Tolstoyan Colony in Turkestan - Turkestan Vedomosti, 1910
Translation about a Christian commune inspired by the philosophy of Tolstoy and founded in Central Asia
Preliminary note: For Gmail readers, this essay might be clipped due to size limitations. To read the entire essay simply click on “View entire message” at the bottom of the email, thanks.
Below is a translation of a news article about a Tolstoyan community that was founded in Central Asia. The source for this translation can be found here. The original text can likely be found here.
The Tolstoyans (Толстовство) was a social, philosophical and religious movement found by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, which involved pacifism, asceticism, vegetarianism, nonresistance, non-involvement with the state, which was all done with the inspiration of the literal words of Christ. Due to the movement’s unique values which were often at odds with the rest of society, like other similar groups they sought to build new communities far away from mainstream society. This community in particular was founded on the Keles River, a tributary of the Syr-Darya River, located in modern day southern Kazakhstan near the city of Shymkent.
As the article outlines, the community, despite their best intentions, was beset by several problems. First was the problem of free loaders, which is well known problem that often plagues communal living and similar utopian projects. This, along with poor allocation of resources and labour are typical and well known critiques of communism which are valid, as can be seen below.
The conflict between Tolstoyans who wished to farm and the nomads over land is also worth highlighting. Following the conquest of Central Asia, the Russians not only promoted the sedentarization of nomadic populations, but also encouraged the colonization of Central Asia by Russian peasants. Large numbers of peasants from over-populated regions of Russia proper and Siberia were resettled in Central Asia and were given land either in the steppe or along the region’s well irrigated river valleys. As land use by pastoral nomads is extensive in nature, it is only natural that those who remained nomadic would brush up against the newly resettled Russian migrants as both groups often sought access to the same lands. During the First World War, in 1916, a massive revolt broke out in Central Asia primarily among the Kazakhs and was partially due to this conflict over land. In short, the nomads were being squeezed out of their land by Russian peasants. This process if anything only accelerated during the Soviet era, as Soviet policies in this sphere were largely a continuation and amplification of Tsarist ones. For more on the conflict between farmers and nomads in central Eurasia, specifically in the Chinese context, I would recommend the writings of Owen Lattimore.
Tolstoyan Colony in the Turkestan Region
Five verstas1 from the former post station Dzheri along the old Chimkent road, a small but clean village is nestled on the left bank of the winding River Keles - this is a colony of Tolstoyans.
In 1900 the retired Captain Repin, in possession of a fair amount of capital, rented from the local agricultural department 280 desyatin2 of dryland in the Char-Bulak volost,3 on which he formed a community. The community has since suffered more than a few misfortunes.
This time of troubles gave birth to an entire constellation of parasites and in general an element which mills about, partly due to blackmail, and partly due to their weak desire to work. This is the element that came to fill up the community, burdening her during winter time when there was no agricultural work to be done, and then running away come spring time when hard work started up again.
The charter and traditions of the community forced everyone to put up with this without complaint. Members of the community in large part were mostly ill acquainted with agricultural work and techniques, so that more than a few failures were encountered, and soon time those who wished to remain in the community and actually engage in agricultural work had to revise their charter, break with their traditions, as all the capital, donated by Mr. Repin, had already been spent, but the community still required some more agricultural tools and cattle.
The main focus of attention was on, as much as possible, stopping the flow of migratory elements in the community, who hid under the name of Tolstoyans, and this to some extent has been successful. Now, for the past two years, affairs of the community have improved significantly. The community has a few complete sets of agricultural equipment, a sufficient number of working cattle and a large supply of seed for the upcoming sowing. The community has put in a lot of work, and, it could be said, has been unproductive in creating an orchard and irrigated fields. First, laying out the aryk4 took a lot of time and effort, and second, and most importantly, the fencing of these fields and gardens. Kyrgyz5 literally devastate the fields and vegetable gardens, as they wander about without supervision in large numbers, and it was because of these cattle that the fence had to be put up. First a duval6 was built, which did not prove useful at all, then a deep ditch was dug, which also did not serve effectively, and in the end a tall, barbed wire fence along with the previously built barriers offered protection for the community’s vegetable gardens. Peasants and settlers are literally moaning here from this, as they say, “four-legged” locusts - wandering Kyrgyz cattle, which often even destroy the straw roofs of homes.
The plan for the gardens and vegetable was not particularly successful, as the River Keles does not provide the necessary amount water during the critical months of June and July, partly because, up stream from the colony there are Kyrgyz who use the water to irrigate their own fields, and partly because it dries up completely. But the members of the community, by necessity, use what water reaches them, as the gardens give them, as vegetarians, the main source of nourishment, and no work, obviously, will force them to abandon this idea. They will at least, as in the past year, carry water in barrels for irrigation from wells, which are located half a versta from the fields. It is no wonder that with such conditions the orchards have a pathetic look about them and grow very slowly.
The members of the community built quite good homes, with some even having iron roofs and with large windows for light. Inside the ceilings are high, the building is dry and decorated in an urban way.
The community is now made up of thirteen members, primarily peasants. Family members of the community live in separate homes or two families to a home, split in halves by a corridor, while the single people formed a commune in one home. For cultivating land the community was divided into two parts.
In all, 60 desyatins are cultivated, and the remaining 220 desyatins partially serve for haymaking, and partially for pasturing.
In the past year the community members have had the possibility of only mowing about 100 desyatins for hay, and the remaining meadows, suitable for haymaking, were mowed free of charge by the aman-sai settlers.7 Such a small amount of plowing for rain fed land, in all likelyhood, explains the troubles from the previous years, the great expense of energy and time on fencing and the creation of irrigated fields and garden, and primarily, the small number of community members.
The goods produced by the community, from the fields and gardens, are brought to one place and given to a designated cashier, who then looks after these good. A part of these goods are kept for the needs of the community, divided equally among the members of the community, and the money, received from the sale of the goods, with the exception of a deduction for supplies needed for the community, are also divided equally among the members of the community. The cashier cannot pay the expenses, whatever they may be, and must always seek permission from all the members of the community, as well as for the acquisition of agricultural tools and cattle.
In 1911 the term of the rental will end, and whether this plot will be rented again is not yet clear. This or another outcome now greatly worries the community, as in the case of misfortune they will have to part with all that they have built and their equipment, and also a part portion of the agricultural inventory, which the community values at 15,000 rubles. In case of a refusal to renew the lease, in all likelyhood, a plot for resettlement will be formed here, and the community will be enlisted as resettled peasants. This hope of theirs came from a visit by an official responsible for resettlement, who made a detailed census of the members and surveyed the land which is occupied by the community.
P.S. Apologies for the lacking of posts recently. I usually aim to post 2-3 times a month, but this past month I have been almost entirely focused on translating a book!
It is the travel diary of Maksud Alikhanov-Avarsky, a Dagestani prince who served as an imperial officer during Russia’s 1873 conquest of the Khanate of Khiva. Along with moving at a quick pace, the book has wonderful descriptions of desert-steppe environment and the challenges that the Russians had moving through it. Alikhanov-Avarsky, as both a staff officer and fluent in Turkic languages, met with both the leading Russian figures from the expedition such as Lomkin, Verevkin and Skobelev, and was able to converse with the region’s native population or Kazakhs, Turkmen and Karakalpaks. The book so far is just one great episode after another, it’s one of the best adventure-military books I have read. I has a similar feeling to it as Xenophon’s Persian Expedition.
I will also write an introduction and a few appendix essays to include with it. I aim to have this project finished and published before Christmas of this year. In the meantime I will try to go back to posting at the regular tempo.
Old Russian unit of measurement. 1 versta = 1.0668 kilometers or 3,500 feet
Old Russian unit of measurement. 1 desyatin = 2.702 English acres or 1.09 hectares
An administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire, usually made of several villages and settlements
A small canal common throughout Central Asia
Actually Kazakhs. The Russian prior to the USSR referred to the Kazakhs as Kyrgyz, and the modern Kyrgyz were usually called Kara-Kyrgyz or Wild-stone Kyrgyz
Central Asian wall made from clay or brick, built around a house
I tried searching for what this refers to but I found nothing.
This was fascinating. Had no idea that Tolstoy inspired a social movement. Thank you for writing