In the article, the attempt is made to comprehend the influence of the ideology of nihilism on the social condition of Russia after the defeat of the 1905 revolution. Leading Russian philosophers (N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, M. O. Gershenzon, A. S. Izgoev, B. A. Kistyakovsky, P. B. Struve, S. L. Frank) in the collection of articles “Vekhi”, published in 1909, spoke about the role of the Russian intelligentsia in this revolution. The release of the collection caused a fierce debate in the society. We settled on the article by S. L.