[LAF] Fwd: [smygo] A Brief History of Peasant Tolstoyans

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A Brief History of Peasant Tolstoyans
By Cory Bushman

Tolstoyans, also known as “Free Christians,” were devout followers of
the Russian literary genius Leo Tolstoy. They opposed the Russian
Orthodox Church because of its perceived corruption and its relations
with the tsarist regime. Instead of practicing Russian Orthodoxy, the
Tolstoyans followed a “pure” religion through the “revelation” of
Tolstoy. Tolstoy did not form an organized religion, but developed a
life philosophy that would replace “the discord, deception, and violence
that now rule” with “free accord, by truth, and by the brotherly love of
one for another.” 1

Tolstoy’s philosophy of truth and brotherly love was based on complete
non-violence, vegetarianism, communal living and a code of ethics that
included abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and foul language.

The Tolstoyans went from roughly six thousand members in 1917 to less
than one thousand members in 1931. In the 1940s, as the result of severe
Bolshevik persecution, their numbers dropped to the point of near
non-existence. The systematic annihilation of religious sects, such as
the Tolstoyans, during the Bolshevik rule in Soviet Russia was a direct
result of an unstable, militaristic government that was in constant fear
of losing power.

In the mid 1870s Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy found himself in a severe
state of depression. With increasing thoughts of suicide, Tolstoy turned
to philosophers, such as Buddha and Schopenhauer, to ease the burdens of
his mind. His search for the meaning of life during this dark time, led
him to a personal conversion to Christianity. Later he wrote of this
experience, “I see now that if I did not kill myself it was due to some
dim consciousness of the invalidity of my thoughts.” 2 Repeatedly, he
testified that he was saved from death by his conversion to Christianity.

Tolstoy’s conversion led him to seek out what he would later proclaim to
be “true” Christianity. He saw the simple faith of the Russian peasants
as something to seek after. Tolstoy felt that the Russian Orthodox
Church had corrupted the peasants by perverting religious truths and
creating paralyzing superstitions. The Russian Orthodox Church, in turn,
was not pleased with Leo Tolstoy and officially excommunicated him on
February 24, 1901. The Church held to this ruling; upon Tolstoy’s death
in 1910, they refused to give him a church burial on the basis of his
status as a heretic.

In time, Tolstoy’s philosophies flourished and were put into practice by
small groups of people, beginning with members of the Intelligentsia and
the peasants that Tolstoy associated with. As Tolstoy’s religious
philosophies increased in popularity, censorship of his works by the
Tsar also increased. Many of Tolstoy’s works were kept in circulation
due to the timely task of handwritten and hectographed copies. In 1893,
Vladimir Chertkov, Tolstoy’s secretary, went to England to preserve some
of Tolstoy’s writings only to be exiled upon his return.

One of the first known groups to answer Tolstoy’s call for religious and
social change was the Dukhobors. Not only did the Dukhobors refuse
military service, they also destroyed their weapons and staged organized
revolts. Their most famous revolt was held on Easter Day, 1895. They
gave the following five philosophies as reason for the revolt: “[1]
opposition to the tsar, [2] opposition to military service, [3]
opposition to private property, [4] opposition to eating meat, and [5]
opposition to sexual relations.” 3 Three years after the Easter Day
revolt, the Dukhobors were able to leave the oppressive tsarist rule and
immigrate to Canada, with the monetary help of Tolstoy. The Tolstoyans,
unlike the Dukhobors, were more prone to reject laws outright and did
not have the luxury of escaping the consequences of their actions.

The Tolstoyans followed Tolstoy’s philosophy of pacifism faithfully and
were willing to sacrifice for their beliefs. When Vasya Kirin, a
Tolstoyan, announced to his family that he refused to join the military,
his wife replied, “You know they will kill you.” He boldly stated, “Let
them kill me, just so I don’t kill anybody.” 4

The role of Tolstoyans as conscientious objectors not only included the
refusal of military service, but also the refusal to pay military taxes
and military training in schools. Even with a firm pacifist belief, the
Tolstoyans believed that each person must act in accordance to their own
conscience. When Savva, a Tolstoyan, was called up for military service
and did not refuse, a fellow Tolstoyan wrote, “We had no binding
obligation about this matter, and indeed we could not have had any;
everyone acted freely, as best he could according to the state of his
own soul, his own conscience.” 5

In connection with their pacifism, Tolstoyans strongly opposed capital
punishment. Tolstoy referred to capital punishment’s presence as “the
greatest indictment against any country.” 6 Capital punishment had been
abolished in 1744, under the rule of Empress Elizabeth, and had not been
officially restored since, although executions were still carried out.
Tolstoy spoke of this contradiction with the sarcastic comment, “It must
have been a ‘fact’ of great comfort to the five Decembrists who were
hanged in 1825.” 7

During the Revolution of 1917, one of the Bolshevik’s most popular rally
cries was “Down with capital punishment and every kind of violence!”
These slogans were quickly forgotten and pacifists found themselves
petitioning the Council of People’s Commissars just two years after the
revolution for the abolition of the death penalty because it had been
reintroduced by the Bolshevik’s in 1919. Yakov Dementyevich Dragunovsky,
a Tolstoyan, said of the Bolshevik promises, “There’s no trace of those
fine slogans anymore--they are drenched in blood.” 8

Tolstoy sincerely believed that refusing military service would result
in inner freedom. Tolstoy taught that the solider is “a professional
man-killer.” He said that a soldier does not kill “for the love of it,
like a savage, or in a passion, like homicide. He is cold-blooded,
mechanical, obedient tool of his military superiors.” 9 In line with
this, Tolstoyans believed that their only true weapon was “to turn to
God, for it is he alone who dispenses supreme justice.” 10 Dragunovsky,
like many others, converted to Tolstoyism due to the horrors that he saw
and experienced in the military. Some people, like Sergey, deserted the
army by going to the regimental headquarters and laying down their weapons.

Tolstoyans, seen as a probable threat to the Soviet regime, were called
by many different names, including “enemies of the people,” “kulaks,”
and, interestingly, anarchists. Many people, then and now, equate
anarchy to complete disorder, but according to Jaques Ellul, an expert
on Christian anarchism, anarchy is actually the absolute rejection of
violence. 11 It is not clear if the Tolstoyans ever claimed the title of
anarchists for themselves. In Boris Mazurin’s memoirs, he notes the
difference between Tolstoyans and anarchists: “What is the difference
between anarchists and Tolstoyans?” and one anarchist answered: “The
difference is that the Tolstoyans are more consistent than we are.” 12

Whether or not Tolstoyans are “true” anarchists, they have definite
anarchist views toward government and force. Tolstoy boldly stated, “A
government which relies on iron and explosives, which executes a
murderer who is so because of insanity or of poverty, and which
glorifies the butchery of innocent thousands, is the greatest instrument
for wrong, the worst of oppressors.” 13 In this assertion, Tolstoy
described the Soviet regime. One Tolstoyan asked, “Do the Communists
really know their imagined ‘enemies,’ the ‘counterrevolutionary
Tolstoyans,’ who reject violence as contradicting reason, and recognize
only the reasonable and beautiful as the basis for the new structure of
the classless society, the new structure of communism?” 14 On numerous
occasions the Tolstoyans were told something along the lines of, “It’s
all well and good, what you Tolstoyans say. That will all come about--a
stateless society without violence and without frontiers, sober and
industrious, and without private property. But this is not the right
time for it--right now it is even harmful.” 15

True to Tolstoy’s teachings, the Tolstoyans believed in communal
ownership of property, a belief that would later lead to their
destruction under Stalin’s collectivization movement. In Confession
Tolstoy wrote, “One cannot expect to understand the truth about life
unless one works and recognizes that men cannot live if they do not
co-operate.” 16 One commune member wrote about the commune as, “a social
unity so powerful and real a nature that whatever is being done now by
the States to paralyze and destroy such unity is no avail. That unity
resists everything and it will survive the States.” 17 Despite the
strength and social unity of the Tolstoyans, they would suffer much
before they would be able to earn the title of survivors.

With increasing momentum for social and governmental change, a
revolution took place in Russia in 1917. The Tolstoyans also desired
change. They were not pleased with the oppressive rule of the tsarist
government, having lived under tsarist rule as Tolstoyans since their
earliest communes established in 1901. The Bolshevik slogan “Bread, Land
and Peace” was welcomed by many, who ultimately put them into power. In
October, 1917, a Tolstoyan by the name of Ivan Koloskov visited Lenin
personally in Smolny. Koloskov apologized to Lenin, on behalf of his
Tolstoyan brothers for morally not being able to serve militarily. Lenin
simply replied, “What is there to forgive that is your conviction.
Everyone is entitled to his convictions. You will be doing other
indispensable things.” 18

In October of 1918, the United Council of Religious Communities and
Groups was established, with Tolstoy’s former secretary Chertkov at its
head. Chertkov’s leadership, along with such people as Krupskaya, who
was Lenin’s wife, played an important role in seeking religious justice
and freedom for Tolstoyans and other religious sects. However, while it
has been said that the United Council confirmed “the existence in Russia
of one of the most advanced and tolerant ways of treating conscientious
objectors,” 19 in reality, the authorities were treating them more
unjustly and cruelly than in most other countries. On October 22, 1918,
Trotsky introduced Order No. 130, which “permitted conscientious
objectors to serve in a noncombatant capacity as medical orderlies.”
However, despite this “accommodation,” a large number of Tolstoyans
refused to perform any type of alternative military service.

On January 4, 1919, in the midst of the Civil War, Chertkov and the
United Council were recipients of a decree signed by Lenin, which
granted “complete exemption from military service to any man who could
demonstrate sincere objection on the basis of his religious
convictions.” Despite the legitimacy of the decree, many local military
officials ignored it. Close to one hundred objectors were shot during
1919-1920. In one instance, a group of eight men who refused military
service were sentenced to death. With the aid of Chertkov and the United
Council, a telegram was sent to cancel the execution. However, the
telegram was postponed—purposefully, some believe--and all eight of the
men were executed on Christmas Eve, 1919. Although these inhumane cases
are troubling, the United Council was able to give aid to nearly 8,000
people from 1919-1920, exempting them from having to serve in the military.

Upon the introduction of conscription laws in 1920, the decree of 1919
was made null and void. This complicated the position of Chertkov as the
chairman of the United Council since there had been over 30,000
applications for conscientious objector status by 1921. Notably, it was
during the years of 1920-1921 that the Tolstoyan movement experienced
its most vigorous growth.

This growth was evidence of people’s desire to discover truths, as well
as their strength and determination to adhere to those findings. Yahov
Dementyevich Dragunovsky is an example of this type of determination.
Despite the known repercussions, Dragunovsky continued to talk and write
about the useless violence of the Soviet government. He was tried and
shot for his desire to share his beliefs.

On October 5, 1921 the People’s Commissariat of Agriculture issued a
proclamation that promised “complete freedom of belief and unbelief.”
Ironically, on December 28, 1921, just two months after the
proclamation, ten Tolstoyans were executed for their religious beliefs.
In that same year, the United Council was put on trail for crimes
against the state, and the following year the United Council, which had
acted as a safeguard for thousands, was disbanded. Just as Dimitry
Morgachev, a Tolstoyan stated, “Only a few rare birds are under the
protection of law.”

Along with Lenin’s death in 1924, also came the passing of the
recognition of Tolstoyans as a legitimate religious group. Despite the
many deaths and injustices Tolstoyans suffered under Lenin’s leadership,
the Tolstoyans were still unprepared for the increased suffering and
persecution that they would experience under Stalin’s rule. The War
Resisters’ publication for the month of August read, “At the present
critical moment, when every war resister may be faced with the necessity
of passing form words to deeds, and, perhaps, of sealing with his own
suffering his service to the universal brotherhood and peace among all
nations...” 20 The Tolstoyans, whether they were aware of it or not at
the time, would be required to suffer in order to adhere to their
fundamental beliefs.

One of the great achievements of the Tolstoyans was the establishment of
the Moscow Vegetarian Society, whose soul purpose was “the establishment
of love and peace among all living creatures.” The Moscow Vegetarian
Society was responsible for a monthly publication, the organization of
special events, a feeding center, a Children’s Home, and guiding people
toward vegetarianism, which was considered “the first stop in the
infinite road to perfection.” 21 In 1928, the Society was denied the
right to renew its lease and, in 1929, the Moscow Vegetarian Society in
Memory of Leo Tolstoy was officially closed by the government. With the
closing of the society, all open activity for Tolstoyans also ended.

A full-fledged anti-religious campaign took hold in 1929, the same year
that Stalin coined “Year of the Great Break.” Sundays were abolished,
Red Weddings took the place of church weddings and there was even a
suggestion to remove the word “God” from the dictionary. However, “God”
was not removed so that it could continue to be used in anti-religious
propaganda. Stalin said that the party could not be “neutral as regards
religion” because “the party rests upon science.” 22 Stalin did not
remain neutral, and it could be argued that he never was neutral, in
regard to religious sects. Fearing Stalin’s attitude, Chertkov obtained
permission for Tolstoyan communes to resettle in Siberia in order to
escape persecution. In 1931, with only 1,000 Tolstoyans left, Our Life
and Labor Commune was established in Siberia.

In 1934, Stalin began a rigorous collectivization campaign. His goal was
to switch all agricultural communes over to agricultural cooperatives.
The Tolstoyans refused. Boris Mazurin recalls a time when he was told:
“Comrade Stalin has said that at the present time only fools or
religious ascetics can live in communes.” To this, Mazurin replied, “So
be it--we’ll be fools, we’ll be religious ascetics, but we want to go on
living as a commune, and in Comrade Stalin’s words there is no direct
indication that communes are forbidden.” 23 Comrade Stalin may have said
that “all citizens enjoy freedom to practice their religion,” but he
also said that all citizens have the “freedom to conduct antireligious
propaganda.” 24 The latter seemed to win out; in 1936, all of the
leaders of the commune were arrested and by 1938--a time referred to as
the “devil’s orgy”--the commune was completely destroyed.

In 1936, the government made an official statement that “there were not
longer [conscientious objectors] in the union that therefore no need for
further legal provision for C.O.s.” 25 This statement was especially
ironic considering that, also in 1936, all of the leaders of Our Life
and Labor Commune were arrested on the basis of conscientious objection
and refusal to collectivize. Between 1936 and 1940, sixty-five members
of commune were arrested. Further arrests continued in the following
years. Many of those arrested never returned; those who did had
experienced horrific treatment in prisons and work camps. In one winter
at the Ust-Vymsk camp, 500 of the 1,200 prisoners died. Boris Mazurin
wrote of his fellow Tolstoyans who were recipients of the Soviet horror:
“There were dozens of faithful members devoted to it--commune members
without a commune, scattered about in the labor camps and prisons of
Siberia, who had brought its bleak, uninhabited expanses under
cultivation, only to fertilize it with their bones.” 26

Just one year after Stalin’s death in 1953, Khrushchev organized a
commission to rehabilitate those who had been wrongly charged under
Stalin’s oppressive rule. It was not until the late 1970s that
individual Tolstoyans were granted rehabilitation, and even then they
were told not to share their experiences. In 1988, an article called
“The Return of Tolstoy the Thinker” was published in Voprosy Literatury,
marking what could be referred to as the survival of the Tolstoyan
spirit. The Soviet government’s view that the Tolstoyans were
counterrevolutionaries hindering the building of socialism was evident
in its hypocritical policies and neglect toward the people that it
forcibly governed. Systematically, the Soviet regime rid themselves of
all opponents they felt were capable of gaining power. Foolishly, they
used unnecessary force and resources to prevent a group of people from
gaining power, when this group never desired to gain power. A Tolstoyan
poem asks, “What were the Tolstoyans guilty of before the free country?
Why were they denied their right to live in a commune of labor?” The
poem answers, “Perhaps they were guilty of this before the free country:
that they strove to follow their conscience, as Leo Tolstoy teaches.” 27
Just as the poem gives no solid reason as to why the Tolstoyans were not
granted their right to live in peace, history, too, leaves the question
unanswered. In his memoirs, Dimitry Morgachev gives a reason for the
destruction of the Tolstoyans, which alludes to sheer ignorance. “Not a
single one of those communes remains today, and all because someone who
did not work in the communes and took no part in their life, but thought
he had the right to lord over people and make them live his way, took it
into his head to close the communes with one stroke of his pen.” 28

Throughout Tolstoyan memoirs there is this idea of being remembered, not
merely as individuals, but as a group of people who were followers of
Christ and their spiritual guide, Leo Tolstoy. They were a people
dedicated to love and to their convictions. Most importantly, they were
willing to give up their lives for those convictions. A Tolstoyan
survivor named Mikhail Gorbunov-Pasadov wrote that, “every effort must
be made to resurrect it [Tolstoyan memory] from the darkness of that
compulsory silence.” 29 Leo Tolstoy did not live to witness the
development and dedication of the Tolstoyan people. Surely he would have
felt a similar sense of brotherhood toward the Tolstoyans as he did the
Dukhobors. William Spence shows Tolstoy’s personal empathy toward his
philosophies and his devotion to the people that followed them when he
wrote, “The executioners continued their work, as if they had not heard
Tolstoy’s request, ‘Hang me too.’” 30

1. William Gordon Spence, Tolstoy the Ascetic (Barnes &Noble, Inc.: New
York, 1968) p. 118
2. Spence, Tolstoy, pp 55.
3. Josh Sanborn, “Pacifist politics and peasant politics: Tolstoy and
the Duukhobors, 1895-1999”, Canadian Ethnic Studies 27 (1995), pp. 8.
4. William Edgerton, Memoirs of Peasant Tolstoyans In Soviet Russia
(Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1993), p. 107.
5. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 106.
6. Peter Glassgold, An Anthology of Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth
(Counterpoint: Washington, D.C., 2001), p. 372.
7. A.N. Wilson, Tolstoy (W.W. Norton &Company: New York &London, 1988),
p. 111.
8. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 203.
9. Emma Goldman, Red Emma Speaks (Humanity Books: New York, 1998), p. 52.
10. Jacues Ellul, Anarchy and Christianity (William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, Colorado, 1991), p. 83.
11. Ellul, Anarchy, pp. 11.
12. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 38.
13. Glassgold, Anthology, pp. 371.
14. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 242.
15. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 97.
16. Spence, Tolstoy, pp. 58.
17. G.P. Maximoff, The Political Philosophy of Bakunin (The Free Press:
New York, 1964), p. 273.
18. Alexei Zverev &Bruno Coppieters “V.D. Bonch-Bruevich and the
Duukhobors: On the conscientious objection policies of the Bolsheviks”,
Canadian Ethnic Studies 27 (1995), pp. 7.
19. Zverev &Coppieters, V.D. Bonch, pp. 9.
20. Peter Brock, Testimonies of Conscience Sent From the Soviet Union to
the War Resisters’ International 1923-1929 (Printed Privately: Toronto,
1997), p. 29.
21. Spence, Tolstoy, pp. 115.
22. Wladslaw Kania, Bolshevism and Religion (Polish Library: New York
1946), p. 16.
23. Spence, Tolstoy, pp. 92.
24. Kania, Bolshevism, pp. 11.
25. Brock, Testimonies, pp. 37.
26. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 104.
27. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 177.
28. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 174.
29. Edgerton, Memoirs, pp. 2.
30. Spence, Tolstoy, pp. 114.


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