Most days, Yakovlev set off with Peter Voykin and John Verigin to learn about the Doukhobor way of life. They toured apple orchards and visited traditional homesteads — typically a pair of stately redbrick homes linked by a rectangular single-storey building that served as both dormitory and workshop. The structures, historically the group’s primary dwellings, had once housed up to fifty community members at a time, everyone living and farming together. It was not so different from the way Yakovlev had grown up, with his mother and father often sharing their house with his grandfather, his uncles, and their families.
Yakovlev had moments in the Kootenays as enchanting as any he’d experienced. Toward the end of the youth festival, after a prayer service and some choral singing, the community gathered on the lawn beside the meeting hall. The babushkas and pastel-coloured blouses and skirts worn by hundreds of young Doukhobor women stood out brilliantly against the greens and browns of the surrounding forest. Younger members served fruit to their elders. Everyone spoke Russian. In this mountain valley set deep in the BC wilderness, the homesick Soviet ambassador had discovered a community just like the one he knew as a child.
So last December, I went to the Kootenays, where I stayed with J.J. Verigin Jr., the executive director of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, and the heir of John Verigin. The Doukhobors’ de facto leader turned out to be anything but what I had expected. Though he is fifty-two years old, he had the fashion sense and speaking style of a Whistler snowboarder, as well as the same up-for-anything, non-judgmental vibe. Within ten minutes of my arrival at his home in the Kootenay town of Grand Forks, we were sharing a beer, and within ten more we were headed for a concert at a local hall. I expected a traditional choir recital; instead, I found myself watching the legendary Vancouver punk outfit d.o.a.
When the show had ended, our ears still buzzing from d.o.a. ‘s machine-gun kick drumming, Verigin brought me to a home on the outskirts of Grand Forks, where a dozen of his friends were partying with the band. This was not quite the bacchanal it might once have been. d.o.a. leader Joe Keithley still wears his hair dyed blond, but less out of youthful rebellion, one suspects, than a desire to obscure his grey hair. After three decades of punk rock, he’s in his early fifties, and known as much for his politics as his music. Beers in hand, Verigin and Keithley traded observations on the Iraq war and the machinations of Vancouver’s city council.
As the night wrapped up, Keithley let slip that the band’s tour van was having mechanical problems — something that might prevent them from attending their next gig at a snow-boarding competition in Fernie. Verigin and his friends immediately began burning through their cellphone minutes, trying to track down someone in the region who would be able to fix the band’s van at the crack of dawn.
I saw something in that moment. Until then, I had lumped the Doukhobors in with ultra-conservative sects like the Amish and the Mennonites. But Verigin and the rest of the Kootenay Doukhobors were anything but conservative. After more than a century in Canada, they retained their communitarian sensibilities, and their anti-authoritarian, anarchist vibe. They were far more comfortable alongside counter-culture legends like Joe Keithley than buggy-riding Christian conservatives.
Only then did I understand why this exiled but proudly Russian sect of socialist anarchists had the influence on Yakovlev that it did. The Doukhobors were a living rebuttal to the theory that Russia requires a strongman. Yakovlev must have seen them as an example of the way Russians might have lived, had they not been stifled by the corruption and inefficiency of the Communist Party. In a series of mountain valleys in the BC interior, the future architect of perestroika encountered a community of proudly Russian people who convinced him that his countrymen could thrive in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy. Indeed, in his memoirs, Yakovlev had written:
They are amazing people — hard-working, open, courteous . . . They believe with complete sincerity that only moral principles will save mankind from moral collapse . . . These stubborn people, though at times naïve in their misconceptions, have sustained through all their ordeals an uncompromising attitude toward deception, hypocrisy, and violence, along with an unbending rejection of militarism.
The evening before I was to fly home, I ate dinner at the home of the Popoff family, who serve as the Doukhobors’ poet-historians. Eli Popoff ‘s novel Tanya is one of the few representations of the Doukhobor way of life in fiction, and his son, Jim, was the longtime editor of the group’s publication, Iskra. Dorothy Popoff, Eli’s wife, and Jim’s wife, Lillian, had prepared a feast of borscht and piroshki. Over a table set with cloth napkins, lace doilies, and crystal, we spoke of the parallels between the Doukhobors and Yakovlev — both pacifists and exiles, both ardent about social justice and personal freedom.
As we ate, Dorothy revealed that she had been present at the climactic moment of Yakovlev’s visit with the Doukhobors. In 1980, she was one of two women on the Doukhobors’ executive committee, which invited Yakovlev to a meeting on Victoria Day in a wood-panelled conference room in the basement of the community centre. There, the Doukhobors requested Yakovlev’s help in arranging a return to Russia.
Comments (11 comments)
Peter H. Peters: To Editor:
I found this to be a most interesting article. I wonder what happened to the Doukhobor community that made the cultural transition to assimilation possible so swiftly. Is the former ambassador Yakovlev till alive and if so where is he today? Facinating!
Peter H. Peters
610-1712 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB May 12, 2008 08:36 EST
Ev Voykin: In my view, Mr. Shulgan has captured the very essence of faith most Doukhobors hold close to their hearts, and regardless of assimulation and drop in active members, there are thousands more of us who still maintain our beliefs, faith and heritage in our lives - regardless of where we may be living.
This is without question, one of the best articles I've read in decades on the Doukhobors - on the positive yet humble ways in which Doukhobors have impacted those throughout the world in our way of life, heritage and beliefs which we value so closely to our hearts.
In the last paragraph, Mr. Shulgan writes, "restored his faith in the benevolence of the Russian character". I know for me, your article 'reinforces in me, my neverending faith in the benevolence of my Doukhobor heritage'.
I remember when Mr. Yakovlev came to the Kootenays, and had the opportunity to meet him, along with my husband of two years, who is Mr. Voykin's nephew. It is wonderful to see this article on his trip and the impact it had on him - as in the family we all know what incredible hosts Peter and Lucy are.
June 01, 2008 00:12 EST
Laura: Very interesting article. The Doukhobor movement is still going on. Many of the Doukhobors and their descendents are participating in peace walks, communications, blogs and have a magazine,and web site which is assessible and read by the world population.
With the computer, every part of the world is assessible and maybe, someday, people will read and wake up to a better life and realize that toil and peaceful life is the answer. June 01, 2008 11:30 EST
John: This is very interesting. It might as well be interesting for the readers to eventually learn, (when the book is published) how a Canadian Doukhobor laid the foundation for the concept of multiculturalism and the eventual interculturalization that it is leading to in Canada.
Also, it was a Canadian Doukhobor who wrote the legal wording that is used to ban smoking in Canada.
As well, it was a Doukhobor who empowered the teaching of ethics to science students at UBC.
It was act of a BC Doukhobor that united the west and the east into the Canadian Peace Alliance.
It also was a Doukhobor who wrote a new, (more inspiring), anthem for Canada.
Yes, Doukhobors have enjoyed the pleasure of being instrumental in social engineering which is and will continue to help all Canadians, (through interculturalization) realize a new warless civilization.
I have fortune and pleasure of knowing when and how it was all done. In time, it will all be revealed.
June 03, 2008 23:52 EST
Stephan Samoyloff: Thanks for a very interesting article, with an interesting point of view. I and many of my friends benefited from the cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union you mentioned. Thanks especially for presenting the position of the majority of peaceful, law abiding Doukhobors, rather then painting us all with the radical brush of the minority as has been done in most other coverage. June 05, 2008 09:11 EST
V McNeil: Does anyone know if Yakovlev is still alive?
From this very brief article it seems that his views were slanted in the same direction as Tolstoy's.
It all comes down to the spirit of the person and their desire to share this spirituality with others. Spirituality and a spiritual community is so very difficult to attain and the Doukhabours at one time were successful with this. Of late their spirituality has dimmed and the finger pointed in part to asimilation in Canada. This justification is at odds when viewed in the context of other groups who's spirituality continues to thrive in Canada with assimilation.
True spirituality needs to be strengthened in the Douhabours in order to continue to catch the spirit of others like Yakovlev (and combat the Doukhabours declining numbers). June 07, 2008 10:54 EST
John Woodsworth: Ottawa, 20/6/08
As a Russian-English translator who has compiled, edited and/or translated a number of books and articles on the Doukhobors, I found Mr Shulgan's article most insightful. On my several visits to the Doukhobors, I was impressed with the considerable fluency many of them still have in Russian, even those of the third or fourth generation in Canada. This was particularly evident during a meeting with Tolstoy's great-great-grandson from Russia, Vladimir Il'ich Tolstoy, whose meeting with the Doukhobor executive (conducted entirely in Russian) I was able to attend. And the Doukhobors' philosophy and way of life have been all these years very much along the lines of Leo Tolstoy. See the book "Leo Tolstoy and the Canadian Doukhobors: an historic relationship" written by Andrew Donskov, the Director of the Slavic Research Group at the Univ. of Ottawa, with whom I have the privilege of working.
I might also mention that the community lifestyle, involving a close connection with the land, as Shulgan describes Yakovlev's discovery among the Canadian Doukhobors, is also reflected in another back-to-the-land movement popular in Russia today, thanks to nine books comprising the Ringing Cedars Series by Vladimir Megré. People are getting together to set up communities of their own 'family domains', where they are rediscovering an ages-old relationship of humanity to the land. The Series is now available in English translation - see http://www.ringingcedars.com - and I have heard of readers in the western world who are now following suit. In several talks and papers, I have taken note of the parallels between this movement and the Doukhobors, especially as related to the ideas they share in common with Tolstoy.
So the Canadian Doukhobors, at least those not completely absorbed into mainstream Canadian culture, may still be seen today as being on the cutting edge of a trend that will help many rise above dependence on oil, technology and a harmful exploitation of natural resources and rediscover an underlying humanity that finds satisfaction in living in harmony with nature instead of working against it.
June 20, 2008 19:18 EST
Patricia Khan: I met Koozma Tarasoff and his family and some of his friends in Ottawa and through him learnt about the Doukhobors. They have such strong spiritual values and a great sense of community.
One Thanksgiving, when I lived in Guyana,South America, I was asked to give a brief presentation on some aspect of Canadian life. I chose to talk about this wonderful group and it was of great interest to all present.
Koozma's book: The Spirit Wrestlers is a wonderful tribute to the Doukhobors. Check out his website for more information http://www.spirit-wrestlers.com/
Patricia Khan
Trinidad and Tobago
July 02, 2008 18:58 EST
Rachel Rilkoff: Thank you for the beautiful and interesting article. In the last few years I have reconnected with my Doukhobor heritage (my grandparents grew up traditionally, but raised their children more or less outside of the community) and it has been a wonderful, inspiring experience. Coincidently, I renewed this connection in Victoria BC, through the Victoria Doukhobor Choir, which was started by Eli Popoff's grandson, Johnny, among others. Attending the youth festival with this choir is something I would like my own children to experience.
You can hear some of our music here:
http://vidca.ca October 29, 2008 16:14 EST
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December 29, 2008 20:24 EST
nike dunk sb:
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A insomnia frog
A Joyful party
Bear in eggs
Big alligator
Birds and bear
Carving and desert
Chickens and ducks
Clever crow
Crystal ball's dream
Hungry fox
Mom's birthday
Only one goal
Piglets temper
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The camel is angry
The old dog
The poor and the rich
Broken dreams
The little princess
Dance bear
spring
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Three rats
A selfish giant
December 29, 2008 20:34 EST