ABSTRACT
To explore the question of how revolutionary intellectuals constructed themselves as the deserving elite of the revolution is to study elitism. In my analysis of Communist intellectuals’ self-construction, I view them as individuals whose lives were marked by various positions. They were radical agents for change, people who had their own longings and preferences, and educated members of their own society. Moreover, I find it important to examine elitism by showing how it negotiated with anti-elitism, which was so conspicuous in the revolutionary intellectuals’ intellectual-emotional universe and ideological system of knowledge. Assuming that one’s elitism is intimately intertwined with one’s views about others, I focus on how Communist intellectuals viewed/constructed themselves in relation to the peasantry. I depict a complex picture of Communist intellectuals’ elitism. Broader than Party elitism, it existed by finding anti- elitism a force to be reckoned with—by recognizing, subduing, integrating into itself, and vacating the sphere of influence of, anti-elitism.
