In the 40s of the XIX century a new estate appeared, which played a prominent role in the cultural and social life of the Russian Empire. The influence of this stratum of the population in subsequent years was different both in the spheres of influence and in intensity. The 60s of the 19th century can be considered stellar, when such names as Chernyshevsky, Repin, Dobrolyubov, Pisarev and others became known.
The emergence of divergence as a subclass in the Russian Empire occurred at the end of the XVIII century. It was then that in official documents and in personal correspondence the word "raznochinets" appears. This is a rather motley social group, which included people from their clergy, philistinism, merchants, and prosperous peasantry. The new estate also included children of retired soldiers and officers, descendants of personal nobles.
The prototype of the intelligentsia
In the modern sense, the commoner is a representative of the democratic opposition of the mid-19th century. The social phenomenon of this phenomenon is indicative of the fact that any representative of this estate turned out to be a first-generation commoner. People who fell from other classes fell into this class. In this regard, the clergy were especially generous. There were so many descendants of the clergy among the raznochintsy that Herzen gave the generation of the 60s the nickname "generation of seminaries." Having neither capital, nor ties, nor land, they nevertheless received a good education and were forced to live their own labor. A commoner is a journalist, doctor, translator, free teacher, writer, or publicist. Here is the basic list of professions chosen by representatives of the new estate.
Rights and freedoms
The social situation of the raznochintsy was largely ambiguous. According to the definition of V. Dahl, the commoner is a man of an exempt class without personal nobility. Persons belonging to this estate did not have the right of ownership, but had a list of personal freedoms available only to nobles. As a rule, raznochintsy neglected public service, although, according to the position of the Table of Ranks, upon receiving the corresponding rank, they could apply for the nobility.
Democratic formation
The spirit of freedom and the absence of social roots among raznochintsy became a source of new ideas for transforming statehood in the Russian Empire.
Democrats-raznochintsy laid in the state reorganization a truly dramatic transformation, among which were:
- the destruction of the existing world order;
- a new social structure;
- education of a new person.
These ideas are embodied in literary and artistic works. Heroes-raznochintsy known to us from the works of Turgenev, Chernyshevsky, Dostoevsky. The declaration of new values resulted in the movement of nihilism, and the desire to transform the existing order of things into the emergence of many secret societies that aimed to overthrow the political system. It was the environment of the raznochintsy that gave birth to a whole generation of anarchists and revolutionaries, who at the beginning of the 20th century became the basis for the revolutionary movement in Russia.