The Intelligencia in Russia, a Term I'm Sure You're All Familiar With

Alexander the second had loosened censorship a little bit in the lead up to emancipation. Public discussion of ideas and events were now moderately tolerated, as long as they stayed within certain bounds. This was most gratifyingly embraced by a small, but growing segment of the population that was just now being dubbed the intelligencia. But where we really left things was that the expectations created by this era of great reform would soon be going unmet.