num_pages: 63
description: The document published here for the first time in English presents a unique account by a young peasant conscript in the Imperial Russian army of what life was like for soldiers who fell foul of the tsarist military establishment and were then sentenced to serve in a penal battalion. The author of the memoir was himself a Tolstoyan, who followed the pacifist teaching of the great Russian novelist. As a result of his refusal to bear arms he spent two years in a penal battalion. N. T. Iziumchenko's narrative points to an alternative tradition of non-violent protest against injustice and commitment to universal values. It shows that in Russia such sentiments were by no means confined to the westernized intelligentsia but had authentic popular roots.
language: English
title: Life in a Penal Battalion of the Imperial Russian Army: The Tolstoyan N. T. Iziumchenko's Story
titlecomplete: Life in a Penal Battalion of the Imperial Russian Army: The Tolstoyan N. T. Iziumchenko's Story
publisher: William Sessions Ltd