History 215: An In-depth Book Review of The Doukhobors, Winter 2019

This book review provides a detailed analysis of "The Doukhobors" by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, focusing on the authors' purpose, content, and justification of the central theme. The review highlights the authors' backgrounds and the book's portrayal of Doukhobor culture, religious beliefs, and their migration to Canada. It identifies the historical sources consulted by the authors and discusses incidents and evidences presented in the book. The review also addresses the problems faced by Doukhobors during their integration into Canadian society and critiques the book's drawbacks, such as digressions, lack of recommendations for normalizing the turbulent situation, and its cost. The review concludes that while the book sheds light on Doukhobor traditions and the contrasting views between orthodox Christians and Doukhobors, it falls short in providing solutions and promoting national integration. Desklib offers a variety of similar solved assignments for students.

Running Head: BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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BOOK REVIEW
This study aims to conduct a detailed analysis of the book “The Doukhobors”, written by
George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic. The critical analysis will be done on the basis of,
the content of the book, the purpose of the authors and their justification with the central
theme of the book. At the end, the study finds out the areas which are less focused all through
the book. Being a professor of English in the University of British Columbia, George
Woodcock was also inclined to writing poems, biography. He was also the editor of a journal
named “Canadian literature”. Ivan Avakumovic, the other author of the book used to teach
political science in the same university. The political science books he wrote were based on
the history of Communist party. These are the evidences of his deep observation power,
reflective thinking and writing skills.
The title, “The Doukhobor," is indicative of the concept of "Spirit Wrestlers". Archbishop
Serebrennikov first coined the tem Doukhobors in 1785. That time, a group of dissenters,
who strictly followed the Orthodox concepts of Christianity were called Doukhobors. In the
19 th century a group of people emerged from Russia. They were reluctant to hold the
conventional beliefs of Christianity. They migrated to Canada in the middle of the 19th
century. The book The Doukhobors. 1977 portrayed the culture, religious beliefs, lifestyle of
Doukhobors along with the turbulence caused when they migrated to Canada.
This book claimed that Doukhobors used to believe the concept of uniting with the
almighty fighting against superstitions, not against the God. They used to deny the concept of
mediatory priesthood as described in the translation of the 17 th century Bible. The book also
pointed out that the conventional concept of Baptism, the doctrine of redemption that the
Churches tend to hold, were futile in the eyes of the Doukhobors. According to Doukhobors,
the basic symbols of existence should be considered as the signs of their religious beliefs.

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Those were-the loaf of bread, cellar of salt and the jug of water. It is evident from the book
that the authors used to follow the ideas of Anabaptist dissenters and attempted to establish
same ideas and beliefs in their creation.
The portrayal of the context of the book proves that the authors have consulted a lot of
historical sources at the time of writing the book. The Doukhobors of British Columbia
(1955) was one of such significant sources. It was written by Harry B. Hawthorn, a well-
known name in the field of sociology, who got the assistance from the provincial government
at the time of writing the book and included statistical data regarding the number of
Doukhobor immigrants in Canada, what percentage of them actually got the assistance of the
government. Vasya Pozdnyakov's Dukhobor which was basically Peter Brock’s translation
and a narrative published in the Slavonic and East European Review (June 1965) also added
to the central theme. Another famous article named “Life of Tolstoy” which focused on the
life of that religious group prior to their migration to Canada also contributed to the contents
of the book.
Author Joseph Elkinton, got the permission to access the records held by Russian government
and supported all the evidences written in his book The Doukhobors (1903), by statistical
data.
Citations revealed that the book “The Doukhobors” have also used this valuable source. In
order to describe the distressful situation and the challenges that Doukhobors had to undergo,
the authors had taken reference from the book Terror in the Name of God (1964), written by
Simma Holt. All these have enriched the book with information.

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In order to make the book more realistic as well as engrossing the authors have
mentioned several incidents with appropriate evidences. In spite of Doukhobor’s rejection to
the ideas elaborated in Bible, they used to follow a process of ethnical teaching, which bore
the signs of similarity with the teaching procedures of the orthodox Christians. Authors
George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, supplied instances in the book in support of such
points and mentioned that the similarity in the teaching methods made Tolstoy assume that he
had discovered a group of peasants who used to follow the same beliefs as he did. According
to his assumption, those uneducated people were pacifist and capable of seeing Christianity
through the prism of logic. This book has cited another point, which throws light on the
thinking of the Doukhobors. Doukhobors used to believe that Christ was actually the
exposition of deity. Also, they used to assume that there were multiple Christs among them.
This idea of Doukhobor was evidenced by authors in various chapters of the book, where
they mentioned that Doukhobor used to consider their leaders as Christs. The book also
talked about the problems faced by Doukhobors when they migrated to Canada. This book
bore the evidences how the method of forced integration adopted by the government of
Canada casted a negative impact upon the assimilation of Doukhobors in the social
environment of Canada. Canadian government provided large lands to Doukhobors at the
lowest prices, whereas, the Hutterites got inadequate lands this added fuel into the conflict
between Doukhobors and the people of Canada.
The drawbacks of the book are-digression from the central theme, unnecessary
elaboration of the historical background. Again the book attempts to draw a picture of

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contrast only, by depicting the difference in the views of conventional Christians and
Doukhbors, but
There is lack of rigidity in the reasoning or logic provided to support Doukhobors. The initial
chapters may form a false assumption in the minds of the readers regarding the authors
support towards the realistic concepts of Doukhobor, but the later chapters may confuse the
readers.
One of the major loopholes may be the lack of recommendations to normalise the turbulent
situation and accelerate the assimilation of Doukhobors in the society of Canada. The book is
expensive too. Readers may find the monetary value of the book higher than the value of the
content.
Finally, it may be concluded that, the loopholes in the theme as well as in the structure
are indicative of the partial success of the authors to propagate their message. The first few
chapters threw lights on the occupation, tradition and beliefs of Doukhobors. Next, the book
attempted to explain the two distinct approaches to look at Christianity- one is followed by
orthodox Christians and another by Doukhobors. After that, this book talked about the
historical as well as socio-economical background at the time of Doukhobor’s migration to
Canada with reference to the myths and controversies regarding the immigrants in Canada.
Finally, the book pointed out policies of the government, which were not proved prudent in
bringing national integration in Canada. Along with historical evidences, this book should
provide suggestions to solve issues like unacceptance of Doukhobors. The additional factors
which extended the gaps between Doukhobors and the citizen of Canada should be
mentioned in the book. The book should discuss about effective policies which would not
only accelerate the assimilation of Doukhobors in Canada, but also do justice to the people of

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Canada. Along with this, the authors should attempt to educate Canadian people about the
benefits of a culturally diverse society and national integrity in order to bring unity between
Doukhobors and the people of Canada.

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References:
Adams, Matthew S., and Luke Kelly. "George Woodcock and the Doukhobors: peasant
radicalism, anarchism, and the Canadian state." Intellectual History Review 28, no. 3 (2018):
399-423.
Bociurkiw, Bohdan R. "The Doukhobors. By George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic.
Toronto and New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. 382 pp. $7.50." Slavic Review28, no.
3: 517-518.
Verzuh, Ron. "OREGON'S DOUKHOBORS: The Hidden History of a Russian Religious
Sect's Attempts to Found Colonies in the Beaver State." BC Studies 180 (2013): 43.
Alston, Charlotte. "«A Great Host of Sympathisers»: The Doukhobor Emigration and its
International Supporters, 1895–1905." Journal of Modern European History 12, no. 2 (2014):
200-215.
Makarova, Veronika. "Doukhobor ‘freedom seeker’nudism: Exploring the sociocultural
roots." Culture and Religion 14, no. 2 (2013): 131-145.
Inikova, Svetlana A. "The New Doctrines of the Doukhobor Fasters and Tolstoyism."
In Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe, pp. 47-65. Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham, 2017.
Carmichael, Adam. "Race and Assimilation: Doukhobor Education as Colonial History."
In CPSA conference, Victoria. 2013.
Kelly, Luke. "Christianity and Humanitarianism in the Doukhobor Campaign, 1895–
1902." Cultural and Social History 13, no. 3 (2016): 339-355.

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Androsoff, Ashleigh. "Pacifist “Terrorists” in the “Peaceable Kingdom”: Cultural Conflict in
Twentieth-Century Canada." Journal for the Study of Radicalism 7, no. 1 (2013): 1-35.
Rodgers, Kathleen, and Darcy Ingram. "Ideological migration and war resistance in British
Columbia’s West Kootenays: An analysis of counterculture politics and community networks
among Doukhobor, Quaker, and American migrants during the Vietnam War era." American
Review of Canadian Studies 44, no. 1 (2014): 96-117.