The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1922-01-06
Community Seeks to
Correct Evils Seen
In Bolshevism

YASNAYA POLYANA, Russia. Nov
20-(Associated Press Mail)-Fifteen
young men, two young women and an
elderly matron have recently estab-
lished on the Tolstoi estate what they
term IAN improved Bolshevik com
munity." Described as an attempt to
rectify failure of Communism, the
members of the colony are the declar-
ed enemies o fthe destruction of pro-
perty, human or animal life and thus
are arrayed against the Soviet gov
eminent.
The members of the colony make a
religion of manual labor and declare
its chief tenet to be embodied in the
phrase Love thy neighbor as thy
self" They declare themselves, like
Count Tolstoi, "seerchers for the
truth in all things" hey arrived here
in early September with a permit
from Moscow to occupy a portion of
the estate now classed as a national
institution. A teacher whose brother
is director of the colony, organized
the movement. The Is members, all
of whom profess the practical ideal
ism of the Doukhoborsect with a min
gled belief in Buddhism were allotted
quarters in once handsome but now
tumbled down one-story building of
the estate built in 1880 for the serfs
of Prince Volkonski, father of Tol-
stoi's mother.
The new arrivals have made the
building habitable and have started
to prepare for the cultivation of the
100 acres included in their grant.
Food so far has been supplied free
by the Soviet government, the same
as to all visitors to the Tolstoi home,
The three women do the cooking.
The correspondent came first in
contact with a member of the colony
in a rather strange manner. After a
long journey, he had been enrolled
as a pilgrim at the Tolstoi home, ac-
cording to the rules of the institution.
He was given a bed in the ground
floor room, characterized by a big
brick arch a occupied by
Tolstoi for some Is years. Just as
he was dropping off to sleep, he was
reused by pleasing chords on the
grand piano located in the room. The
playing was done by a young man who
wore high boots, a belted jacket and
a sheepskin cap. Seeing the cores.
pondent, he stopped playing and apol
ogized, saying he didn't know the
room was occupied. Then he went on
to explain who he was and began to
ask information about the possibility
of walking to India, by way of Turk
estan. He wanted to study philosophy
there, he said.
The 100-acre farm includes a big
orchard planted by the famous Rus
sian author and one of the first acts
of the newcomers was to whitewash
all the trees. This operation was
preceded by an animated discussion
as to whether it should be done. The
young men carefully debated this
problem. If the trees are not white
washed, the orchard will be ruined
by insects but if the whitewash is
applied the insects will die of starva,
ton and it is wrong to destroy life.
AS the members of the colony are
ve~getarians and fruit is therefore the
prime article of food to them, neces-
sity prevailed over ideals and the
whitewashing was done.
A second problem was solved much
after the same reasoning. For many
years the manager of the Tolstoi es.
tate has been Prince Obolinski, who
occupied a building once used by the
author as a peasants school. The
newcomers, declaring hat the pre-
sence of an overseer might restrict
their liberty of action" have decreed
that the Prince must go and the Obo'
linski family soon must seek food
and shelter elsewhere.