The Life and Labor Commune was a

Tolstoyan The Tolstoyan movement () is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the ...

agricultural commune An agricultural commune is a Intentional community, commune based on Farmworker, agricultural labor. It is usually differentiated from other forms of collective agriculture by near-complete collective ownership of capital assets and collective co ...

founded in 1921 and disbanded as a state run

collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...

on 1 January 1939. The commune was founded near

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

but was later resettled in central

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, not far from

Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk (, , ; )Чиспияков Э. Ф. (1992) ''Учебник шорского языка''. Кемеровское книжное издательство. p. 27. is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in southwestern Siberia, Russia ...

. At its peak, it reportedly had as many as 1,000 participants. Throughout its existence the members of the commune were persecuted by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

, both for refusing to enlist or support their war efforts as well as for organizing themselves communally outside of the approved state structure.

History

Founding in Moscow (1921–1930)

As the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

drew to an end, and in the middle of the

Russian famine of 1921–1922 Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, the Life and Labor Commune was established. The Commune held 55 hectares of agricultural land in Shestakovka, roughly 10 kilometers outside of

. All its members were provided with free,

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

communal meal A communal meal is a meal eaten by a group of people. Also referred to as communal dining, the practice is centered on food and sharing time with the people who come together in order to share the meal and conversation. Communal dining can take p ...

s, as well as

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...

and

heating In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, atom ...

. Each member was also given a monthly allowance of 25

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

, which were usually spent on

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

and

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

Move to Siberia (1931–1936)

Life and Labor was one of several Tolstoyan agricultural communes that existed in the

Moscow region Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

during the 1920s. Following

Joseph Stalin's rise to power Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1941 until his death in 1953, governed the country as a dictator from the late 1920s until his dea ...

, in 1929, the New Jerusalem Commune was forcibly dissolved and its members were taken in by the Life and Labor Commune. The government then pressed for the Life and Labor Commune to be forcibly converted into a ''

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

'', despite the Commune's members wishes to maintain their voluntary collective labor. They countered with a proposal that all Tolstoyans in Russia be granted land, where they could collectively resettle. In March 1931, the Life and Labour Commune transferred to

, in

. Over a thousand Tolstoyans from various different groups joined the Commune in Siberia. The different conditions in Siberia forced them to experiment with new kinds of agriculture, establishing greenhouses and using different grains. Their efforts were successful and they began supplying food for the local market, which gave them the resources to buy an oil press, build a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

and set up an

apiary An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where Beehive (beekeeping), beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to ...

. They also established contact with Tolstoyan communities abroad, including in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Suppression

From the start of their time in Siberia, the Commune faced a conflict with local Soviet authorities, which set high grain quotas and requisitioned food without authorization, conscripted the commune's pacifist members, carried out arbitrary arrests of Tolstoyans and tried its schoolteachers for teaching about religion. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, 65 of the Commune's leading members were arrested and tried, with many of them being sentenced to

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

, where a number of them died or were killed. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 40 more of the Commune's members were conscripted to fight on the Eastern Front, while others were sentenced as

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

s. With its membership facing a rapid decline, the Commune was finally converted into a ''kolkhoz''.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

wrote about the persecution of the commune:

Memoirs of participants

Several of the participants in the commune wrote memoirs of their experiences.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *{{cite book, last1=Siegelbaum, first1=Lewis H., last2=Page Moch, first2=Leslie, year=2014, title=Broad Is My Native Land: Repertoires and Regimes of Migration in Russia's Twentieth Century, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mKSDBQAAQBAJ, publisher=

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

, isbn=9780801455131, page=40 Anarchism in Russia Anarchism in the Soviet Union Anarchist intentional communities Christian anarchism Christian pacifism Political repression in the Soviet Union Populated places disestablished in 1939 Populated places established in 1921 Tolstoyan movement Vegetarian communities