Book Review: An Analysis of 'The Doukhobors' by Woodcock & Avakumovic

This book review analyzes "The Doukhobors" by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, focusing on its content, merit, and style. The book explores the history, beliefs, and challenges faced by the Doukhobors, a religious group originally from Russia who later migrated to Canada. It contrasts their spiritual and religious views with orthodox Christianity, examining their rejection of conventional concepts like Baptism and the doctrine of redemption. The review highlights the book's use of historical sources, including sociological works and articles, to provide an educative and informative account. It also discusses the difficulties the Doukhobors faced in assimilating into Canadian society due to forced integration and inadequate land distribution, and critiques the book for diverging from its core topic and lacking recommendations for fostering unity between the Doukhobors and Canadian citizens. While the book successfully communicates information about the Doukhobors, it could benefit from a greater focus on the feasibility of their ideas and the factors affecting their social acceptance in Canada.

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

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BOOK REVIEW
The purpose of this study is to analyze the book “The Doukhobors”, by George
Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic on the basis of content, merit as well as style. George
Woodcock was a professor of University of British Columbia (English department). He was a
proficient poet writer, biographer and also the editor of the academic journal, Canadian
literature. On the other hand, Ivan Avakumovic who was a professor of political science in
the University of British Columbia had written a book on the history and inception of the
Communist party, in the country of Yugoslavia. The name of the book, “The Doukhobor,"
bears a significant meaning. It refers to the "Spirit Wrestlers". The term Doukhobors was
coined by Archbishop Serebrennikov in the year 1785. Initially the term was used to refer
people who were dissenters from the Churches that used to follow orthodox policies, were
making efforts to fight against the Holy ghosts. The Doukhobors. 1977 adopted used the term
as the name of the book, but changed its connotation subtly and claimed that they believed to
fight with, not against the spirit of the Almighty. The book denied the concept of mediatory
priesthood elaborated in the translation of the Bible in 17th century. In a nutshell, it can be
stated that the authors resembled Anabaptist dissenters who were the followers of Western
Christianity and tried to establish the same belief all through the book.
The name of the book suggests that the book is all about Doukhobors. Doukhobors were
the spiritual as well as religious group who were against the orthodox beliefs regarding
Christianity. They were originally from Russia but migrated to Canada later.The books threw
light on the same concept. It pointed out that Christian churches tend to cling the
conventional concepts like Baptism and the doctrine of redemption and, also elaborated the
reasons why such beliefs should be rejected. In this book, the author stated that, they
considered the basic sign of existence as the emblem of their beliefs, which were-the loaf of

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bread, cellar of salt and the jug of water. They also depicted the tradition, culture, dance and
songs of Doukhobors.
Authors have made the book educative, reflective and informative by consulting a
wide range of appropriate historical sources. One of such sources., which is considered one of
the most significant sociological work by Harry B. Hawthorn, is The Doukhobors of British
Columbia (1955). This work was a result of the effort of the provincial government. There
are some other articles from which the authors of “The Doukhobors” extracted the essence of
the central theme, these were- Vasya Pozdnyakov's Dukhobor, a translation by Peter Brock, a
narrative in the Slavonic and East European Review (June 1965); Life of Tolstoy, an article
based on Dukhobors before their immigration of to Canada. The book The Doukhobors
(1903) written by Joseph Elkinton was another valuable source, as the author Elkinton were
allowed to access the records of Imperial Russian government. There were many books,
which were the reflection of the unacceptance that Doukhobors received from the journalists.
One such book was, Terror in the Name of God (1964), by Simma Holt. George Woodcock
and Ivan Avakumovic used such sources to add spices in the argumentative discussion cited
in the book. Aylmer Maude's Life of Tolstoy (1953 ed.) was one of the most objective
treatments prior to the immigration of the group to Canada in 1899.
The book contained evidences, which supports the points mentioned about the
philosophies of Doukhobors. According to the authors, Doukhobors have already rejected the
way Bible looks at Christianity, still they tended to follow a method of ethnical teachings
which is almost similar to the teaching methods of the early Christians. In order to support
this point with sufficient proofs, authors mentioned that such similarity between the the
Doukhobors and the orthodox Christians made Tolstoy falsely assume that, he had found out,

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a group of people, who were basically peasants and ignorant to learning, had invented a
logical thought process which was similar to his own. He assumed that they were pacifist.
This book attempted to throw lights on the thought process of Doukhobors. Doukhobors used
to consider Christ as the exposition of deity. They believed in the existence of multiple
Christs in the earth. They also assumed the Doukhobor leaders as one of the Christs on the
earth. Apart from the religious beliefs of the Doukhobors, the book also gave evidences
which caused a problem of assimilation of Doukhobors in the Canadian society after they
migrated to Canada. Canadian government adopted the way of forced integration and sold
large plots of lands to them at cheaper rates. Again, Hutterites as well as other citizens were
provided inadequate lands per colony. This in turn enhanced the gap between the Doukhobors
and the citizens of Canada.
However, the book had been diverged from the core topic many times. Many times
the historical background was unnecessarily exaggerated. The book drew a contrast between
the orthodox beliefs of Christianity and the thoughts and policies of Doukhobors. After
reading the initial chapters, one might assume that the book supported the ideas of
Doukhobor but it could not establish any strong logic in favour of the beliefs of Doukhobors.
Also the book did not provide any recommendation required to bring unity between
Doukhobors and the citizens of Canada. Finally, if the price of this book is compared with
that of other books of the same genre and time, it will be found that the price of the book is
higher than it should be. The readers may feel that the actual value of the book is less than the
tagged value due to the lack of required information.

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In the conclusion, it can be stated that, the book have been succeeded partially to
communicate its message about Doukhobor. The way it structured it contents is
commendable. Initially the book focused on the inception of Doukhobor, their occupation and
lifestyle. After that, it elaborated the differences in the opinions of Doukhobor and the
followers of the orthodox beliefs of Christianity. Next it focused the historical settings and
the socio-economic scenario of Canada at the time when Doukhobor migrated there. Finally it
focussed on government policies which were in favour of Doukhobor. It also mentioned how
faulty policies of the government created situations hostile to national integrity. It is true that
the book provided historical evidences for each incidences, but it should be more concerned
about the feasibility of the ideas of the Doukhobors. It should focus more on the issues of
unacceptance of Doukhobors in Canadian society than the historical background. Apart from
the wrong policies of the government, and the difference in religious beliefs there were other
factors which also affecting the assimilation of the Doukhobors in the society of Canada; but
these factors were not elaborated in this book. The book should also suggest policies that
might pave the way for the Doukhobors to gain social acceptance without harming the
interests of the Canadian citizens. The author should also educate the citizen of Canada about
the importance of a culturally diverse society as well as national integrity in order to change
the discriminatory attitude of the people of Canada towards Doukhobor.

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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
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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
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