The Doukhobors
The first Doukhobors developed their dissenting beliefs within the Russian Orthodox Church during the eighteenth century, rejecting both the concept of a mediatory priesthood and the church's formal hierarchy. Later they established an independent sect, but their pacifist and protocommunist views made them unpopular with the tsars, who subjected them to periodic persecution. In the late 1890s they fled Russia for Saskatchewan under the leadership of Peter Verigin , a keen advocate of communal labour and the collective ownership of property. Verigin maintained his authority until 1907, when the Canadian government insisted that all Doukhobor homesteads be registered as private property. The colonists were divided, with over one-third accepting the government's proposals despite the bitter opposition of the collectivists, who showed their contempt for worldly possessions by destroying their belongings; some even burnt their clothes and organized Canada's first nude demonstrations. Irretrievably divided, Verigin and his supporters left for British Columbia, but the rest stayed behind to create a prosperous, pacifist and Russian-speaking community, which remained separate and distinct until the 1940s.
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