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A REVIEW
by

Koozma J. Tarasoff

BoRNNcs, bombings, and- nudism are alleged to
be the descriptive features of a Canadian-Russian
_ Sect known as the Doukhobors. This is what

Simma Holt wishes us to believe in her book Terror
'n the Name of God, The Story of the Sons of Freedom
Doukhobors (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Ltd.,
964, pp. 312, $7.50.)

She claims that these people are duped by their
eaders and deliberately kept in a state of ignorance.
; 1€lr peasant virtues of industry, patience, and will-
mgness to sacrifice have been misdirected to senseless
€nds and to the purposes of their wicked leaders.

To top things off,Mrs. Holt labels this group as
oe Mafia-like characteristics. Her solution is sim-
he take the children away from their parents and

Ting them up-to be “model” Canadian citizens.

To the uninformed reader, the book is deceiving. It
ns to tell the story of a small zealot faction
‘ In the Doukhobors. In reality, the author makes

€ry little differentiation between the whole and the

in Just as the Warren Report sought to ‘find support-
18 evidence for a predetermined viewpoint (the single-

a hypothesis) , Simma Holt has taken a similar

Y

Iiled, some 400 members of the sect camped for nearl

em

are used by certain interests (and certain wri

| t © Prison, in 125 huts made of plywood and plastic shests, heat

At the end of a protest trek two and a half years ago to Mo
ly six mont

A deceptive book

about
the Doukhobors

With her one-theory hypothesis she seeks to do
several things: first, to destroy the Doukhobor social
movement; and secondly, to show how dangerous
people of Russian ancestry can be to Canada.

Behind the facade of every Russian Canadian lurks
the Communist threat of discontent and subversion—
in brief, there exists a traitorous tendency, a la the
MacCarthy definition.

Content analysis of this book reveals the sensa-
tionalistic story of a newspaper reporter, but not that
of a careful researcher.

(1) There at least 31 cases of innuendo, or the
attempt to blame or defame a whole ethnic group of
people by omission of important information, by repe-
tition of phrases such as “the Doukhobor cause” in
connection with burning, etc., or by deliberately plac-
ing the blame of a few individuals on a whole group
of people.

(2) There are at least 2 cases of inaccurate or
questionable information or mere assumption without
proof. Note a photograph caption which unjustly
states: “Nudity and arson through the years became
the way of life of a large group of Doukhobors.”

(3) The chapter headings and the photographs of

untain Prison where a hundred Doukhobors were
hs (mostly in winter) in this valley, within sight of
ed by stoves. The action of the extremists among
ters) to blacken the name of all Doukhobors in Canada.

nudes are aimed at attracting public attention, but
at the expense of objectivity and careful research.

“The Autobiography of a Fanatic’ (Chapter 15) is
really .an autobiography of a disturbed: zealot and
should not be taken as a description of the Doukho-
bors as a whole nor of even the zealot faction.

The effect here is to condemn all Doukhobors as
“fanatics,” and to arouse emotions of pity and hate.
In this respect, Terror in the Name of God is a form
of hate literature similar to the anti-Jewish literature
that periodically arouses concern.

Has the author made it clear enough that bombing,
arson, stripping, belong only to some individuals in
a small groups? Suppose one were to write of the
F.L.Q. in Quebec as “The French Canadian Catholics
of Quebec” instead of the fanatical extremist wing
of the Quebec separatists” as our papers are careful
to do? This would rightly be said to be an attempt
to whip up hatred of peaceful French Canadians whose
religion and ethnicity are the same as those of ex-
tremists.

Mrs. Holt really feels that the fault lies in pacifism
of this group. For example, she says that when the
tsar dispersed them and conscripted them after the
burning of arms in St. Peter’s Day in 1895 and vowed
“They must obey the law or be wiped out” this, al-
though admittedly causing hardship, was brought
about by their own folly (page 22).

The tsar and his government, she says, used harsh

methods “as a means of breaking up what seemed to-

them to be an organized group of law-breakers.”

It seems to Mrs. Holt, also, that refusal to bear
arms is breaking the law. This is the folly that led
to their persecutions. But the point is that in Canada
it is permitted to people to refuse to bear arms if
they conscientiously think it wrong to do so. And
surely anywhere in the world it would be considered
religious persecution to force people into a church
they did not believe in.

Mrs. Holt’s descriptions often seem to rely exclu-
sively upon police reports and court testimony, al-
though the: validity and reliability of the latter at
least have been notoriously bad.

She shows no understanding of a cultural or social
system, especially those of tsarist Russia and Canada;
nor does she clearly comprehend the dynamic of belief
and leadership in religious or revitalization move-
ments.

But perhaps we should not expect too much from
her. She is a reporter for the Vancouver Sun who
has got into the habit of recording the sensational
primarily and at the same time bending everything
to fit her thesis. : 5s

Finally, her solution will surely horrify any parent
to suggest that the children must be taken away
because the parents may be passing down to the
children their own warped beliefs. Maybe they are—
but should separatists have their children taken away
lest they be instructed in blowing up statues or build-
ings?

Should the Canadian Nazis, who preach hatred and
violence towards Jews, be deprived of their young
in case they learn the same hatred? There are some
solutions that are not acceptable in our society and
this is one of them.

Ww

KOOZMA J. TARASOFF received his Masters de-
gree in Anthropology and Sociology at the University
of British Columbia in 1963. Since then he has been
doing research on ARDA (Agricultural Rehabilitation
and Development Act) projects as staff member of the
Research and Planning Branch, Saskatchewan Depart-
ment of Welfare. Mr. Tarasoff has done extensive re-
search on Doukhobors and is currently working on a
pictorial history for publication during the Canadian
Centennial. This review is reprinted from the Cana-
dian Mennonite.

November 18, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

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