of 9 pages
Open Letters from Tolstoy to the Tsar of Russia
in 1901, Protesting Treatment of Peasants
By Andrei Conovaloff, September 2015. Updated 12 March 2022 — Link: goo.gl/fwIC4O
These letters were variously translated from the Russian letters written and sent by Count Lev N. Tolstoy (Tolstoi) after one-third of all Spiritual Christian Dukhoborsty in Russia began to migrate to central Canada. These heretics of Orthodoxy (sectarians, folk-protestants) were severely persecuted for burning weapons in a mass protest in 1895 at 3 sites in the Caucasus which aroused neighboring tribes of Spiritual Christians to also fear for their safety.
The first migration wave was large and quick due to the intervention of Lev. N. Tolstoy and leadership of The Society of Friends, London UK. In 1899-1900 about 7,400 (1/3) of the most zealous and persecuted Dukhobortsy (spirit-wrestlers, Doukhobors), mainly followers of P. V. Verigin, migrated to central Canada from the Southern Caucasus, and by 1930 about 8,800 had arrived in Canada. The majority 2/3 of all Dukhobortsy remained in Russia.
In February 1900 Tolstoy wrote a long letter to Doukhobors in Canada encouraging them “... to continue to live a Christian life … .”
These 2 letters by Tolstoy were mailed to Tsar Nicholas II and circulated privately among Tolstoy’s associates, and translated in London and submitted to the London Times and international news wire services. No count yet exists of how many newspapers around the world published these letters.
The first letter was published in English in the U.S.A. 4 months after Tolstoy wrote it, and the second after 2 months. In the second letter (page 3 below) Tolstoy mentions 2 petitions from “Molokane” in Kars oblast and Erivan governorate, neighboring tribes of folk-protestant, Spiritual Christians.
Molokane are the only faith mentioned in both letters — 3 times.
Letter | 1 | 2 | |
Date | December 15, 1900 | March 15, 1901 | Totals |
Faiths | Molokane - 2 Dukhobors - 2 | Molokane - 1 - Old Believers - 1 Baptists - 1 Stundists - 1 | 3 2 1 1 1 |
No petition or letter mentions the “most pernicious” (most harmful, dangerous) “sects” (heretics) not allowed to emigrate — khristovshchina, Klubnikinisty, Maksimisty, noviye israeli, pryguny, skoptsy, etc. When many Klubnikinisty, Maksimisty, pryguny, skakuny, sionisty, stunditsy and others fled to Los Angeles, most pretended, or were assumed, to be Molokane, probably because it was announced in the international news that 200,000 Molokane were to be legally migrating to Los Angeles. The first to arrive in Los Angeles in spring 1904 identified as a “Brotherhood of Spiritual Christians”. Actually many more of the illegal non-Molokan tribes fled than Molokan. Many paid bribes to get out of the country and across borders in Europe.
Also, at that time, labor agents working for American companies were traveling throughout Europe and Asia seeking healthy white immigrants for labor to build the trans-continental railways and to populate and farm in North and South America. Labor was also needed for the Panama Canal, sugar plantations in the Caribbean and Hawai’i.
On February 24, 1901, after Tolstoy sent the first letter, and before both letters were published in English, Tolstoy was reprimanded by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) (partial translation) in an effort to scare his followers and fans, which was misinterpreted as a formal excommunication. The official ROC position is that Tolstoy excommunicated himself.
Ironically, Tolstoy was one of 36 nominated for the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1901, and he was nominated 19 times from 1901 through 1908 — 16 for literature and 3 for peace. When notified of his first nomination, Tolstoy replied that the prize money would be better spent if given to the “destitute and suffering” Dukhoborsty.
Letter 1 — December 15, 1900
TOLSTOY TO THE CZAR.
The Full Text-of the Russian Novelist's Recent Letter.
In 1896 a Russian official publication called the "Statesman's Handbook for Russia" was issued in the English language from the Chancery of the Committee of Ministers, primarily in order to acquaint the young Empress, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, with the institutions of the country which had just become her Majesty's new' home, and also to afford Information on the subject for Englishmen in general. In that book, among other extraordinary things, there is a chapter on the toleration of the Russian Government in religious matters entitled "Freedom of religion," which will astonish any reader who happens to know the real position of Russia In this respect, and is certainly calculated to mislead the Englishman who takes his information from this and other official publications lately distributed by the Russian Government with an unprecedented expenditure of labor, money, and zeal.
As a contrast to this official "freedom of religion," which, like many other Asiatic or medieval things in Russia, hidden under European nomenclature, means exactly the reverse of what it means everywhere else in Europe, I send a translation of one of the many copies of Count Tolstoy's last letter to the Czar, now being privately circulated. The style in Russian seems to be very careless for so distinguished a writer; but this, I am told, is to be accounted for by the fact that it was written when the author was very ill and bedridden at the end of last year. Its contents have become so generally known here among all well-informed people that there can hardly be any doubt as to its authenticity. The request made on behalf of certain Russian women who ask to be allowed to leave their present place of abode evidently refers to their wish to join their husbands in exile somewhere in the remoter parts of Siberia.
"Your Imperial Majesty Gosudar Gospodar Nicholas [II] Alexandrovich Alexandrivich:
"Kindly read through the enclosed letter yourself and alone; it was not at first intended for you, and it is short. Listen to the promptings of your own heart and act accordingly.
"Nine young women living at liberty, with sufficient for their needs, and two old matrons, beg as a special favor, after selling all they have accumulated by hard work, to be allowed to give up a free and comfortable existence, and to go to the most horrible place of exile surrounded by the most painful conditions. What must have been the sufferings of these people during six years of separation, living alone, in the most difficult circumstances? And how moral and strong must they be if, In the midst of their sufferings, they think not of themselves, but of one another, and of how to be true to their marriage vows. But these are not the only people who are suffering here. Hundreds of such Russians, the best of the people, are undergoing still worse suffering from religious persecution, which, through some astonishing misunderstanding, continues to be practiced in Russia. and is even on the Increase at a time when all enlightened persons and Governments have long ago recognized the futility, absurdity, and cruel injustice of such persecution.
"I have long had it in my mind as a sacred duty before I die to try to open your eyes to the senseless and terrible cruelties which are perpetrated in your name. The accompanying letter from the Dukhobors has determined me to put it off no longer. Thousands of the best Russians, sincerely religious people, and therefore such as constitute the chief strength of every nation, have been already ruined, or are being ruined in prison and in banishment, or have been sent out, or are being sent out, of Russia. The flower of the population, not only in the Caucasus, but also in Russia proper, 10,000 Dukhobors, notwithstanding all hardships and privations, have quitted their fatherland forever, not only with regret, but in terror from the remembrance of all they have had to undergo there. [In 1898, Dukhobortsy were allowed to migrate. 8,400 migrated to Canada by 1930, about one-third of their total population, mostly followers of P. V. Verigin.] Several thousand Molokani in the district of Kars [5,000 Spiritual Christians], as many in Erivan [3,000 Spiritual Christians], whose petition to be allowed to emigrate I have already submitted to you, the Molokani of Tashkent, and some 10,000 persons [mostly Shtundists] in the provinces of Kharkoff [Kharkiv] and Kieff [Kiyv, North Ukraine], who are persecuted for their faith all these wish and pray for one thing only, and that is the permission to leave Russia and to go where they may safely worship God as they understand him, and not as ordered by the authorities, most of whom recognize no God whatever.
"If you do not know of all the absurd cruelties which are committed in your name, then allow me to tell you here that my words will be confirmed by any just person whom you may commission to investigate the matter. But once knowing that your name is used to justify the infliction of suffering upon the innocent and the best among the people, and that you are able to prevent it, you cannot have peace of mind until you have done this. Do not take counsel with the men who have arranged this ill-treatment, to be guided by them, neither with Pobledonostzoff [Konstantin Pobedonostsev], who is a man behind his time, cunning, obstinate, and cruel, nor with Sipiagin [Dmitry Sipyagin], who is a man of mediocre abilities, frivolous, and unenlightened. Such people will tell you that I am a visionary, an Anarchist, and a Godless person, and that all I say and advise is unjust, but what I say is not from my own point of view. I speak from the point of view of your Majesty, who is able to put an end to the crimes committed under the guise of legality, and to destroy the bases on which such crimes are founded. Therefore, I take the liberty of advising you as follows:
(1) To revise and abolish the contradictory and shameful laws now existing in regard to persecutions in the name of religion, which have long ceased to exist in every other country except Russia;
(2) to put an end to all persecution and punishment for departure from the religious creed of the State, and to liberate all persons imprisoned and exiled on account of their faith; and
(3) to reconsider the question of how to reconcile the requirements of conscience in religious matters with the demands of the State — as, for example, the refusal to take an oath and to perform military service; not to punish such dissent as a crime, but try to reconcile the inconsistency, as was done in the case of the Mennonites, by compulsory labor in exchange for military service, and a solemn declaration to speak the truth In courts of law instead of the usual oath.
"Forgive me if I have not explained myself clearly; my only motive was the good of the people in general and of yourself in particular. I know and feel all the weight and responsibility of your position. I believe that the cruel religious oppression practiced In your name, besides doing harm to yourself in the opinion of people and the opinion of Europe, and the judgment of history, lays upon you a tormenting responsibility. By abolishing this religious persecution and by making its repetition impossible you will not only relieve yourself of, this responsibility, but will experience the pleasurable consciousness of having done a good work.
"God help you to do that which pleaseth him. And in doing this you will do the greatest good for the Russian people and for yourself, Your loving
LEO TOLSTOY."
December 15, 1900.
— Moscow (April 2) Correspondence "London Times."
Letter 2 — March 15, 1901
The translation in the N.Y. Times is similar to, but not identical to, Long’s translation.
RUSSIA'S NEEDED REFORMS
The Details of What Tolstoi Proposed to the Czar.
“Modest and Practical” Scheme which would Almost Assimilate the Czar to a King or a President.
From The London Times.
We have received from St. Petersburg the following translation of an appeal which, it is stated, has been addressed by Count Tolstoi to the Czar and his Government on the present situation in
Russia:
To the Czar and his Advisers:
More assassinations! More street riots! Again there will be executions, while panie and exasperation, giving birth to threats and false accusations, prevail on the one side, and the other is animated with hatred. the desire for revenge, and the spirit of self-sacrifice on the other. Again all Russian people are divided into two hostile camps, and preparations are being made to commit the greatest crimes. . . . Why should this be so? . . . Why, when it is so easy to avoid it? [sic: Translations vary from book to newspaper.]
It is possible that the present movement, like those which have preceded it, may be suppressed by the employment of military force. But it may happen that the soldiers and policemen, in whom the Government puts so much trust, will realize that to carry out their instructions in this respect would involve the horrible crime of fratricide, and will refuse to obey orders. Even if this agitation is temporarily put down, it cannot be completely stifled. It will continue to spread under the cover of secrecy, and, sooner or later, it will inevitably break out again with redoubled energy, and will lead to more suffering and to crimes greater than those which we now deplore.
Why should this be the case when it can so easily be prevented? We appeal to all who wield power in the Czar's name, to the members of the Council of State, to the Senators and to the Ministers, and even to the uncles and brothers and other relatives of the Emperor, who are able to influence his Majesty's convictions. We appeal to you not as enemies but as brothers. Whether you like it, or not, your lot is so closely bound up with ours that all the sufferings which are inflicted upon us, and which, although it is in your power, you make no effort to prevent, affect you more than us.
We beg you to take steps to put a stop to this state of things. Most of you think that it is all the fault of restless and discontented individuals, who excite the people and disturb the peaceful course of affairs, that no change of any kind is necessary, and that the only thing to be done is to punish and gag the disaffected. If this were the case, however, the agitation could be brought to an end by imprisoning or executing these individuals. But for more than three years such persons have been arrested, banished, or executed by the thousand. The result has been to increase their numbers. Discontent with the existing order of things not only grows apace, but continues to spread over an ever-increasing area, and has already affected millions of persons among the working classes, who form the great majority of the whole population. It is thus evident that this feeling of dissatisfaction has not been created by the restless and malicious individuals to whom you ascribe the blame, but is due to some other cause.
As a matter of fact, you, the officials of the Government, only need to withdraw your attention for a moment from the sharp contest in which you are now engaged; you only need to cease to think like the short-sighted Minister of the Interior. who has naively declared in his circular that everything would come right if the police would only disperse the crowds in time, and if the soldiers would shoot straight when their orders are disobeyed; you only need to cease to believe such nonsense as this in order, clearly, and at once, to recognize the real cause of the discontent existing among the neople, and of the agitation which is continually spreading and taking deeper root.
The reason is that, in consequence of the unhappy murder of the Czar Alexander II., the liberator of the serfs — a murder which was committed by a small group of persons, but for which the entire nation was made responsible — the Government of his successor, Alexander III., came to the unwise decision not only to proceed along the path of reform, but even to retrace the steps which had already been taken. They were not ever content to lot things remain as they were. Instead of discarding more and more the despotic form of administration, which is incompatible with the present conditions of society, they went in for a policy of reaction, being actuated by the belief that salvation was only to be found in this brutal and antiquated form of Government. For nearly twenty years no attempt has been made to bring the political system more into conformity with the general development and greater complications of the conditions of life. This reactionary movement has separated the Government more and more from the people and their wants. It is thus not the malicious and turbulent persons who are to blame, but you administrators yourselves, who care for nothing but your own case for the time being. It is not a question of defending yourselves from enemies who wish to harm you. No one desires to do a anything of the kind. It is merely a question of understanding the causes of the existing discontent, and of taking the measures necessary to remove them. Every one is not fond of discord and enmity. People prefer to live in love and harmony with their fellowmen. If they are now in a state of agitation, and appear to seek your discomfiture, it is simply because, in their eyes, you are the barrier which prevents them from obtaining for themselves, and for their brethren, the greatest blessings of humanity — freedom and enlightenment. It is necessary for you to do so little to put a stop to this agitation and to secure yourselves against attack, and that little is so necessary for yourselves, and so calculated to give you peace and consolation, that it will be astonishing if you do not do it. At present it is only necessary to do very little.
Tolstoi’s Programme.
The following measures should be adopted without delay:
In the first place, the peasants should be placed on a footing of legal equality with other citizens; for which purpose it would be necessary
(1) To abolish the absurd institution of rural administrators, (zemsky natchalniki,) which has no raison d’être [no important reason].
(2) To repeal the regulations governing the relations of master and man, which would then be subject to the ordinary law of the land.
(3) To liberate the peasantry from all oppressive impositions, such as the necessity of obtaining passports in order to move from one place to another, the duty which falls solely upon the peasants of billeting soldiers and providing country carts for purposes of transport, and the obligations connected with the rural police.
(4) To abolish the unjust system of collective responsibility of peasants for each other's debts, and to remit the land redemption payments [rents], which have long since covered the real value of the land; and, above all.
(5) To do away with corporal punishment, which is useless and degrading, and which is now retained only for the most industrious, the most moral, and the most numerous class of the people.
It is specially important that the peasantry, constituting the vast majority of the population, should have the same rights as other classes. There can be no strength or durability in a social organization when the majority of the citizens are not on a footing of legal equality with their fellow countrymen, but are kept in the position of slaves bound by special laws. It is only when the laboring majority has been emancipated and invested with the same rights as those which are enjoyed by the other citizens, that a stable social organization becomes possible or conceivable.
In the second place, it is necessary to cease to apply the so-called reinforced measures of public safety, which destroy all existing laws, and place the people at the mercy of stupid, cruel, and, for the most part, immoral officials. The abrogation of these extra measures of public safety is important because they suspend the action of the ordinary law, promote spying and secret denunciation, and cause and encourage the frequent employment of brutal violence against workmen who have disputes with their employers and landlords. Nowhere is there so much cruel persecution as in the districts in which these special regulations are in force. It is owing to them that capital punishment is coming more and more into use and that the authorities are, to an increasing extent, having recourse to that demoralizing punishment which, forbidden by God, is the greatest of human crimes, which is contrary to the Christian spirit of the Russian people, and which was previously unknown in our jurisprudence.
Thirdly, education and teaching should be freed from all obstacles.
(1) No differences should be made, between people of different social stations with regard to facilities for education, and books which are allowed to be read by others should not be forbidden to the common people.
(2) Teachers in schools should not be prevented from giving instruction in the language spoken by their pupils, and it is supremely important that
(3) All persons who have not been deprived of their civil rights, and who are desirous of undertaking educational work, should be permitted to conduct schools of all grades.
It is important that the education, training, and teaching of the young should be freed from all the restrictions which now hamper them, because it is by means of these very restrictions that the laboring classes are kept in a state of ignorance, and it is this ignorance which at present serves the Government as an excuse for placing these obstacles in the way of education. The emancipation of the working classes from Government interference in these matters would enable the people to acquire far more quickly the education which they really need, instead of that which is forced upon them. To permit private persons to open and to conduct schools would put a stop to the continual agitation among the young men, who are dissatisfied with the arrangements, in the establishments in which they at present pursue their studies. If there were no difficulty in the way of establishing private schools, both for the lower and higher courses of instruction, the Russian students who are dissatisfied with the order of things in the Government educational institutions would leave them for the private establishments which answered their requirements.
Fourthly, all restrictions on religious liberty must be abolished.
(1) All laws should be repealed which provide punishment for any withdrawal from the Established Church.
(2) The establishment and the opening of chapels and churches for the Old Believers [staroobryadsty] and of houses of prayer for Baptists, Molokani, Stundists, and other sectarians [Spiritual Christians] should be freely permitted.
(3) Permission should be given for holding religious meetings, and for preaching all forms of belief, except those which teach men to commit unnatural crimes, such as murder and suicide and
(4) Persons of different religious beliefs should be allowed to bring up their children in the form of faith which they believe to be the true one.
The abolition of all restraint on religious freedom is absolutely necessary, because it is universally admitted — and the fact is attested by history and science — that religious persecution does not produce the effect desired by those who practice it. On the contrary, it only strengthens that which the persecutors seek to destroy. Moreover, the interference of the authorities in religious matters, produces hypocrisy, which is so strongly condemned by Christ as the worst and most pernicious of vices, and it prevents the attainment of that unity which is the highest good both for the individual and the community at large. This unity can never be attained by using violent means to compel people to observe the outward forms of a religion which has once been adopted and is regarded as infallible; it can only be attained by the unfettered progress of humanity in its search after the truth.
These are the very modest and practical desires of the majority of Russian society. The application of the measures above described would undoubtedly pacify the people and save them from terrible sufferíng. It would also prevent the crimes, which will inevitably be committed on both sides, if the Government endeavors only to suppress the agitation without seeking to remove the causes that produce it.
We appeal to you all — to the Czar, to the members of the Council of State, to the Ministers, to all persons near to the Czar, to all persons having power to aid in pacifying society and preserving it from suffering and crime. We appeal to you, not as members of the opposite camp, but as colleagues and brothers. It is impossible in a society of people whose interests are bound up together that some should be happy and contented and the great majority be compelled to suffer. People can be happy only when happiness and contentment are enjoyed by the strong, working majority which constitutes the foundation of the whole of society. Hełp to improve the position of this majority, and, above all, to promote its freedom and enlightenment. Then only will your own position be free from care, and then only will you be truly happy.
LEO TOLSTOI.
March 15 (28,) 1901.
[15 by Julian calendar, 28 by Gregorian - Western calendar.]
Link to this page: goo.gl/fwIC4O
Tolstoy and Doukhobors: A list of many online references
Spiritual Christians Around the World