Tolstoyism

Ideological current of the disciples of Russian writer and thinker Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), that propounded the ideas of non-violence, love for the human being, the overcoming of alienation and moral self-perfection of the personality through union with God, without the fierce inter-mediation of the official Church. According to Tolstoy, the State, private property, and the formal Church are all obstacles to the realization of this ideal. Followers of Tolstoy, who formed their sect in several countries, idealized rural life, work on the land and the agricultural community. They have pronounced themselves against social inequality and oppression, and in favor of the brotherhood of all human beings. The activities of Gandhi in India, Schweitzer in Africa, Nkrumah in Ghana and Luther King in the US have embodied in original ways the ideas of Tolstoy on non-violence and love. The humanist line of Tolstoy was distorted by some of his followers and gradually declined. Today, T. as an organized social movement hardly exists, although in some places small agricultural communities still continue.