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Doukhobor Collection of Simon Fraser University
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A letter to those Doukhobors who have migrated to Canada
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Summary: Exhorts Doukhobors to remember Christian teachings, and not to take these teachings piecemeal. Do not live a worldly life, and do not acquire private possessions, for private property cannot be secured without violence or the threat of violence. Work as much as possible, live and work communally. ,Printed as booklet, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the migration of Doukhobors to Canada (1974). ,Translated by J.E. Podovinikoff
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The Courier of Spiritual Freedom, periodical newsletter of the spiritual illumination, 1960 January
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The issue contains "The open letter to the editors of "The Courier" on behalf of the members of the Union of Christian Community and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors", The open letter to the editors of "The Courier" on behalf of the members of the Union of Christian Communities and Brotherhood of Reformed Doukhobors (Freedomites) of Canada
Dear brothers:
We have read your article in “The Courier” “On buying the land by Doukhobors” and its continuance of November 14th and 18th and now we cannot keep silence and hold our impressions and gratitude. In addition, if you allow, we would like to add some explanatory conclusions.
You mention that you have received a lot of letters on the question of the landowning by Doukhobors, the letters from our group and also from other Doukhobors in B.C. You express your regret that you cannot publish all the letters in the journal because they are anonymous. We understand that this refers also to the letter “To buy or not to buy”.
You are right to think that the letter was written by Freedomites. We do not deny it and we admit that the letter originated from some of the members of our group, or from Doukhobors who sympathize with us. There is no difference. But you, and we, and all the Doukhobors must understand that the letter “To buy or not to buy” expresses the deepest truth, clearly states the principles of our faith and the ideals we fight for.
We don’t take offence at your reproach that the letter is not signed. You must understand us, for there is no one else who can understand us better. This should show to you and to all people who are willing to understand us that there are people in Canada who are afraid to say the truth in order to avoid the repressions by the government and these people are us.
You can afford to write the same and not be afraid. The difference here is that you are an organization, which is reckoned by others, as yet, the members of your organization are considered citizens and decent people. Your members are well educated and knowledgeable in Canadian law, you have your own official journal and there is a huge number of working people behind you.
In comparison, our people are badly educated or not educated at all, perished in sorrows and pained in tortures; powerless and intimidated, an object of the evil experiments by the local authorities inspired by capitalist companies…
You certainly know about massacres we have lived through, how we have been thrown out of our houses, how we have been deprived of our land; how we have been confined by hundreds without the right for defence; how we have been suffocating in choking gases; how our children have been taken away from their parents and festered till death or kept behind bars until parents had pined away. During our 60-years stay in Canada, we had to live through several such massacres. Can you point for us where else in the world people had to endure such hardships as we had in Canada? Can you point this kind of slavery and lawlessness somewhere else in the world, alike the ones we have to bear in Canada, when police would raid our villages like pirates raid ships and wrest children from parents so that there would be even mortal incidents?...
We had no right to defend ourselves and our children. We were (and still are) considered enemies because we fight for human rights, for peace and brotherhood, as did our ancestors, otherwise we ourselves would face death. Are there limits of how much a human being can endure!?
We declared and continue to declare that we live in Canada not even as “the 3rd class citizens” – as the authorities themselves expressed via their propagandist press (TDT) [“Trail Daily Times”], but even lower, at the degree of the enslaved people of ancient times. All this happens in modern times, when the entire world struggle for freedom and human rights, for socialism.
You surely know that we say the truth when we declare we are the most miserable people in Canada. But we cannot not broadcast this to Canadian public through propagandist capitalist press in Kootenay that is so glowering towards us. The discrimination towards us is not limited by aforementioned facts and by the glowering capitalist press. It is expressed mainly in the fact that Canadian justice intentionally twists its own principles in order to give an advantage to our enemies and not to us.
Is it known to you and to Canadian public that we have hired lawyers and have petitioned the court concerning our kidnaped and confined children, by the “Habeas corpus” right? Our lawyers pulled their weight and presented to the court all the best and necessary records and arguments. Being considered fair, Canadian court should have decided to our advantage based on those arguments. Several years judges have been turning and twisting, deciding and changing their decisions on “the Doukhobors question”, but, as you should know, there is still no definite conclusion. As our lawyers explained to us, this is presumably the most unusual behaviour for Canadian judges deciding and changing their decisions as they do with “the Doukhobors question”. We certainly see it different way: that Doukhobors in Canada have no right for satisfaction from the court or for defence by Canadian law. That is how we have understood it, and that is how we are going to understand it in future. You too cannot see it differently.
Unfortunately, our Spiritual Leader is not yet convinced in what we had a chance to get convinced in during our 60 years in Canada. He filed lawsuit against TDT for the libel towards him. He certainly doesn’t understand that he sued not the editor Williams or the publishers of TDT, but Wright and his company and probably the government of British Columbia. And we are anxious to see that our leader is also convinced in the fact we already know – that even with all his proof and facts he cannot win this lawsuit. We forecast this. He thinks that Simma Holt and Dennis Williams are mere libellers and one can sue them. He also thinks that the newspapers like TDT and “Vancouver Sun” with reporters – Simma and Dennis - are one thing, and the government of British Columbia and Canadian justice system – another. We wish our leader understood us, because we with our 60 years’ experience know better. But he will understand soon that all is the same, because we went through the same things he is going through now. And we believe that at the end we will be right, not our leader.
Here is another fact for you. One of our sisters went to Creston, B.C. to pick up some clothes from her friend. There she was beaten by (police agent) Lebedev because she refused to go with him to live in his community. He hit her in the head so that she had to spend three days in bed. She filed a complaint about Lebedev with the court in Creston, but she was told by the local magistrate that she couldn’t sue him, despite the fact that everything happened with eyewitnesses present and she had all the proof. They did not allow the case to be heard in court because Lebedev is a police agent; therefore, they demonstrated again that our people have no right for defence in court.
Now you have to understand that we here have no right to appeal to court and to press in order to say something in our defence and clear our name. TDT newspaper is purposely inflammatory; it enkindles Canadian public against us; it publishes incredible lies and slander; it blames all criminal activity in Kootenay on us without any proof and constraint; it dictates to the government and police the measure of punishment – how to deal with us and how to punish us. And they deal with us exactly this way.
Now judge for yourself – can we write something to this newspaper in our defence and justification? They don’t and won’t let us anywhere near there. Then what class of citizens are we in Canada, if we have no right to defend ourselves? And why are we supposed to think that it is Williams and the editor of that newspaper, but not Wright and his company and B.C. government who do these things to us? Now you must agree with us that the law itself allows such kind of criminal acts by press.
So, what are we supposed to do now? We beg you - at least you can understand now why the article “To buy or not to buy” was not signed. Probably, the authors knew that if they have signed the next day a policemen would be upon them. This also proves what kind of freedom Doukhobors have here in B.C. It seems to us that the authors of the letter were forced to do what they did.
The Brothers’ Council
of Christian Community and
Brotherhood of Reformed
Doukhobors
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[Letter] 1912 February 12, Verigin St. [Station]
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Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to ask you to find a letter from Petjushka. You should read it and follow all instructions provided in it. Bow to you, brothers and sisters and wish you all the best. Your brother, Mikhail Kazakov
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[Photograph of eleven young men, c. 1930s]
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Description from family: "Youth","Group of 11 young men beside building. Three of them have mouth organs. My Gandma told my mom that although the older Doukhobors did not have an interest in musical instruments of any kind, a lot of young people had mouth organs and even the odd accordion, and that once a week, they would all get together and play music and dance away."
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