of officers serve the Red Army and win despite hundreds of traitors. It is a fact.

As for your sentiments, “understand” I understand them (since you started talking about whether I will understand you). More than once, both in Capri and after, I told you: You allow yourself to be surrounded by precisely the worst elements of the bourgeois intelligentsia and succumb to their whining. You hear and listen to the cry of hundreds of intellectuals about the “terrible” arrest for several weeks, and the voices of the masses, millions, workers and peasants, who are threatened by Denikin, Kolchak, Lianozov, Rodzianko, Krasnogorsk (and others cadet) conspirators, you do not hear or listen to this voice. I fully understand, fully, fully understand that this can be written not only to the point that “the Reds are the same enemies of the people as the Whites” (fighters for the overthrow of capitalists and landowners are the same enemies of the people as the landowners and capitalists), but also to faith in God or the Tsar-Father. I completely understand.

By all means, you will perish if you don’t break out of this environment of bourgeois intellectuals! I sincerely wish to get out as soon as possible.
Best regards!

Your Lenin

Because you don’t write! To waste oneself on the whining of rotten intellectuals and not write—isn’t it ruinous for an artist, isn’t it a disgrace?

In the mass consciousness, the expression “rotten intelligentsia” is strongly associated with the Bolshevik government. This term is generally considered to be an invention of either Lenin or Stalin, in general, “Bolshevik rudeness.” However, things were somewhat different.

“In 1881, after the murder of Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya, a fair number of beautiful-hearted Russian liberals (who had long suffered from dislocations of the intellect) began a noisy campaign, calling on the new emperor to forgive and pardon the murderers of his father. The logic was as simple as a moo: having learned that the sovereign had pardoned them, the bloody terrorists would be moved, repent, and in the blink of an eye they would become peaceful lambs, taking up some useful work. (...) However, Alexander III already understood then that the best method of convincing the Narodnaya Volya bastard was a noose or, in extreme cases, a substantial prison sentence. (...) It was he who once threw away a stack of liberal newspapers in his heart and exclaimed: “Rotten intelligentsia!” A reliable source - one of the ladies-in-waiting of the imperial court, the daughter of the poet Fyodor Tyutchev" (A. Bushkov. “The Russia that never existed”).

Most often in modern journalism, the expression “rotten intelligentsia” is presented as a label with which the Bolsheviks branded highly moral and educated people. The Soviet government supposedly did not need independently thinking, critical individuals.

At the same time, some publicists directly point out that the authorship here belongs specifically to the Bolsheviks and, in particular, V.I. Lenin. In fact, as analysis of quotes shows, there was nothing of the kind. What happened?

Lenin's ambiguous attitude towards the intelligentsia is clearly illustrated by one famous quote from a letter to M. Gorky. Many publicists “pull out” one phrase from it and present it as Lenin’s attitude towards the entire intelligentsia as a whole, which is fundamentally incorrect:

It is wrong to confuse the “intellectual forces” of the people with the forces of bourgeois intellectuals. The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, this is not the brain, but g... We pay above-average salaries to the “intellectual forces” who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital). It is a fact. We take care of them" (V.I. Lenin. Complete works, 5th ed. vol. 51; p. 48).

Thus, V. Lenin is unreasonably accused of discrediting intellectuals as such. However, the leitmotif of Lenin’s statements about the intelligentsia is the question of serving the people’s interests. This is a clear criterion.

And by the way, it’s worth thinking about why Lenin and Alexander III (one of the best Russian emperors) - two people with completely opposite views - chose the same words to describe the “intelligentsia”.

It can be assumed that many publicists attribute the invention of the “rotten intelligentsia” to the Bolsheviks and Lenin simply due to poor education - simply not knowing whose authorship it actually was. However, as a rule, the motives here are completely different.

If the author writes that the Soviet government cultivated a contemptuous attitude towards the intelligentsia by labeling it “rotten,” but at the same time is silent about the circumstances of the appearance of this expression, then he is misinforming the reader.

This presentation of material leads to the fact that Lenin and the Bolsheviks in general are presented as “haters of intellectual people.”

As a result, it becomes obvious: labeling the Bolsheviks and Lenin as “haters of highly moral and educated people” is just a manipulation of consciousness, mixed with misinformation and distortion of history. One of the typical methods of anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda.

“The intelligentsia is not the brain of a nation, but its shit.” IN AND. Lenin spoke so bluntly about the liberal intelligentsia in a letter to Gorky A.M. dated September 15, 1919: “The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and strengthening in the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and its accomplices, intellectuals, lackeys of capital, who imagine themselves to be the brains of the nation. In fact, it’s not a brain, it’s shit.” Further in the text of the letter, Lenin expressed the difference between intellectuals and true intellectuals: “We pay above-average salaries to intellectual forces who want to bring science to the people (and not serve capital). It is a fact. We take care of them. It is a fact. Tens of thousands of our officers serve the Red Army and win despite hundreds of traitors. It is a fact". It is very interesting that in this regard Lenin classified officers as the intelligentsia, try to say this to the creative intelligentsia now, they will tear you up :). As we see, Lenin divided the intelligentsia into those who serve the interests of capital and those who bring knowledge to the common people, who serve the interests of the people. According to Ilyich, those who served capital are precisely the substance that is released as a result of metabolic processes in the human body.

STALIN. - I outlined the usual Marxist understanding of the intelligentsia. I didn’t say anything new, a class is a social group of people that occupies a certain stable, permanent position in the production process. The working class produces everything without owning the means of production. Capitalists own capital. Without them, under the capitalist system, production cannot proceed. Landowners own the land, the most important means of production. Peasants own small plots of land, rent it, but occupy certain positions in agriculture. The intelligentsia is a serving element, not a social class. It does not produce anything itself and does not occupy an independent place in the production process. There are intelligentsia in factories and factories - they serve the capitalists. There are intelligentsia in economies and estates - they serve the landowners. As soon as the intelligentsia begins to feint, they are replaced by others. There is a group of intellectuals that is not associated with production, such as writers and cultural workers. They imagine themselves to be the “salt of the earth,” a commanding force above social classes. But nothing serious can come of this. . The Soviet intelligentsia took shape in its completed and most widespread form by the mid-60s of the last century. And if we remember that it was she, the domestic “Soviet” intelligentsia, more than twenty years ago who took on the role of the gravedigger of socialism and the Soviet Union, then one can only once again be surprised by Lenin’s foresight. But that's not even half the battle. It is much more important to understand how it happened that a significant social stratum, which at all times occupied a privileged position in our fatherland, time after time did not even betray this very fatherland, but simply sold it for an insignificant thirty pieces of silver. And in particular, what the late Soviet-style intelligentsia was like, which, as it turned out, did not cost anything to suddenly give up all its ideals, for which it had supposedly fought all its life.