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Writings on Civil Disobedience and Non Violence
Gathered for the first time, prophetic writings by the author of War and Peace that speak directly to America's dilemma with the urgency of today's headlines.
426 pages, unknown
First published January 1, 1967
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About the author
Leo Tolstoy
8,029 books28k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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October 6, 2010
In Writings on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence Tolstoy is a little heavy on the Christianity for me even if he is talking about the good Jesus Christianity rather than the bad institutional Christianity. I gave it three stars, an extra one because the topic of nonviolent civil disobedience is not found in much writing. I found it hard to get to the end of this book. It began to seem like I was reading the same thing over and over. Tolstoy’s writing is from 150 years ago and represents a part of the foundation for this modern day philosophy. Got to tip my hat to an ethic that says I would rather die than violate my conscience. A conversation about doing the right thing regardless of the consequences with Immanuel Kant (who lived in the 18th century) and Tolstoy would be interesting.
Tolstoy lived in Russia from 1828 until 1910. Most people know him because of War & Peace and Anna Karenina; fewer know that he was a pacifist and Christian anarchist when he died. Writings on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence is a collection of letters and essays.
You might say that Tolstoy originated the phrase Power to the People. He says that a belief can start with one person and spread to the masses from there. His core belief is “I will not kill.” He did not believe in the institutional Christian church, premising his Christian belief on Jesus. “Only the complete and utter destruction of institutionalized Christianity in all it manifestations would, according to Tolstoy, open the way for a full appreciation and acceptance of Jesus,” said David Albert in the introduction to the book.
A friend of mine, Wally Nelson, was a war tax resister in western Massachusetts during the last half of the 20th century. He must have read Tolstoy because he had a story that he often repeated. Wally would say, What if a man came to your door asking you for money so he could kill a person you didn’t know? Would you give him money? Then Wally would spring the trap: This is like the IRS collecting income taxes from you so the U.S. can kill people you don’t even know in other parts of the world. Why do you pay to kill those other people? Tolstoy is very clear: “You are told in the Gospel that one should not only refrain from killing his brothers, but should not do that which leads to murder: one should not be angry with one’s brothers, nor hate one’s enemies, but love them.”
Now, I am not a religious person but I can relate to the organized Church being a force for evil and Jesus being a role model worthy of emulation. Tolstoy takes this quite literally. Tolstoy is severe. He uses hard and damning words: perversion, fraud, idolatry, abhorrent. “We, by God’s grace, the autocratic great Emperor of all Russia, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., etc., proclaim to all our true subjects, that, for the welfare of these our beloved subjects, bequeathed by God into our care, we have found it our duty before God to send them to slaughter. God be with us.” Made Tolstoy want to puke!
Tolstoy wants all to say to the ruler impressing men into the military “Hell no! We won’t go!” He says, “The governments may and should fear those who refuse to serve, and, indeed, they are afraid of them because every refusal undermines the prestige of the deceit by which the governments have the people in their power. But those who refuse have no ground whatever to fear a government that demands crimes from them. In refusing military service every man risks much less than he would were he to enter it.”
Ah, but aren’t people in Tolstoy’s day in the 19th century afraid of the consequence of this civil disobedience and nonviolence? “But what will happen when all people refuse military service, and there is no check nor hold over the wicked, and the wicked triumph, and there is no protection against savage people – against the yellow race – who will come and conquer us?” You could fast forward to 2010 and hear the same arguments. Tolstoy replies, “I will say nothing about the fact that, as it is, the wicked have long been triumphing….” And he goes on. Is he convincing? Apparently not since we are still having the same argument 150 years later! And it is true throughout these letters and essays written in the 19th century, they could be letters to the editor in the 21st century. Tolstoy, like the Quakers and Mennonites, was blazing a path that some of us still try to follow.
As Martin Luther King, Jr and Gandhi learned from Tolstoy, the power of civil disobedience is our willingness to suffer the consequences of our actions. “Notwithstanding the admonitions of the authorities, and threats that they and their families will continue to suffer until they consent to fulfill military duties, those who have refused to do so do not change their decision. … These men say: We are Christians and therefore cannot consent to be murderers. You may torture and kill us, we cannot hinder that, but we cannot obey you…”
And, as the movement grows, it becomes harder for the government to control. “In our time it is impossible unperceived to sweep off the face of the earth a religious, moral, and industrious population of ten thousand souls.”
What does this writing from the 19th century have to say to us in the 21st century? And similarly, what of the words of the American writer Henry David Thoreau who wrote On the Duty of Civil Disobedience at the same period of the 19th Century? Social action and social criticism is an international reality even in the face of awful consequences.
“…on the one hand we find men professing the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, on the other hand we see these same men ready, in the name of liberty, to yield the most abject and slavish obedience; in the name of equality, to approve the most rigid and senseless subdivision of men into classes; and in the name of fraternity, ready to slay their own brothers.”
The line is drawn. “You wish me to be a murderer and I cannot do this; both God and my own conscience forbid it. And therefore do with me what you wish, but I will not kill or prepare for murder, or assist in it.”
According to Tolstoy, you cannot oppose evil with violence; he called that non-resistance. Today we would call it nonviolence.
“Non-resistance to evil by violence really means only that the mutual interaction of rational beings upon each other should consist not in violence ... but in rational persuasion; and that, consequently, towards this substitution of rational persuasion for coercion all those should strive who desire to further the welfare of mankind.”
Tolstoy lived in Russia from 1828 until 1910. Most people know him because of War & Peace and Anna Karenina; fewer know that he was a pacifist and Christian anarchist when he died. Writings on Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence is a collection of letters and essays.
You might say that Tolstoy originated the phrase Power to the People. He says that a belief can start with one person and spread to the masses from there. His core belief is “I will not kill.” He did not believe in the institutional Christian church, premising his Christian belief on Jesus. “Only the complete and utter destruction of institutionalized Christianity in all it manifestations would, according to Tolstoy, open the way for a full appreciation and acceptance of Jesus,” said David Albert in the introduction to the book.
A friend of mine, Wally Nelson, was a war tax resister in western Massachusetts during the last half of the 20th century. He must have read Tolstoy because he had a story that he often repeated. Wally would say, What if a man came to your door asking you for money so he could kill a person you didn’t know? Would you give him money? Then Wally would spring the trap: This is like the IRS collecting income taxes from you so the U.S. can kill people you don’t even know in other parts of the world. Why do you pay to kill those other people? Tolstoy is very clear: “You are told in the Gospel that one should not only refrain from killing his brothers, but should not do that which leads to murder: one should not be angry with one’s brothers, nor hate one’s enemies, but love them.”
Now, I am not a religious person but I can relate to the organized Church being a force for evil and Jesus being a role model worthy of emulation. Tolstoy takes this quite literally. Tolstoy is severe. He uses hard and damning words: perversion, fraud, idolatry, abhorrent. “We, by God’s grace, the autocratic great Emperor of all Russia, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., etc., proclaim to all our true subjects, that, for the welfare of these our beloved subjects, bequeathed by God into our care, we have found it our duty before God to send them to slaughter. God be with us.” Made Tolstoy want to puke!
Tolstoy wants all to say to the ruler impressing men into the military “Hell no! We won’t go!” He says, “The governments may and should fear those who refuse to serve, and, indeed, they are afraid of them because every refusal undermines the prestige of the deceit by which the governments have the people in their power. But those who refuse have no ground whatever to fear a government that demands crimes from them. In refusing military service every man risks much less than he would were he to enter it.”
Ah, but aren’t people in Tolstoy’s day in the 19th century afraid of the consequence of this civil disobedience and nonviolence? “But what will happen when all people refuse military service, and there is no check nor hold over the wicked, and the wicked triumph, and there is no protection against savage people – against the yellow race – who will come and conquer us?” You could fast forward to 2010 and hear the same arguments. Tolstoy replies, “I will say nothing about the fact that, as it is, the wicked have long been triumphing….” And he goes on. Is he convincing? Apparently not since we are still having the same argument 150 years later! And it is true throughout these letters and essays written in the 19th century, they could be letters to the editor in the 21st century. Tolstoy, like the Quakers and Mennonites, was blazing a path that some of us still try to follow.
As Martin Luther King, Jr and Gandhi learned from Tolstoy, the power of civil disobedience is our willingness to suffer the consequences of our actions. “Notwithstanding the admonitions of the authorities, and threats that they and their families will continue to suffer until they consent to fulfill military duties, those who have refused to do so do not change their decision. … These men say: We are Christians and therefore cannot consent to be murderers. You may torture and kill us, we cannot hinder that, but we cannot obey you…”
And, as the movement grows, it becomes harder for the government to control. “In our time it is impossible unperceived to sweep off the face of the earth a religious, moral, and industrious population of ten thousand souls.”
What does this writing from the 19th century have to say to us in the 21st century? And similarly, what of the words of the American writer Henry David Thoreau who wrote On the Duty of Civil Disobedience at the same period of the 19th Century? Social action and social criticism is an international reality even in the face of awful consequences.
“…on the one hand we find men professing the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, on the other hand we see these same men ready, in the name of liberty, to yield the most abject and slavish obedience; in the name of equality, to approve the most rigid and senseless subdivision of men into classes; and in the name of fraternity, ready to slay their own brothers.”
The line is drawn. “You wish me to be a murderer and I cannot do this; both God and my own conscience forbid it. And therefore do with me what you wish, but I will not kill or prepare for murder, or assist in it.”
According to Tolstoy, you cannot oppose evil with violence; he called that non-resistance. Today we would call it nonviolence.
“Non-resistance to evil by violence really means only that the mutual interaction of rational beings upon each other should consist not in violence ... but in rational persuasion; and that, consequently, towards this substitution of rational persuasion for coercion all those should strive who desire to further the welfare of mankind.”
August 27, 2021
Larry’s book review (2010) has prompted me to write a response (2021). I particularly enjoyed the historical aspects that he presented and I did find ancillary data in the back under “Notes on Sources”- page 301 & 302.
Larry stated "Tolstoy is a little heavy on the Christianity for me even if he is talking about the good Jesus Christianity rather than the bad institutional Christianity." Larry’s statement is incorrect because there is only one true "Christianity”, that which is founded on faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the only begotten Son of God the Father. Additionally, the term “Christian anarchist” relating to Tolstoy are incompatible words - an oxymoron. His sentence, "Now, I am not a religious person but I can relate to the organized Church being a force for evil and Jesus being a role model worthy of emulation." is also revealing because in James 1:26-27 we read “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” This can only come about through salvation.
I am intrigued by this book because Tolstoy is writing from a Christian (I.e. Christ-like) perspective. His grand premises, although I believe them to be somewhat short sighted due to his captivation with the New Testament Gospels, are just ones “doing good to others” and “do unto others as...” and are Biblical concepts for we see them enunciated in James 4:17 (KJV) “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” and in Matthew 7:12 (KJV) “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” More on this below.
It does seem that Tolstoy uses the term “Christian” more often as a way to describe “civilized”, “cultured”, “enlightened” or “religious” people thereby watering down the real meaning of the term “being a Christian” I.e. those who have truly placed their trust in Jesus Christ, and only Christ, as their Lord and Savior. For example, on page 165 in Tolstoy’s paper “Help!” he writes “What, then, is important for the realization of the Christian life? It is certainly not by diplomatic negotiation about Abyssinia and Constantinople, papal encyclicals, socialistic congresses, and so on, that mankind will approach to that for which the world endures. For, if the kingdom of God, I.e. the kingdom on earth of truth and good, is to be realized, it can be realized only by such attempts as the Paulicians, Albigenses, Quakers, Moravian Brethren, Mennonites, all the true Christians of the world, and now by the “Christians of the Universal Brotherhood.” My issue here is his phrase “it can be realized only by such attempts as the Paulicians...” Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, writes in Romans 4:1-5 (KJV) “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” So we see that human works (attempts) profit us nothing unless it is preceded by faith and trust in God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Tolstoy is obviously very intelligent, intellectual, and informed. However, he is writing from a purely ideological perspective, influenced by his own Russian cultural biases, which is reinforced by others of the same opinion, and to me, that comes through very clearly. I am completely convinced he is firm in his thoughts but I absolutely think he is misguided in his some of his beliefs as written in these essays (however, I do not question his Christian faith). Please do not misunderstand me here, I do not think everything he writes is incorrect, he has great insight into the world, Russian society in particular. He is obviously a very smart, well educated person and we can learn a great deal by reading his books.
The “fly in the ointment” for me is that Tolstoy is throwing out much of the Holy Bible because of his dislike, disdain, and distrust for the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church, Religions in general, and other established institutions (religious, educational, and political). And yes, there is much hypocrisy in all these! He writes in his “Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer”- page 125 “Nothing needful can be poured into a vessel full of what is useless. We must first empty out what is useless. So it is with the acquirement of true Christian teaching. We have first to understand that all the stories telling how God six thousand years ago made the world; how Adam sinned and the human race fell; and how the Son of God, a God born of a virgin, came on earth and redeemed man; and all the fables in the Old Testament and the Gospels, and all the lives of the saints with their stories of miracles and relics - are nothing but a gross hash of Jewish superstitions and priestly frauds. Only to a man quite free from this deception can the clear and simple teaching of Christ, which needs no explanation, be accessible and comprehensible. That teaching tells us nothing of the beginning, or of the end, of the world, or about God and His purpose, or in general about things which we cannot, and need not, know; but it speaks only of what man must do to save himself, I.e. how best to live the life he has come into, in this world from birth to death. For this purpose it is only necessary to act to others as we wish them to act to us. In that is all the law and the prophets, as Christ said. And to act in that way we need neither icons, nor relics, nor church services, nor priests, nor catechisms, nor governments, but on the contrary, we need perfect freedom from all that; for to do to others as we wish them to do to us is only possible when a man is free from the fables which the priests give out as the only truth, and is not bound by promises to act as other people may order. Only such a man will be capable of fulfilling - not his own will nor that of other men - but the will of God.”
And so, he shows that his Biblical theology and doctrine are both lacking in an understanding of how the Old and New Testament of the Bible are one inclusive, all encompassing whole - with the Lord Jesus Christ as the centerpiece. Plus, he is totally incorrect in his analysis of the New Testament and Christ’s teachings. As Christ said in Luke 24:44-47 (ESV) “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”” One cannot throw out ninety-five percent of the Sacred Scriptures and embrace just the Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount, and the beautiful teachings of the Beatitudes, to the exclusion of the rest of the Old and New Testament! That borders on heresy!
A critique of Tolstoy is best given from his own words. He writes in the essay on “Patriotism or Peace” - Page 108: "Several times now I have had occasion to write about patriotism; about its entire incompatibility, not only with the truly understood teaching of Christ, but with the very lowest demands of morality in a Christian society. Each time my arguments have been met either with silence, or with a lofty suggestion that my ideas, expressed, are Utopian utterances of mysticism, anarchism, and cosmopolitanism. Often my ideas are summed up and then, instead of counter-arguments, the remark only is added, that "this is nothing less than cosmopolitanism!" As if this word, cosmopolitanism, had indisputably refused all my arguments." His observations are correct, and yes, my first thoughts as I read the opening chapters here were “Utopian, naive”! Why? Because his premises on peace can and will only be achieved during the Millennial reign of Christ on earth and not because we wish it now but because God will ordain and order it then! Sin, Selfishness, and Satan are so very real in this present world (then and now) - to that I am sure we can all agree! It has been 2000 years since Christ taught the Sermon on the Mount, which Tolstoy favors, during which time we have had innumerable wars, both small and large. The nations have had countless numbers of Peace Summits, Conferences, International Organizations and now the United Nations! The world has spend a vast fortune and endless time debating it and nothing has been successful in bringing about Peace, real long lasting, permanent Peace, and none will because they could not, can not, and will not bring it to fruition! Humans are totally unable to do it no matter how hard we try. Again why? We find the answer in Jeremiah 17:9-10 (KJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Therefore, true Peace can only come about through the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father!
We read in Isaiah 2:2-4 (ESV) “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” And so, we see that peace will come but only in the last days when God will reign as sovereign and supreme. For more insight, read and study the entire Bible and as we find in Acts 17:11 concerning the Bereans - “...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Unfortunately, until then, we will be forced to confront and resist evil whenever, wherever, and however it raises it’s ugly head. We will never eliminate evil. So, it is not an issue of “Patriotism” (loyalty to one’s country), although that has been and will be misused but of “Perversion” in it’s many insidious forms!
So until Christ returns to establish His Earthly Kingdom let us rest in His continuing promise in John 14:25-27 (ESV) “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
But, what is this peace based upon? Tolstoy gives us a glimpse into his thoughts “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” However, that is only half of the equation. In Mark 12:28-31 Christ gives the full impact of this concept “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” So, we learn that to love God is the greater of these two commandments, is also the most difficult one because it can not be achieved by self will. But, what is the fulfillment of the second greatest commandment? Romans 5:6-11 (ESV) “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Both of these can only come about through Salvation.
Lastly, in reading this book I am reminded again of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” (1958-1968) and I see that here in the United States we are experiencing a steady downhill slide into the socialistic and communistic morass that has plagued Russia for most of her entire history. I pray that the Lord will preserve America from this fate!
Larry stated "Tolstoy is a little heavy on the Christianity for me even if he is talking about the good Jesus Christianity rather than the bad institutional Christianity." Larry’s statement is incorrect because there is only one true "Christianity”, that which is founded on faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the only begotten Son of God the Father. Additionally, the term “Christian anarchist” relating to Tolstoy are incompatible words - an oxymoron. His sentence, "Now, I am not a religious person but I can relate to the organized Church being a force for evil and Jesus being a role model worthy of emulation." is also revealing because in James 1:26-27 we read “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” This can only come about through salvation.
I am intrigued by this book because Tolstoy is writing from a Christian (I.e. Christ-like) perspective. His grand premises, although I believe them to be somewhat short sighted due to his captivation with the New Testament Gospels, are just ones “doing good to others” and “do unto others as...” and are Biblical concepts for we see them enunciated in James 4:17 (KJV) “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” and in Matthew 7:12 (KJV) “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” More on this below.
It does seem that Tolstoy uses the term “Christian” more often as a way to describe “civilized”, “cultured”, “enlightened” or “religious” people thereby watering down the real meaning of the term “being a Christian” I.e. those who have truly placed their trust in Jesus Christ, and only Christ, as their Lord and Savior. For example, on page 165 in Tolstoy’s paper “Help!” he writes “What, then, is important for the realization of the Christian life? It is certainly not by diplomatic negotiation about Abyssinia and Constantinople, papal encyclicals, socialistic congresses, and so on, that mankind will approach to that for which the world endures. For, if the kingdom of God, I.e. the kingdom on earth of truth and good, is to be realized, it can be realized only by such attempts as the Paulicians, Albigenses, Quakers, Moravian Brethren, Mennonites, all the true Christians of the world, and now by the “Christians of the Universal Brotherhood.” My issue here is his phrase “it can be realized only by such attempts as the Paulicians...” Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, writes in Romans 4:1-5 (KJV) “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” So we see that human works (attempts) profit us nothing unless it is preceded by faith and trust in God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Tolstoy is obviously very intelligent, intellectual, and informed. However, he is writing from a purely ideological perspective, influenced by his own Russian cultural biases, which is reinforced by others of the same opinion, and to me, that comes through very clearly. I am completely convinced he is firm in his thoughts but I absolutely think he is misguided in his some of his beliefs as written in these essays (however, I do not question his Christian faith). Please do not misunderstand me here, I do not think everything he writes is incorrect, he has great insight into the world, Russian society in particular. He is obviously a very smart, well educated person and we can learn a great deal by reading his books.
The “fly in the ointment” for me is that Tolstoy is throwing out much of the Holy Bible because of his dislike, disdain, and distrust for the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church, Religions in general, and other established institutions (religious, educational, and political). And yes, there is much hypocrisy in all these! He writes in his “Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer”- page 125 “Nothing needful can be poured into a vessel full of what is useless. We must first empty out what is useless. So it is with the acquirement of true Christian teaching. We have first to understand that all the stories telling how God six thousand years ago made the world; how Adam sinned and the human race fell; and how the Son of God, a God born of a virgin, came on earth and redeemed man; and all the fables in the Old Testament and the Gospels, and all the lives of the saints with their stories of miracles and relics - are nothing but a gross hash of Jewish superstitions and priestly frauds. Only to a man quite free from this deception can the clear and simple teaching of Christ, which needs no explanation, be accessible and comprehensible. That teaching tells us nothing of the beginning, or of the end, of the world, or about God and His purpose, or in general about things which we cannot, and need not, know; but it speaks only of what man must do to save himself, I.e. how best to live the life he has come into, in this world from birth to death. For this purpose it is only necessary to act to others as we wish them to act to us. In that is all the law and the prophets, as Christ said. And to act in that way we need neither icons, nor relics, nor church services, nor priests, nor catechisms, nor governments, but on the contrary, we need perfect freedom from all that; for to do to others as we wish them to do to us is only possible when a man is free from the fables which the priests give out as the only truth, and is not bound by promises to act as other people may order. Only such a man will be capable of fulfilling - not his own will nor that of other men - but the will of God.”
And so, he shows that his Biblical theology and doctrine are both lacking in an understanding of how the Old and New Testament of the Bible are one inclusive, all encompassing whole - with the Lord Jesus Christ as the centerpiece. Plus, he is totally incorrect in his analysis of the New Testament and Christ’s teachings. As Christ said in Luke 24:44-47 (ESV) “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”” One cannot throw out ninety-five percent of the Sacred Scriptures and embrace just the Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount, and the beautiful teachings of the Beatitudes, to the exclusion of the rest of the Old and New Testament! That borders on heresy!
A critique of Tolstoy is best given from his own words. He writes in the essay on “Patriotism or Peace” - Page 108: "Several times now I have had occasion to write about patriotism; about its entire incompatibility, not only with the truly understood teaching of Christ, but with the very lowest demands of morality in a Christian society. Each time my arguments have been met either with silence, or with a lofty suggestion that my ideas, expressed, are Utopian utterances of mysticism, anarchism, and cosmopolitanism. Often my ideas are summed up and then, instead of counter-arguments, the remark only is added, that "this is nothing less than cosmopolitanism!" As if this word, cosmopolitanism, had indisputably refused all my arguments." His observations are correct, and yes, my first thoughts as I read the opening chapters here were “Utopian, naive”! Why? Because his premises on peace can and will only be achieved during the Millennial reign of Christ on earth and not because we wish it now but because God will ordain and order it then! Sin, Selfishness, and Satan are so very real in this present world (then and now) - to that I am sure we can all agree! It has been 2000 years since Christ taught the Sermon on the Mount, which Tolstoy favors, during which time we have had innumerable wars, both small and large. The nations have had countless numbers of Peace Summits, Conferences, International Organizations and now the United Nations! The world has spend a vast fortune and endless time debating it and nothing has been successful in bringing about Peace, real long lasting, permanent Peace, and none will because they could not, can not, and will not bring it to fruition! Humans are totally unable to do it no matter how hard we try. Again why? We find the answer in Jeremiah 17:9-10 (KJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Therefore, true Peace can only come about through the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father!
We read in Isaiah 2:2-4 (ESV) “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” And so, we see that peace will come but only in the last days when God will reign as sovereign and supreme. For more insight, read and study the entire Bible and as we find in Acts 17:11 concerning the Bereans - “...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Unfortunately, until then, we will be forced to confront and resist evil whenever, wherever, and however it raises it’s ugly head. We will never eliminate evil. So, it is not an issue of “Patriotism” (loyalty to one’s country), although that has been and will be misused but of “Perversion” in it’s many insidious forms!
So until Christ returns to establish His Earthly Kingdom let us rest in His continuing promise in John 14:25-27 (ESV) “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
But, what is this peace based upon? Tolstoy gives us a glimpse into his thoughts “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” However, that is only half of the equation. In Mark 12:28-31 Christ gives the full impact of this concept “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” So, we learn that to love God is the greater of these two commandments, is also the most difficult one because it can not be achieved by self will. But, what is the fulfillment of the second greatest commandment? Romans 5:6-11 (ESV) “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Both of these can only come about through Salvation.
Lastly, in reading this book I am reminded again of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” (1958-1968) and I see that here in the United States we are experiencing a steady downhill slide into the socialistic and communistic morass that has plagued Russia for most of her entire history. I pray that the Lord will preserve America from this fate!
March 7, 2008
Tolstoy saw that the very basic human interactions were where peace begins. Peace isn't going to come about through government programs or international organizations. In this series of essays, he investigates several isssues from multiple angles. Policymakers, soldiers, and citizens are thoughtfully considered. He pokes holes in the standard ways of thinking about war and peace. He can be preachy, but all in all this is an excellent collection that presents important viewpoints.
October 17, 2011
Tolstoy is brilliant, of course. I just wish this book were better edited. The various pieces Tolstoy wrote are given no context; no dates, only occasional information on why a piece was written, and a dearth of information on where pieces were originally published. Very frustrating for a researcher.
Lots of writing on nonviolence, though more on resistance to the state, and the perils of patriotism.
Lots of writing on nonviolence, though more on resistance to the state, and the perils of patriotism.
September 13, 2017
Huolimatta siitä, että kirja on kirjoitettu jo satakunta vuotta sitten Tolstoin ajatukset ovat edelleen hyvin ajankohtaiset ja terävät. Kirjan tekstityyli on välillä nykypäivään turhan raskas, mutta kontekstiin asetettuna toimiva. Rauhanliikkeen klassikko!
March 21, 2018
Rehellistä ja suoraa, rauhaan ja omantunnon kuuntelemiseen ja teoista vastuunkantavaan toimintaan tähtäävää kirjoitusta, joka vaikka kirjoitettu 1800/1900-lukujen vaihteessa, on edelleen ja tullee aina olemaan, ajattoman ajankohtainen.
January 17, 2019
Mielenkiintoisia näkökulmia rauhanaatteesta ja patriotismin vastustamisesta.
February 25, 2019
Tätä lukiessa tuntui, että astuin aurinkoisella bussipysäkillä kirja kädessä yhteiskunnan sääntöjen tuolle puolen, kohti oikeutta ja totuutta, niin väkevää tekstiä se ajoittain oli.
October 13, 2022
Outdated arguments, but he was prescient in his time. Who knows what the world would have looked like had they followed Tolstoy's advice and NOT commit World War I.
October 29, 2015
"Hallitukset vakuuttavat kansoille, että näitä uhkaavat vaarat - toisten kansojen hyökkäys ja sisäiset viholliset - ja että ainoa keino pelastua tuolta vaaralta on kansojen orjamainen alistuminen hallitusten tahtoon. Se näkyy aivan ilmiselvästi vallankumousten ja diktatuurien aikana, ja niin tapahtuu aina ja kaikkialla, missä vain valtaa on. Jokainen hallitus selittää olemassaolonsa ja perustelee kaikki väkivallantekonsa sillä, että ellei sitä olisi, olisi pahemmin. Saatuaan kansat vakuuttuneiksi siitä, että ne ovat vaarassa, hallitukset alistavat ne tahtoonsa. Kun kansat sitten ovat alistuneet hallitustensa tahtoon, nuo hallitukset pakottavat kansat hyökkäämään toisten kansojen kimppuun. Ja niin kansat saavat vahvistuksen hallitusten vakuutteluihin toisten kansojen taholta uhkaavasta hyökkäysvaarasta.
Divide et impera - Hajota ja hallitse."
Divide et impera - Hajota ja hallitse."
June 17, 2014
”Ja kun kysyin häneltä, eivätkö omatunto ja noiden tekojen muisto vaivanneet häntä, hän ei ymmärtänyt minua ollenkaan. Sehän tapahtui sodassa, laillisesti, tsaarin ja isänmaan puolesta.”
Tolstoin Omatuntoja-esseekokoelma on rauhankirjallisuuden klassikko, joka on ensimmäisen kerran ilmestynyt suomeksi vuonna 1981 nimellä Omantunnon kujanjuoksu. Alunperin tekstit on peräisin 1800-luvun viimeisiltä ja 1900-luvun ensimmäisiltä vuosilta. Tolstoin kynä on kunnioitettavan terävä ja suorastaan aikamoisen sivalteleva hänen puolustaessaan ihmisen velvollisuutta käyttää ”järjen valoa”. Poliittisen kontekstin tunteminen auttaa suhteuttamaan kirjoitukset tuon ajan ajatteluun yleisesti.
Tolstoin Omatuntoja-esseekokoelma on rauhankirjallisuuden klassikko, joka on ensimmäisen kerran ilmestynyt suomeksi vuonna 1981 nimellä Omantunnon kujanjuoksu. Alunperin tekstit on peräisin 1800-luvun viimeisiltä ja 1900-luvun ensimmäisiltä vuosilta. Tolstoin kynä on kunnioitettavan terävä ja suorastaan aikamoisen sivalteleva hänen puolustaessaan ihmisen velvollisuutta käyttää ”järjen valoa”. Poliittisen kontekstin tunteminen auttaa suhteuttamaan kirjoitukset tuon ajan ajatteluun yleisesti.
December 12, 2014
A truly exceptional piece of philosophy. Our entire society could be built of this short set of essays. I don't understand why it's not taught as a major and important work. One of the key premises is that governments start wars and ask (or tell) their citizens to fight them, but if we as citizens simply didn't fight, didn't pick up the weapons, then the wars of the world would end. Tolstoy describes what one might call a Christian anarchy, a world where government and laws aren't needed because people act with morality rather than in subservience to laws or fear of punishment. I know it sounds naive, but Tolstoy lays it all out in a convincing way. His believes on civil disobedience and nonviolence, which are very Martin Luther King in nature, are excellent as well.
October 24, 2016
Many passionately written essays about peace and the moral responsibility of every person. A great read and very thought-provoking. Makes one think how in our everyday life we often want to hand over moral responsibility of what are ultimately our own choises to someone else and how false that is.
July 7, 2009
What can I say. I read this book to learn civil disobedience. I haven't read it in a while. The last time I read it was in high school. I might have perused it college.
October 8, 2010
One word "brilliant!"
December 4, 2017
School Text.
March 28, 2017
It's a collection of essays about pacifism. Some of them feel dated, like the one where Tolstoy is convinced that war will be eradicated soon. Others contain criticism that applies today. Ultimately I didn't get much out of this book. It'd be probably more useful to read the later writers who were influenced by Tolstoy.
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