JOURNEYS Mennonite Stories of Faith and Survival in Stalins Russia, John B. Toews, 1998

mu¬ nity. Many thoughtful Mennonites understood that such ideals easily became conventionalized, that a radical Christianity was readily molded by the prevailing social and cultural practices. 2 JOURNEYS The nineteenth century had generated unpleasant and lengthy quarrels within the community. Landless Mennonites, compris¬ ing over two-thirds of the population, only achieved settlement privileges after a lengthy struggle which resulted in direct govern¬ ment intervention. Similarly spiritual revival, generated by out¬ side revivalism as well as by pietistic seekers within, disrupted con¬ ventional patterns of cooperation between the civic and religious facets of the community. It was somewhat ironic that a pacifist Christian people, who had been granted unprecedented rights of autonomy and self-government, at times needed the intervention of the tsarist government to solve their economic and religious problems. In the early 1870s the government shocked its Mennonite subjects by demanding universal state service. Until now Mennonite security rested upon the so-called Privilegium , the terms of settlement granted by Catherine II, which allowed them to live in self-contained, self-regulating communities free from most ob¬ ligations to the state. The tsarist request for some form of service split the community. Almost one third, often at considerable fi¬ nancial loss, migrated to North America. Their pacifism allowed no compromise with the state. Those who remained agreed to participate in a civilian state service completely separate from the military. Faced with the threat of interaction with, and possible assimila¬ tion by their host society, the Russian Mennonites almost instinc¬ tively resorted to a unique defensive strategy. They utilized a broad array of institutions, especially their schools, to reinforce a sense of common belonging and mold a sense of inter-generational identity. Teacher training, nursing and business education all were available in a Mennonite context. Even state service itself remained under Mennonite control in the various forestry camps. The severe russification pressures of the late nineteenth century which, among other things, made Russian the compulsory medium of school in¬ struction failed to threaten Mennonite identity. The language was after all taught by Mennonite teachers capable of administrating the new culture in reasonable dosages. Until 1914 the young were walking steadily into a new culture and a new language while their sense of peoplehood, far from diminishing, became even stronger. Mennonites now knew more about the surrounding Russian soci¬ ety than ever before and were confidently moving towards what would certainly have become a bilingual culture. UNDERSTANDING THE MEMOIRS 3 The unexpected outbreak of W.W.I generated considerable patriotic fervor. Young Mennonites joined the Red Cross medical service in large numbers, often encouraged by