It is difficult to imagine a more serious insult for an educated person than a "rotten intellectual", because this expression casts doubt on the very concept of intelligence.
"Rotten intellectuals" are usually called intellectuals who do not have a definite political position. This causes particular indignation at the turning points in history, when it is very difficult, if not impossible, to stay away from political confrontation.
"Rotten Intellectuals" and V. I. Lenin
The expression "rotten intellectual" is traditionally associated with the Bolsheviks, it is attributed personally to VI Lenin.
The negative attitude of the Bolsheviks towards the intelligentsia is well known and does not cause surprise. Most of the peasants and proletarians did not even have access to primary education, let alone universities. Consequently, the intellectuals were representatives of the nobility and the bourgeoisie - classes hostile to the proletariat, the dictatorship of which the Bolshevik party took the course.
Lenin also criticized the intelligentsia - of course, not all, but only those of its representatives who demonstrated adherence to the ideals of tsarism and the bourgeoisie. Lenin called such intellectuals "lackeys of capital" and refused to recognize them as "the brain of the nation."
But no matter how harshly the leader of the world proletariat criticizes intellectuals, the phrase "rotten intelligentsia" is not found in any of his books or articles.
The real creator of the phraseological unit
The dictum "rotten intelligentsia" belongs to a person from whom one could least expect something like that - the Russian Emperor Alexander III.
The accession of this tsar to the throne was overshadowed by tragic circumstances: Alexander II - his father and predecessor on the throne - was killed by the Narodnaya Volya revolutionaries. Representatives of the Russian intelligentsia of the liberal persuasion did not remain indifferent to this event. No, they did not support the terrorists, did not consider their actions to be a blessing for the country, and nevertheless called on the emperor to pardon the Narodnaya Volya. According to the liberals, the execution of the regicides can only cause a wave of retaliatory violence from their associates, and the imperial gesture of goodwill will contribute to appeasement.
Alexander III perfectly understood how far from reality such reasoning was, and it would not be easy for him to forgive his father's killers. The maid of honor A. Tyutcheva tells about the irritation of the tsar caused by newspaper articles of such content in her book "At the Court of Two Emperors". Once the king, having read another article, in anger threw the newspaper aside and exclaimed: "Rotten intelligentsia!"
The Bolsheviks were not the creators of this expression, they only picked up the Tsar's dictum, which turned out to be unexpectedly consonant with their own ideology.
In recent years, the expression "rotten intelligentsia" has acquired another meaning. In political debate on blogs and social networks, this far from honorable title is "awarded" to artists, writers and journalists who demonstrate their commitment to Western values and advocate an alliance of Russia with the United States and Europe.
