Abstract

The Doukhobors in Canada

In January of this year two policemen entered one of the communities of the Doukhobors in British Columbia, one given over to the Sons of Freedom, the most daring and radical branch of that strange sect. They had come to arrest two men, the ringleaders in the movement to keep Doukhobor children from going to the provincial schools. The officers wore heavy coats to keep themselves warm. They were met by a welcoming committee of one hundred yelling, dancing, snowballing Doukhobors, men, women, and children-and all of them were as naked as the day they were born. Against them the officers had no chance. They retreated in a hurry. Doukhobors are a type of communist, for they believe in and practice community ownership of land, houses and goods.