Access to education is not segregated by wealth either. Coming from a blue collar family I'm able to go to a very prestigious and expensive university because I'm smart and recieved plenty of academic scholarships and support I sought out. If you can't get the majority of your college paid for through scholarships you are doing something wrong. Plenty of great, and rich Americans come from humble backgrounds, this point is is applicable to any society. From a cursory search, the only party member that actually had the grass roots humble beginning was Gorbachev, all the others had significant connections from others in the party that propelled them into power.