Who are commoners? These are representatives of the social stratum that was formed in Russia at the end of the 17th century. These people did not belong to any of the existing estates. They were neither nobles, nor merchants, nor bourgeois, nor peasants. Raznochintsy had nothing in common with church ministers.
Etymology
Raznochintsy is a term formed of two words ("rank" and "rank"). Etymology reveals the meaning of the concept. A commoner is a person who has no rank or title. As you know, until 1917, every resident of the empire belonged to a particular estate. Due to certain historical events in Russia in the 19th century, more and more people appeared who did not attribute themselves to any social group.
Right
So who are the commoners? The definition of this social group has changed over the course of 18-19 centuries. After the decree adopted in April 1818, children of personal noblemen were referred to this category of citizens. That is, the heterosexual was the one whose father did not have the right to inherit his title.
In everyday life
The term, the meaning of which we consider in today's article, can be found in the works of Russian literature. Raznochintsy are Raskolnikov, Bazarov. Based on the plot of Turgenev’s novel, it can be concluded that the one who was a racket was someone who had open contempt for the landowner world. However, Bazarov was a nihilist. Therefore, this is not the best example.
In the eighteenth century, the representatives of the unprivileged tax class were referred to raznochintsy . These were people who were not in active service, and, as a rule, did not use the right to apply for honorary citizenship. Most of the raznochintsy were soldiers' children. But why, when reading the famous works, it seems that they were poor people, educated and certainly looking down on others?
19th Century
Representatives of this social category really wanted to get an education. This made it possible to get out of the habitual, disgusting environment, and opened up the opportunity to earn a living by mental labor.
In the 19th century, the synonym for the word "raznochintsy" was the newly emerged term "intelligentsia." There was a significant increase in the number of educated people in Russia. A new social layer was formed - raznochinsky. Among young people, representatives of the intelligentsia, there were, of course, those who were confident in their abilities. They were free-thinking, read a lot, thought, observed. In Russia, a person who knows how to observe and analyze cannot be satisfied with his life.
In literature
Turgenev, although he spent a lot of time abroad, very closely followed public news at home. He was very interested in this new type of Russian man, who was characterized by such qualities as curiosity, faith in one's own strength, readiness for change. But, despite the sympathy, the writer treated these people with some caution. It is no coincidence that Bazarov, who has become a collective way, ended his life so sadly.
Raskolnikov's prototype was one of the convicts, whose fate Dostoevsky learned during his stay in exile. The young man who committed the murder and suffered severe punishment for his crime was a typical commoner. Having learned his story, Dostoevsky decided to create a book about a student whom he brought to penal servitude, a seemingly harmless question: "Am I a trembling creature or do I have the right?"
The most famous fellow soldier in fiction is the Turgenev hero, who loved to engage in fierce disputes with the old aristocrat. Another character that has the features of a typical intellectual of the 19th century is a poor student who has destroyed an old percent-centric woman. Met in the times of Turgenev and Dostoevsky and quite real raznochintsy. Namely Chernyshevsky, Belinsky, Dobrolyubov. By the way, the latter is one of the prototypes of Bazarov.