Anarchistic communities and pacifist way of life: Tolstoyism in Bulgaria in the early and mid-20th century

Most critics of the philosophies of pacifism and nonviolence tend to reduce and dismiss the doctrines as apolitical, nihilistic and complicit in the reproduction of the status quo. This paper aims to address and challenge these critical treatments by drawing on the pacifist philosophy of Leo Tolstoy. The paper outlines Tolstoy’s critique of the church and the state and argues that his pacifism authorises and calls for the establishment of anarchistic forms of self-ruling communities. In contrast to his critics, I argue that Tolstoy’s pacifism enables an alternative understanding of politics and the political, which goes beyond the Western realist view on the necessity of the state. Against the traditional view of the state as an institution of legitimate coercion, Tolstoy’s political philosophy proposes an anarchistic mode of social and political organisation which is sustained by a commitment to nonviolence and communal cooperation between free self-ruling individuals. The second part of this paper traces and exemplifies the enactment of Tolstoy’s pacifist philosophy in the Tolstoyan movements in Bulgaria during the early and mid-20th century. Due to the close religious and historical ties between Bulgaria and Russia at that time, Tolstoy’s ideas were highly influential amongst the Bulgarian intellectual elite. At the beginning of the 20th century several academic journals and magazines which build upon Tolstoy’s doctrine of pacifism were established. The attempts to integrate and popularise his philosophy culminated during 1906 when the first Tolstoyan commune was established in the village of Yasnaya Polyana. The commune functioned successfully until 1908 when it disintegrated due to the transition of Bulgaria to a monarchy. Although the first attempt to enact Tolstoy’s philosophy failed, intellectuals continued to publish monthly magazines and journals propagating for a pacifist and vegetarian way of life. In 1926, followers of Tolstoy’s teachings established the second and longest lasting commune in the village of Proslav which at its peak celebrated over 500 members. Although the commune was able to operate during the early years of a socialist government it eventually crumbled in 1958 when the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party forbade the practicing of Tolstoyism. Drawing on primary sources from journals, magazines and correspondents’ letters published by members in those communes, the paper attempts to provide a historical overview of the operation of both communities. A particular emphasis is placed on how Tolstoy’s pacifist principles underpinned the functioning and social organisation of the communes and the reasons for their disintegration.