Note 585 — Chapter X · THE STATE (A) THE PROBLEM OF THE ESTATES—NOBILITY AND PRIESTHOOD

The ease with which Bolshevism extinguished the four so-called estates or classes of Petrine Russia—nobles, merchants, small townspeople, and peasants—shows that these were mere imitations and administrative conveniences, and destitute of all symbolism—for symbolism no power on earth can choke. They correspond to the outward differences of rank and possessions that existed in the Visigothic and Frankish Kingdoms, and—as glimpses afforded by the earliest parts of the Iliad show—in Mycenæan times. It is reserved for the future to develop a true nobility and clergy in Russia.