Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood
Encyclopedia
Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) was the main spiritual and economic organization of Canadian Doukhobor
s from the early 20th century until its bankruptcy in 1938. In its corporate form, it was an instrument that allowed its followers, known as Community Doukhobors, to have a form of collective ownership of the lands that they lived and worked on, as well as of agricultural and industrial facilities.
in 1899. It appears, for example, in Leo Tolstoy
's article The Emigration of the Doukhobors (April 1898).
Once in Canada, the Doukhobor immigrants started to use the name of The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood to identify themselves as a group even before the group leader Peter Verigin
joined them in the late 1902.
Throughout the years, the name appeared to be attached to the overall social and economic organization of the Community Doukhobors (i.e., those who owned land and other means of production
as a community). It became the official name of the organization when it was officially incorporated in 1917, and remained in use until its bankruptcy in 1937 and the following liquidation.
from Russian
Transcaucasian provinces in 1899, the main issue facing this largely peasant community was, what form of settlement, land ownership, and overall economic organization to choose. At one end of the range of possibilities, the settlers could become individual homesteaders, each family living on and farming its allotment of 160 acre (0.6474976 km²), as envisioned in Dominion Lands Act
and encouraged by the Canadian authorities. At the other end of the range, people could live in multi-family village
s, collectively owning
their amalgamated land grants and other resources, and just as collectively working on them and owning the fruits of their work, as was later practiced e.g. in kibbutz
im. There were, of course, also many intermediate options - as, e.g. in a typical 19th century Russian peasant community
, where land was owned collectively, but partitioned (and regularly repartitioned) among families for individual farming.
While the option of individual ownership appealed to wealthier Doukhobors, and was very much encouraged by the authorities, the majority of the Doukhobor settlers, including their elders, expected to live in villages (according to the Russian tradition, which even later Stolypin reform
could not successfully destroy) and to own the land collectively, in accordance with the Doukhobor religious belief. On the practical level, whatever their private beliefs, most of the poorer members of the community simply could not afford to strike out on their own, and would follow the communal
-minded leaders.
Thus in practice most of the early Doukhobor economic activity took place in a communal way, the earnings of the members pooled together, and the expenses paid out of the community budget. In the annual reports of Doukhobor annual meetings
discussing these income and expenses that we encounter the name of The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood as the overall organization to which these income and expenses pertain. In the early years (1904, 1906 (Doukhobor Genealogy Website)), these meetings took place in the now-defunct village of Nadezhda, some 10 km of Veregin, Saskatchewan
. In May 1906, the New York Times reported of "the first general meeting of the Doukhobor Trading Company", in the same village of Nadezhda. In accordance with the Doukhobor philosophy, the meeting took care not only of the community financial affairs, but also of animal welfare
.
The forms of land ownership remained a thorny issue. Against the background of the government reminding the Doukhobors that they have to register individual ownership of land as per Dominion Lands Act
, and the majority of the Doukhobors refusing to do so, their charismatic leader, Peter Vasilevich Verigin
, who fortuitously arrived from Siberian exile in the late 1902, proposed a seemingly satisfactory solution in early 1903: asking his followers to register individual ownership, while still in fact owning the resources and working in the land in common.
However, this compromise was not to be long lasting. On the one hand, some zealots in the Doukhobor community felt that even registration "as a formality only" is against their principles. On the other hand, as Anglos' demand for Saskatchewan land increased, Frank Oliver replaced Clifford Sifton
as the Minister of the Interior
, the authorities attitude toward Doukhobors become increasingly uncompromising. Soon after assuming office (1905), Frank Oliver demanded that, in order to keep their land, the Doukhobors naturalize as British subjects, swearing the Oath of Allegiance
to the Crown. As one of their religious conviction was that one does not swear allegiance to anyone but God
, this would be an unsurmountable obstacle for many. Toward 1906, the authorities would also start to enforce the Dominion Lands Act
rule that the homesteaders actually lived on their individual lots or (as per the "Hamlet Clause") at a village (hamlet) no more than 3 miles (4.8 km) away from their land.
"Community Doukhobors" lost much of their land by 1907. Verigin solution to this catastrophe was to privately buy land in British Columbia
in his own name, and resettle his followers there, in communal villages of their liking. This would obviate both Dominion Land Act issues (the "village vs. individual homestead" issue and the Oath of Allegiance issue), just like Hutterites' private purchase of land had done for Hutterites.
Verigin's migration plan was accomplished during several years starting in 1908. A British Colimbia Royal Commission
report from 1912, describes the social and economic organization of some 5000 Doukhobors that had arrived to the province at the time in the following way:
The same report quotes correspondence from the "Doukhobor Community located around Nelson and Grand Forks" dated July 1912, in which the community is referred to as "The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood Doukhobors in Canada".
In 1917, the Doukhobor communities were incorporated as Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, and the ownership of lands purchased by Verigin was transferred to this organization.
For the next decade, the organization continued to be a commercial success, owning and productively operating agricultural, forestry, and industrial enterprises.
Attempts of Verigin's widow, Anastasia F. Golubova (1885–1965) ; often spelled in English as Holuboff), who had been Verigin's common-law wife for some 20 years, to lead the community, were supported by only a few hundreds Doukhobors, who in 1926 split from CCUB, forming a breakaway organization called "The Lordly Christian Community of Christian Brotherhood" . They left British Columbia for Alberta
, where the set up their own village, called Anastasyino (Анастасьино) between Arrowwood and Shouldice, which existed until 1943.
These days, only a cemetery reminds of the existence of this community.
In the meantime, Peter P. Verigin arrived from the USSR and assumed the leadership of CCUB in 1928.
Doukhobor
The Doukhobors or Dukhobors , earlierDukhobortsy are a group of Russian origin.The Doukhobors were one of the sects - later defined as a religious philosophy, ethnic group, social movement, or simply a "way of life" - known generically as Spiritual Christianity. The origin of the Doukhobors is...
s from the early 20th century until its bankruptcy in 1938. In its corporate form, it was an instrument that allowed its followers, known as Community Doukhobors, to have a form of collective ownership of the lands that they lived and worked on, as well as of agricultural and industrial facilities.
History of the name
The name of the Christians of the Universal Brotherhood was used by the Doukhobors to describe themselves even before they left Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in 1899. It appears, for example, in Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's article The Emigration of the Doukhobors (April 1898).
Once in Canada, the Doukhobor immigrants started to use the name of The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood to identify themselves as a group even before the group leader Peter Verigin
Peter Vasilevich Verigin
Peter Vasilevich Verigin often known as Peter "Lordly" Verigin was a Russian philosopher, activist and preacher of the Doukhobors.- In Transcaucasia:...
joined them in the late 1902.
Throughout the years, the name appeared to be attached to the overall social and economic organization of the Community Doukhobors (i.e., those who owned land and other means of production
Means of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
as a community). It became the official name of the organization when it was officially incorporated in 1917, and remained in use until its bankruptcy in 1937 and the following liquidation.
First attempts at communal economy in Saskatchewan (1898-1907)
When several thousand Doukhobors refugees arrived to SaskatchewanSaskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
from Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
Transcaucasian provinces in 1899, the main issue facing this largely peasant community was, what form of settlement, land ownership, and overall economic organization to choose. At one end of the range of possibilities, the settlers could become individual homesteaders, each family living on and farming its allotment of 160 acre (0.6474976 km²), as envisioned in Dominion Lands Act
Dominion Lands Act
The Dominion Lands Act was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of Canada's Prairie provinces. It was closely based on the United States Homestead Act, setting conditions in which the western lands could be settled and their natural resources developed...
and encouraged by the Canadian authorities. At the other end of the range, people could live in multi-family village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s, collectively owning
Collective farming
Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...
their amalgamated land grants and other resources, and just as collectively working on them and owning the fruits of their work, as was later practiced e.g. in kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
im. There were, of course, also many intermediate options - as, e.g. in a typical 19th century Russian peasant community
Obshchina
Obshchina or Mir ) or Selskoye obshestvo were peasant communities, as opposed to individual farmsteads, or khutors, in Imperial Russia. The term derives from the word о́бщий, obshchiy ....
, where land was owned collectively, but partitioned (and regularly repartitioned) among families for individual farming.
While the option of individual ownership appealed to wealthier Doukhobors, and was very much encouraged by the authorities, the majority of the Doukhobor settlers, including their elders, expected to live in villages (according to the Russian tradition, which even later Stolypin reform
Stolypin reform
The Stolypin agrarian reforms were a series of changes to Imperial Russia's agricultural sector instituted during the tenure of Pyotr Stolypin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers...
could not successfully destroy) and to own the land collectively, in accordance with the Doukhobor religious belief. On the practical level, whatever their private beliefs, most of the poorer members of the community simply could not afford to strike out on their own, and would follow the communal
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
-minded leaders.
Thus in practice most of the early Doukhobor economic activity took place in a communal way, the earnings of the members pooled together, and the expenses paid out of the community budget. In the annual reports of Doukhobor annual meetings
discussing these income and expenses that we encounter the name of The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood as the overall organization to which these income and expenses pertain. In the early years (1904, 1906 (Doukhobor Genealogy Website)), these meetings took place in the now-defunct village of Nadezhda, some 10 km of Veregin, Saskatchewan
Veregin, Saskatchewan
Veregin is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is located 50 kilometres northeast of Yorkton, and some 10 km to the west of the nearest town, Kamsack.The Veregin railway station is served by Via Rail.- History :...
. In May 1906, the New York Times reported of "the first general meeting of the Doukhobor Trading Company", in the same village of Nadezhda. In accordance with the Doukhobor philosophy, the meeting took care not only of the community financial affairs, but also of animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
.
The forms of land ownership remained a thorny issue. Against the background of the government reminding the Doukhobors that they have to register individual ownership of land as per Dominion Lands Act
Dominion Lands Act
The Dominion Lands Act was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of Canada's Prairie provinces. It was closely based on the United States Homestead Act, setting conditions in which the western lands could be settled and their natural resources developed...
, and the majority of the Doukhobors refusing to do so, their charismatic leader, Peter Vasilevich Verigin
Peter Vasilevich Verigin
Peter Vasilevich Verigin often known as Peter "Lordly" Verigin was a Russian philosopher, activist and preacher of the Doukhobors.- In Transcaucasia:...
, who fortuitously arrived from Siberian exile in the late 1902, proposed a seemingly satisfactory solution in early 1903: asking his followers to register individual ownership, while still in fact owning the resources and working in the land in common.
However, this compromise was not to be long lasting. On the one hand, some zealots in the Doukhobor community felt that even registration "as a formality only" is against their principles. On the other hand, as Anglos' demand for Saskatchewan land increased, Frank Oliver replaced Clifford Sifton
Clifford Sifton
Sir Clifford Sifton, PC, KCMG was a Canadian politician best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier...
as the Minister of the Interior
Minister of the Interior (Canada)
The Minister of the Interior was a cabinet post responsible for federal land management, Indian affairs and natural resources extraction...
, the authorities attitude toward Doukhobors become increasingly uncompromising. Soon after assuming office (1905), Frank Oliver demanded that, in order to keep their land, the Doukhobors naturalize as British subjects, swearing the Oath of Allegiance
Oath of Allegiance (Canada)
The Canadian Oath of Allegiance is a promise or declaration of fealty to the Canadian monarch, taken, along with other specific oaths of office, by new occupants of various government positions, including federal and provincial viceroys, appointees to the Queen's Privy Council, Supreme Court...
to the Crown. As one of their religious conviction was that one does not swear allegiance to anyone but God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, this would be an unsurmountable obstacle for many. Toward 1906, the authorities would also start to enforce the Dominion Lands Act
Dominion Lands Act
The Dominion Lands Act was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of Canada's Prairie provinces. It was closely based on the United States Homestead Act, setting conditions in which the western lands could be settled and their natural resources developed...
rule that the homesteaders actually lived on their individual lots or (as per the "Hamlet Clause") at a village (hamlet) no more than 3 miles (4.8 km) away from their land.
Migration to British Columbia and Peter V. Verigin's incorporation of CCUB (1908-1924)
The result of the conflict between the communitarian ideals of Verigin's Doukhobors and the policies of the Canadian authorities was that, while the "Independent" Doukhobors (those who had chosen to abide by the individual ownership rules and to naturalize) prospered, the"Community Doukhobors" lost much of their land by 1907. Verigin solution to this catastrophe was to privately buy land in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in his own name, and resettle his followers there, in communal villages of their liking. This would obviate both Dominion Land Act issues (the "village vs. individual homestead" issue and the Oath of Allegiance issue), just like Hutterites' private purchase of land had done for Hutterites.
Verigin's migration plan was accomplished during several years starting in 1908. A British Colimbia Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
report from 1912, describes the social and economic organization of some 5000 Doukhobors that had arrived to the province at the time in the following way:
The same report quotes correspondence from the "Doukhobor Community located around Nelson and Grand Forks" dated July 1912, in which the community is referred to as "The Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood Doukhobors in Canada".
In 1917, the Doukhobor communities were incorporated as Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood, and the ownership of lands purchased by Verigin was transferred to this organization.
For the next decade, the organization continued to be a commercial success, owning and productively operating agricultural, forestry, and industrial enterprises.
After the death of Verigin
The death of Peter V. Verigin in October 1924 brought about a leadership crisis.Attempts of Verigin's widow, Anastasia F. Golubova (1885–1965) ; often spelled in English as Holuboff), who had been Verigin's common-law wife for some 20 years, to lead the community, were supported by only a few hundreds Doukhobors, who in 1926 split from CCUB, forming a breakaway organization called "The Lordly Christian Community of Christian Brotherhood" . They left British Columbia for Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, where the set up their own village, called Anastasyino (Анастасьино) between Arrowwood and Shouldice, which existed until 1943.
These days, only a cemetery reminds of the existence of this community.
In the meantime, Peter P. Verigin arrived from the USSR and assumed the leadership of CCUB in 1928.