54 A SERIES ON THE DOUKHOBOR PROBLEM IN 5-DOUKHOBORS IN THE USSR Freedomites plan to return to their old homeland By BERT WHYTE A Freedomite delegation of five (three men and two women) hopes to visit the Soviet Union in the near future to arrange for a mass return of Doukhobors’ to the mother- land they left almost 60 years ago. Should the plan materialize upwards of 5,000 may join the great migration—including almost all the Sons of Freedom of Doukhobors not associated with the Sons. Parents of children now held at New Denver eagerly await word of the move,. for it would mean immediate restoration of their children to them. What chance~is there that the Soviet Union will accept the Doukhobors? Well, Free- domite- representatives have visited the Soviet Embassy in Otawa, where they were “warmly welcomed,” and plans for the- five-member delegation to go to Moscow are far advanced. It is known that there are several thousand Doukhbors living in the USSR, with ap- parently no friction between the sect and the Soviet gov- ernment: The Grand Forks Gazette, in its issue of June 24, 1954, interviewed William Soukoreff, a Doukhobor (but not a member of the Freedom- ites) who made contact with some Doukhobors during a three-week visit to the Soviet Union. He reported: “T am asked to state if I have contacted any ‘Douk- hobor villages. As the bigger group of Doukhobors reside in Trans-Caucasia, which is 7,500 kilometers from Moscow, and I had no personal rela- tives, it was felt that I would not have enough time for a trip of that distance during my three-weeks stay. “But the Slavonic Commit- tee brought two Doukhobors (from the Trans - ‘Caucasia region) to see me in Moscow. One is working in the Ministry of Supply on collective farm- ing and the other happened to be a student of physics, com- pleting his fourth year term, and now writing exams for his doctorate degree. “They assured me_ that there are over 4,000 Doukho- bors living in Trans-Caucasia, with the older people still ob- serving their religious rites and celebrating St. Peter’s and other Doukhobor religious holidays. They were never prohibited to pray, although the younger generation are now interested in modern life and education. Only last year 30 students of Doukhobor origin Have been graduated with doctorate and engineer- ing degrees, some returning to practise in their own villages, some leaving to go to other parts of the country. “I had little difficulty in establishing the whereabouts of J. J. Verigin’s mother, in Novo-Sibirsk Region, and ex- changed telegrams and letters with her. It appears that. in 1930 many-~-followers' of Tols- toy, and later many Doukho- bors during the last war were evacuated behind the Ural This aged Freedomite woman was one of those arrested in 1953 and charged with having taken part in a nude parade at Perry Siding. Maximum, sentences of three years were given most of the demon- strators. and large numbers Mountains and chose to remain there; therefore she chose to stay in the village of Boho- slovka’ near Novo - Sibirsk, Which is a great industrial centre with mining, metal} lurgical industry and tractor factories.” : From this account it ap- pears that (a) the Doukhobor “problem” has been solved in the Soviet Union; (b) the Soviet educational system is apparently acceptable to the Doukhobors; (c)) the Soviet government respected the pacifist beliefs of the Douk- hobors during the . Second World War, and evacuated the sect in the face of the Ger- man advance. How would the Sons of Freedom react to educational processes in the USSR? Main objection to the edu- cational system in Canada is based on the Freedomites’ be- lief (certainly well founded) that our’ teaching of history glorifies war. Our newspapers, radio and TV programs all play their part in creating an H-bomb war atmosphere. But in the Soviet Union the spreading of war propaganda is a criminal offense. Perhaps this would change relations between the Doukhobors and the authorities, I must admit that the above is pure speculation, and intro- duces a question that is not the purpose of this series of articles. My sole purpose in writing these articles is to shock Canadians into a sense of shame that in Canada, in 1957, a provincial govern- ment is allowed to get away with the barbaric practise of seizing little children, tearing them away from the arms of their mothers, and holding them in a detention ‘camp (“school”) year after year, “Forced education” is an il- lusion. The coercive acts of the Social Credit government have been no more successful than the force and violence used against the Doukhobors. by previous governments. The policy must be changed. And,_ as a beginning, the children held at New Denver should be released and returned to their parents. « x x 503 “The Doukhobors are a most remarkable people,’ wrote John J. Kooznetsoff (left) and Peter Elasoff, both Sons of Freedom Doukhobors, discuss the sect’s application to mov® to the Soviet Union. Tolstoy more -than 60 years ago. “They work with their hands, exploiting no one, pro- ducing more than they con- sume. They reject authority of both church and_ state, acknowledge no human auth- ority, yet live together peace- fully in their community with no guidance other than their own reason and conscience. Among these dignified, confi- dent, yet illiterate peasants is the germination of that seed sown by Christ himself eigh- teen hundred years ago.” At. that time the Doukhobors were being persecuted in Rus- sia by the Czar for refusing to bear. arms. They were look- ing for a vlace to emigrate to. A FREEDOMITE WOMAN Canada, in that same period, was looking for immigrants: Pioneers were needed to ope? up the prairies, push back the frontiers. The Doukho- bors with their reputation 4° excellent farmers and hard workers, seemed like ideal im- migrants. Negotiations wer begun and in 1899, on Janu: ary 23, the Beaver Line steam ship Lake Huron berthed at Halifax bringing the _ first mass party of 2,100 Doukho- bor immigrants. Four ‘days later, on January 27,a secoM group, numbering 1,974, al” rived on the Lake Superior. Halifax labor leader J. 1: Bulmer saluted the first grouP with these words: “You bring to Canada some- thing more needed in this country than even immigrants —men who would stand bY their. principles, no matte! how much suffering it cos them. “Your noble stand in refus- ing to bear arms, and be coming exiles from your 4 tive land for the sake of prin’ ciple, will strengthen every good cause in Canada.” No one could guess the? that the history of the Douk- hobors over the next half cel tury would be one of hard: ships, arrests, jails, separé- tion of children from the! parents: =. x Some of these tragic events will be briefly reviewed next week’s article in thié series. ' August 16, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE ?—