ABSTRACT
The Soviet middle class is at once the most important and the most overlooked social class in Soviet society. This error originates both in the Soviet self-understanding and in the skewed Western view of Soviet society. In the USSR the prevailing two-class conception of society leaves no room for anyone else. Moreover, in Soviet eyes the idea of a "middle class" evokes the term "bourgeoisie," which has a negative connotation as a survival of the past and a class peculiar to capitalism, not a present-day class formation of Soviet society. The Soviet middle class encompasses the bulk of the intelligentsia, except for those at the very top and the very bottom either socially or financially. It includes the more skilled and prosperous workers and peasants as well. The Soviet middle class exists in everything but name. It is growing in size, and its importance increases proportionately.
