Table of Ranks

Despite initial resistance from noblemen, many of whom were still illiterate in the 18th century and who shunned the paper-pushing life of the civil servant, the eventual effect of the Table of Ranks was to create an educated class of noble bureaucrats.

The father of Vladimir Lenin progressed in the management of education, reaching the 4th rank and becoming an "active state councillor" (действительный статский советник), which gave him the privilege of hereditary nobility.

[5] In practice, non-noble civil servants were frequently passed over from promotion to the eighth grade, creating a class of "eternal titular councillors" (Russian: вечный титулярный советник, romanized: vechny titulyarny sovetnik) who remained in this position for life.

They were the subject of derision due to a supposed dullness and lack of creativity, and were satirized by authors such as Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

The first complete translation into English of the original Table of Ranks promulgated by Peter the Great in 1722 was presented by Brazilian historian Angelo Segrillo in 2016.