The present article scrutinizes the attitude of the Soviet intelligentsia to the reform activities of N.S. Khrushchev. Conceptually, the study is based on the main provisions of the theory of elites and the theory of the new class, developed by V. Pareto, J. Burnham, A. Gouldner, A.G. Avtorkhanov, M.S. Voslensky and other scientists. Ac-cording to the author, the composition of the Soviet intelligentsia was broadened to include, in addition to rep-resentatives of creative professions, the emerging technocracy, as well as the Party-Soviet and economic no-menklatura. Thus, the present study has shown that Khrushchev's reformist policy was largely anti-intellectual in nature, which by the mid-1960s began to be felt by virtually all strata of the Soviet intelligentsia and eventual-ly led to the reformer’s resignation.