how a group of b.c. anarchists inspired democracy in russia...

...only then did i understand why this exiled but proudly russian sect of socialist anarchists had the influence on yakovlev that it did. the doukhobors were a living rebuttal to the theory that russia requires a strongman. yakovlev must have seen them as an example of the way russians might have lived, had they not been stifled by the corruption and inefficiency of the communist party. in a series of mountain valleys in the BC interior, the future architect of perestroika encountered a community of proudly russian people who convinced him that his countrymen could thrive in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy. indeed, in his memoirs, yakovlev had written: they are amazing people — hard-working, open, courteous . . . they believe with complete sincerity that only moral principles will save mankind from moral collapse . . . these stubborn people, though at times naïve in their misconceptions, have sustained through all their ordeals an uncompromising attitude toward deception, hypocrisy, and violence, along with an unbending rejection of militarism// christopher shulgan, june 2008, the walrus