Colonel V. A. Pashkov and the Late Nineteenth-Century Protestant Movement in Russia, Jan M. Surer, 1999

he way some revolutionary noblemen and Tolstoy did (see Chapter 4). Yet their new religious orientation did imply a rejection of some of the more frivolous pastimes associated with their class. Regarding the expected arrival of his son in Cannes, Pashkov wrote, "I very much hope that [he] will not be carried away by the desire to frequent the balls and shows." Instead, Pashkov wished for him a "taste for a life of work, duty, and usefulness, in which he learns to live not for himself, until he comes to the desire to devote himself to serve the Lord directly." 69 The populists believed in the fundamental equality of all 67 Russkii rabochii , nos. 3, 5, 8, 1877. The articles cited are: "Lev," p. 6; "Maclyanoe peryshko ili 'ne siloi, a dobrom'," pp. 10-11; "Bud' molodtsom," pp. 6-7; "Voina c turkami," p. 24. In a letter in 1884 to the "Brothers in Petersburg," Pashkov urged them to send what money they could spare in proportion to their means to an evangelist in the Crimea. See PP 2/l/b/9. That same year he wrote to Vera Gagarina his wish that the offering towards missionary work among Russian Jews, "the people of God", would come from all the brothers in Petersburg, the poor as well as the rich. See PP 2/l/b/6. 69 Letter to Olga A. Moussine-Poushkine, Pashkov's sister, 10/22 February, 1886, PP 2/1/C/64. 44 people and wished to realize this in the social and economic structure of the nation. They looked to the people, for a social model exemplifying their own moral ideals and tried to increase the people's awareness of the oppression of the landlords and others in high positions. The Pashkovites, however, saw all people as equal in their need of salvation and zealously spread that message, to both high and low. Their hope lay in individual spiritual regeneration, not in general social restructuring or any special qualities of the narod . We have seen that philanthropy was one manifestation of their religious and social beliefs. In Pashkov's conduct as a landowner, we find a more complete picture of their practice with regard to social and economic disparities. Chapter 4 Pashkovism and Property . As "repentant noblemen", the Pashkovites differed from the populists in their philosophical basis and its practical application. However, it was not only the populists of an explicit narodnik persuasion who were more radical in their economic aims than the Pashkovites. Leo Tolstoy, a fellow aristocrat and religious dissenter, criticized the Pashkovites on the grounds of their socio-economic outlook and found in it the reason for Pashkovism's success: "they do not require people to change their way of life; they do not repudiate power, property, and 'the prince of this world.'" 1 Tolstoy and Pashkov Tolstoy himself had gradually come to a religious belief based on a rational interpretation of the Gospels, especially of the Sermon on the Mount. He thus stressed non-violence, non-resistanc