Which of the following segments of the Russian/Soviet population would probably have benefited most from the rising literacy rates depicted in the chart?

(A) The rural peasantry (B) Members of the Russian Orthodox clergy (C) The urban middle class (D) Officers in the armed forcesExplanation: (A) The social groups described in B, C, and D would all tend to have relatively high rates of literacy. Regardless of nationality, rural populations have generally be slowest to benefit from the spread of education and the creation of school systems.