To get at the secret of this apparent feebleness and want of spunk in
Russia's ruling class one must study a peculiarity of her history,
namely, the complete dominance of Russia's development by organized
government. Where the historian of the Western countries must take
account of several independent forces, each standing for a social class,
the Russian historian may well afford to station himself on the high
peak of government and, from this point of vantage, survey the hills and
vales of the society which it so thoroughly dominated.
Apolitism runs like a red thread through the pages of Russian history.
Even the upper layer of the old noble class, the "Boyars," were but a
shadow of the Western contemporary medieval landed aristocracy. When the
several principalities became united with the Czardom of Muscovy many
centuries ago, the Boyar was in fact no more than a steward of the
Czar's estate and a leader of a posse defending his property; the most
he dared to do was surreptitiously to obstruct the carrying out of the
Czar's intentions; he dared not try to impose the will of his class upon
the crown.
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