The typical holders ofnomenklatura posts have nothing in common with the intelligentsia in its pre-revolutionary meaning, and nothing in common either with the mass of the 'intellectuals' (in the Konrad-Szelenyi sense, that is, graduates) though they are graduates. A man can only play rugby for Oxford or football for Southern California by being a college student; generals have passed examinations at a staff college, but their nature and qualities surely cannot be labelled 'intellectual' for such reasons. Konrad and Szelenyi have expressed some very interesting thoughts concerning the relationship between claims to knowledge (including knowledge of Marxism-Leninism) and the achievement of high office. However, academic qualifications as such relate only to the first rung ofa long ladder which leads to power.