- Project Runeberg -  Problems confronting Russia and affecting Russo-British political and economic intercourse /
12

(1918) [MARC] Author: Alfons Heyking - Tema: Russia
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12 PROBLEMS CONFRONTING RUSSIA

took place between members of the nobility and other groups
of the population without any suggestion of mesalliance.

It is true that Russia has also a titled nobility, but this
does not take precedence in any way over the untitled
nobility, except in the case of members of the Imperial
House before the Revolution. The numerous princes were
the offspring of the feudal Rurik princes, or were descended
from Tartar or Caucasian princes. Representatives of other
titled classes—counts, barons, vons, etc.—held their lineage
for the most part from conquered provinces, as, for instance,
Poland, the Baltic provinces, or Finland. But as a title
in Russia is not necessarily connected with wealth or
political nfluence, it is of little practical value. Socially,
noble lineage is less thought of in Russia than in any other
European country. Moreover, plutocratic tendencies and
the power exercised by the possession of wealth play in
Russia a comparatively small part. Clever and gifted men,
of whatever origin, can rise to the highest honours and
position. For instance, Admiral Makaroff, General
Kuro-patkin, and many other persons in positions of trust were
of peasant origin.

With few exceptions, as, for instance, in the case of the
founder of modern Russian literature, Lomonossoff
(1711-i765), who was the son of a peasant, the chief poets, artists,
literary and learned men, all belonged to the nobility.
Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Lermontoff, Gogol, Turgenieff,
Dostoievsky, and Tolstoy came from the land-owning nobility.
This gives some idea of the important part which the Russian
nobility 1 ave played in the intellectual development of the
nation. It can be asserted that in Russia before the
Revolution, roughly speaking, almost any one of importance
belonged to the nobility, but that, on the other hand, there
was no insurmountable obstacle to any one becoming a
nobleman.

It is apparent, therefore, that in their inception and
position the Russian nobility differ absolutely from the
plutocratic aristocracy of Great Britain. Russia has no
nobility in the English sense of the word. There is no

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