Tolstoy
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Tolstoyan movement
Tolstoyans (Russian: Толстовцы, Tolstovtsy) identify themselves as Christians, but do not generally belong to an institutional Church. Tolstoy was a harsh critic of the Russian Orthodox Church, leading to his excommunication in 1901.[3] Tolstoyans tend to focus more on following the teachings of Jesus, rather than on his miracles or divinity. They attempt to live an ascetic and simple life, preferring to be vegetarian, non-smoking, teetotal and chaste. Tolstoyans are considered Christian pacifists and advocate nonresistance in all circumstances. Tolstoy's understanding of what it means to be Christian was defined by the Sermon on the Mount and summed up in five simple propositions:
1.Love your enemies 2.Do not be angry 3.Do not fight evil with evil, but return evil with good (an interpretation of turning the other cheek) 4.Do not lust 5.Do not take oaths.
Tolstoy’s Theory of Nonviolence
The idea of nonviolence entered into the cycle of Russian ethics on the wave of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika. It struck a chord among society at large. Since that period, the attitude to pacifist ideas has changed considerably. This attitude can now be expressed by two words: doubt and disappointment. I would like to comment on one common opinion, namely that nonviolence can be considered only as a wonderful dream. It has moral attractiveness but there is no compelling force of logic to it. This is a widely held view, but I will attempt to demonstrate its falseness by discussing Leo Tolstoy, who more than anyone else is reproached for having an inclination to utopianism.
Beyond War and Peace: Tolstoy’s Theory of Nonviolence
by Anya Tseitlin 8/7/25 HARVARD UNIVERSITY
The text below is a summary of the author's thesis, for which she was awarded the 2025 Kathryn W. Davis Prize for undergraduate research. The work was presented at our annual Undergraduate Colloquium on Russian and Eurasian Studies, which the Davis Center has hosted since 1996, when Kathryn W. Davis first committed her support to showcase work in the field by students from Harvard, Wellesley, and Wheaton colleges.
Leo Tolstoy: The Greatest Apostle of Non-Violence
by Nathan “Bam” Stanton 28/3/24 Interfaith America
This is the more politically active pacifism outlined by philosophers like Thoreau and others, but the roots of this philosophy may surprise you. In the far reaches of history, it has been brought to us through the figure of Jesus and His words in the Sermon on the Mount:
How to Resist Evil
People are astonished that every year there are sixty thousand cases of suicide in Europe, and those only the recognized and recorded cases – and excluding Russia and Turkey; but one ought rather to be surprised that there are so few. Every person of the present day, if we go deep enough into the contradiction between his conscience and his life, is in a state of despair.
Leo Tolstoy and Nonviolence
After serving in the Russian military and experiencing the horror of war, Tolstoy gradually came to a position of nonviolence. He studied the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament Bible, in particular commandments to love one’s enemies and not resist evil. It may seem ironic, but Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church for these views in 1909.
Tolstoy's thoughts on religion and non-violence
It was in 1884 that Count Leo Tolstoy continued his personal confession in "My Religion" - he found in the principle of non-violent resistance (which he called "non-resistance") the key to understand the Gospels, a new understanding of his life and of modern society in his age. Non-violence became the ethical basis for his doctrine of Truth Force which has later been developed by Mahatma Gandhi in his "Satyagraha" philosophy and Dr. Martin Luther King jr. in his concept of Soul-Force.
Leo Tolstoy: A Legacy of Peace and Nonviolence
by Nasir Imtiaz 1/18/25 THE SPINE TIMES
Leo Tolstoy, renowned for his literary contributions, also advocated for peace and nonviolence. His experiences in war shaped his rejection of violence, promoting pacifism through works like "War and Peace" and "The Kingdom of God is Within You". Tolstoy’s ideas continue to inspire modern movements for social justice and global peace.
Wage Peace Not War. Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi on Violence, Nonresistance, and Love
by Mahatma Gandhi 23/9/24 European Studies blog
The year was 1908. The shock waves of the 1905 Revolution still reverberated throughout the Russian Empire when two letters from an Indian revolutionary Taraknath Das reached Leo Tolstoy at home in Iasnaia Poliana.
Literature by Leo Tolstoy
by Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a pivotal figure in the history of nonviolence, linking the many peace movements of the 19th century to a new generation of leaders in the 20th century, including Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and their spiritual offspring.
Leo Tolstoy's Philosophy: Altruism and Non-Violence
Tolstoy was not a philosopher per se, but his moral preaching, social criticism and vision of human reality had a great influence on men and women of his time (for example, this was the case with Ludwig Wittgenstein, Romain Rolland and, of course, Gandhi), and, most likely, represented a lost opportunity for what could have been a much more relevant change.
Resist Not Evil
by Martin E. Hellman Resist Not Evil
What could Tolstoy (and Jesus) possibly have meant? Is it not our duty to resist evil? In his flash of inspiration, Tolstoy saw that, in resisting evil, we usually become the very evil we seek to destroy, perhaps worse. In resisting the evils present in communism, the United States built 30,000 nuclear weapons. In resisting the evils present in capitalism, the Soviet Union built 20,000 weapons. These actions created an evil far greater than those being resisted: the real danger that civilization will be destroyed.
Tolstoy’s Philosophy of Non-Violence: A Discourse
by Intergrated Journal for Research in Arts and Humanities 31/5/23
The title of this paper is Tolstoy’s Philosophy of Non-violence: A Discourse and the major thesis projected in this research is the idea that the actualization of peace, as demonstrated in Tolstoy’s philosophy of non-violence, requires the adoption of a revolutionary approach which has the potential of terminating the vicious circle of violence.
How Leo Tolstoy Influenced Mahatma Gandhi
by Nadine Bjursten 29/4/22 Medium
After the reports of the atrocities in Bucha and Mariupol, I had a hard time processing my relationship to Russian literature. The more I thought of it, however, the more I realized that while Russian literature cannot explain or forgive the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers, we must not forget the Russians who stand for something different. Russians do not speak with one voice any more than Americans or Indians do, and canceling all Russian voices is to risk becoming more like the thing we despise: prejudiced, hostile toward a group of people born in a certain place, to a particular group. Literature opens our eyes to worlds and perspectives and helps us overcome our separations. It increases our capacity for empathy.
Four Chapter Four Nonviolence as universal love: origins and Gandhi’s supplements to Tolstoy—dilemmas,successes, and failures
by Richard Sorabji 9/12 OXFORD ACADEMIC
Gandhi was converted to non-violence by Tolstoy's Christian conception of it as love for all. He valued it, whether used in resistance, or not. Supplementing Tolstoy, he selected resisters who could face suffering, prepared them through emotional detachment, and saw the suffering as opening ears. But he designed alternatives for non-resisters.
Tolstoy's writings on civil disobedience and non-violence
by Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910
The beginning of the end -- Two wars -- Notes for officers -- Notes for soldiers -- On patriotism -- Carthago delenda est -- Patriotism, or peace? -- Letter on the peace conference -- Letter to a non-commissioned officer -- Letter to Dr. Eugen Heinrich Schmitt -- A reply to criticism -- Another reply to critics -- Letter to the liberals -- Thou shalt not kill -- The emigration of the Dukhobors -- Nobel's bequest -- Letter to Ernest Howard Crosby -- Nikolai Palkin -- Church and state -- from The kingdom of God -- Postscripts to the Life and death of Drozhin -- On the negro-question
Modern Tolstoyans, Eastern Europe
by Tolstoy Center for Nonviolence 7/1/15 tolstoy
The Leo Tolstoy Center for Nonviolence is not a form of Tolstoyism. However, without a doubt it owes a great deal to the talent and courage of this well-known writer. At the beginning of the 20th Century Leo Tolstoy had many followers who were inspired by his disarming sincerity, honesty, and the directness of his views, as demonstrated most clearly in his works The Kingdom of God is Within You and The Four Gospels Harmonised and Translated. Tolstoyans were known for making nonviolence and love the core principles of their lives.
Tolstoyan Communities
1880s: Leo Tolstoy wrote Confession, What do I believe?, What Then Must We Do?, and The Kingdom of God is Within You. Their uncensored distribution prompted the appearance of followers of Tolstoy, tolstovtsy (Tolstoyans).
Tolstoy’s radical Christianity led him to a pacifistic, anarchistic political philosophy that rejected the state as incompatible with Christ’s teachings.
by David S. D’Amato 30/12/15 Libertarianism
Leo Tolstoy is best known as among history’s greatest novelists, authoring monuments of literary fiction such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina; yet Tolstoy was also a thoughtful and discerning political thinker, sensitive to the plight of the oppressed and offering deep and essentially libertarian criticisms of government power.
Tolstoy’s Last Station
by John Dear Tolstoy’s Last Station
The best part about the recent movie “The Last Station” — a film that covers Leo Tolstoy’s turbulent last year — is Christopher Plummer’s performance. With subtlety and skill he brings Tolstoy to life as the last days take their toll. Family bliss wasn’t in his destiny. His wife, Sophia, failed to appreciate his Gospel values and wrangled with him over his plans to relinquish the copyrights of his works to the public domain.
Love is a Weapon: Gandhi, Tolstoy, Kallenbach and nonviolence
by Adeola Enigbokan BROOKLYN INSTITUTE for SOCIAL RESEARCH
During these years in South Africa, Gandhi formed friendships with the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and Prussian-Jewish architect, Hermann Kallenbach. Out of their unlikely friendship, Kallenbach and Gandhi founded the Tolstoy Farm, a retreat which acted as a laboratory for experimenting with techniques of nonviolence both as theory and as a practical way of living.
Tolstoyan movement
Tolstoy expressed "great joy" that groups of people "have been springing up, not only in Russia but in various parts of Europe, who are in complete agreement with our views."[1] However, the author also thought it was a mistake to create a specific movement or doctrine after him, urging individuals to listen to their own conscience rather than blindly follow his. In regard to a letter he received from an adherent, he wrote:
