A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

ia: In addition to the motives already cited here there are chiefly the ethical, moral and religious motives for consid- eration. There are persons with deeper and clearer vision from all classes and all places of our society, especially in the original colonies, who are unable to make any com- promise, or begin any rebuilding because they have rec- ognized that not only the economic, but also the social and moral foundations for such building are missing, 155 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH which alone can be the determining factor for us. For the system of communistic influence, which is at present be- ing carried out largely and with disregard for our princi- ples of freedom of religion, goes contrary to our ideals and can therefore not be accepted by us. Therefore it is impossible for us to stay here.5 Exact data as to how many of the twenty thousand immi- grants were Mennonite Brethren is not available- But consid- ering that in 1925 they represented 22.5 percent of all Men- nonites in Russia/ very likely some four thousand of the im- migrants were Mennonite Brethren, The rapid growth of the Mennonite Brethren Conference in Canada during this time-1,770 members in 1924 to 5,200 members in 1934 and 7,600 members in 1945-supports this estimate.5 The implica- tions of this numerical growth were significant, KANADIER AND RUSSLANDER The Mennonites who had come to North America fifty years earlier were a pioneer people who struggled to conquer the unsettled prairies of Western Canada and the plain states of Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Accord- ing to Cornelius Krahn, those who were culturally more pro- gressive-approximately two- thirds of the total number of Mennonites-decided, in the 1870s, to remain in Russia, The other third, who chose to migrate to Canada and the United States, were somewhat conservative and had fewer economic resources/ John H. Lohrenz referred to the 1870s migration as the separation of the rich from the poor: "The wealthier families as a rule preferred to remain in Russia and to adjust themselves to the changing conditions* Of those leaving . . . many had very little means and some had none. The majority had to begin m dire poverty."7 Before the 1870s, Russian Mennonites were a basically ho- mogeneous peasant society. After 1880 the isolation of these 156 MENNONTTE IMMIGRATION TO CANADA DURING THE 1920s peasant communities broke down, Mennonites became more and more integrated into the complex structure of modern western culture,8 They developed a sophisticated system of education. The secondary sc