Abstract: The article considers state elite of the Russian Empire in the 19th century consisting of civil servants of the 4th-1st classes. Special attention is paid to its interaction with the system of civil ranks promotion. The author studies the way the Table of Ranks and terms in office system favored inter-elite rivalry for the influence on the emperor. The latter is the main element of the civil ranks promotion system whose formal sanction influenced career dynamics of civil servants in the upper strata. The interactions between the monarch, top civil servants and the formal ranks promotion system formed the dynamics of annual promotion of some contenders to the 4th civil rank. This dynamic row is considered through the lens of self-organized criticality theory. The author hypothesizes that the actions of the state authorities aimed at filling the deficit of mid-ranking civil servants resulted in abundant numbers of civil servants of the 5th and upper classes and low control over the career dynamics of the upper civil servants and the system of top ranks promotion was in the state of criticality. Analysis of the dynamics of annual ranks promotion to the 4th class supports this idea.