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The Kingdom of God is within you

L >> Leo Tolstoy >> The Kingdom of God is within you




One would expect that every man of the present day who has a grain
of sense left, might reply to such requirements, "But why should I
do all this?" One would think every right-minded man must say in
amazement: "Why should I promise to yield obedience to everything
that has been decreed first by Salisbury, then by Gladstone; one
day by Boulanger, and another by Parliament; one day by Peter
III., the next by Catherine, and the day after by Pougachef; one
day by a mad king of Bavaria, another by William? Why should I
promise to obey them, knowing them to be wicked or foolish people,
or else not knowing them at all? Why am I to hand over the fruits
of my labors to them in the shape of taxes, knowing that the money
will be spent on the support of officials, prisons, churches,
armies, on things that are harmful, and on my own enslavement?
Why should I punish myself? Why should I go wasting my time and
hoodwinking myself, giving to miscreant evildoers a semblance of
legality, by taking part in elections, and pretending that I am
taking part in the government, when I know very well that the real
control of the government is in the hands of those who have got
hold of the army? Why should I go to the law courts to take part
in the trial and punishment of men because they have sinned,
knowing, if I am a Christian, that the law of vengeance is replaced
by the law of love, and, if I am an educated man, that punishments
do not reform, but only deprave those on whom they are inflicted?
And why, most of all, am I to consider as enemies the people of a
neighboring nation, with whom I have hitherto lived and with whom
I wish to live in love and harmony, and to kill and rob them, or
to bring them to misery, simply in order that the keys of the
temple at Jerusalem may be in the hands of one archbishop and not
another, that one German and not another may be prince in
Bulgaria, or that the English rather than the American merchants
may capture seals?

And why, most of all, should I take part in person or hire others
to murder my own brothers and kinsmen? Why should I flog myself?
It is altogether unnecessary for me; it is hurtful to me, and from
every point of view it is immoral, base, and vile. So why should
I do this? If you tell me that if I do it not I shall receive
some injury from someone, then, in the first place, I cannot
anticipate from anyone an injury so great as the injury you bring
on me if I obey you; and secondly, it is perfectly clear to me
that if we our own selves do not flog ourselves, no one will flog
us.

As for the government--that means the tzars, ministers, and
officials with pens in their hands, who cannot force us into doing
anything, as that officer of police compelled the peasants; the
men who will drag us to the law court, to prison, and to
execution, are not tzars or officials with pens in their hands,
but the very people who are in the same position as we are. And
it is just as unprofitable and harmful and unpleasant to them to
be flogged as to me, and therefore there is every likelihood that
if I open their eyes they not only would not treat me with
violence, but would do just as I am doing.

Thirdly, even if it should come to pass that I had to suffer for
it, even then it would be better for me to be exiled or sent to
prison for standing up for common sense and right--which, if not
to-day, at least within a very short time, must be triumphant--
than to suffer for folly and wrong which must come to an end
directly. And therefore, even in that case, it is better to run
the risk of their banishing me, shutting me up in prison, or
executing me, than of my living all my life in bondage, through my
own fault, to wicked men. Better is this than the possibility of
being destroyed by victorious enemies, and being stupidly tortured
and killed by them, in fighting for a cannon, or a piece of land
of no use to anyone, or for a senseless rag called a banner.

I don't want to flog myself and I won't do it. I have no reason
to do it. Do it yourselves, if you want it done; but I won't do
it.

One would have thought that not religious or moral feeling alone,
but the simplest common sense and foresight should impel every man
of the present day to answer and to act in that way. But not so.
Men of the state conception of life are of the opinion that to act
in that way is not necessary, and is even prejudicial to the
attainment of their object, the emancipation of men from slavery.
They hold that we must continue, like the police officer's
peasants, to flog one another, consoling ourselves with the
reflection that we are talking away in the assemblies and
meetings, founding trades unions, marching through the streets on
the 1st of May, getting up conspiracies, and stealthily teasing
the government that is flogging us, and that through all this it
will be brought to pass that, by enslaving ourselves in closer and
closer bondage, we shall very soon be free.

Nothing hinders the emancipation of men from slavery so much as
this amazing error. Instead of every man directing his energies
to freeing himself, to transforming his conception of life, people
seek for an external united method of gaining freedom, and
continue to rivet their chains faster and faster.

It is much as if men were to maintain that to make up a fire there
was no need to kindle any of the coals, but that all that was
necessary was to arrange the coals in a certain order. Yet the
fact that the freedom of all men will be brought about only
through the freedom of individual persons, becomes more and more
clear as time goes on. The freedom of individual men, in the name
of the Christian conception of life, from state domination, which
was formerly an exceptional and unnoticed phenomenon, has of late
acquired threatening significance for state authorities.

If in a former age, in the Roman times, it happened that a
Christian confessed his religion and refused to take part in
sacrifices, and to worship the emperors or the gods; or in the
Middle Ages a Christian refused to worship images, or to
acknowledge the authority of the Pope--these cases were in the
first place a matter of chance. A man might be placed under the
necessity of confessing his faith, or he might live all his life
without being placed under this necessity. But now all men,
without exception, are subjected to this trial of their faith.
Every man of the present day is under the necessity of taking part
in the cruelties of pagan life, or of refusing all participation
in them. And secondly, in those days cases of refusal to worship
the gods or the images or the Pope were not incidents that had any
material bearing on the state. Whether men worshiped or did not
worship the gods or the images or the Pope, the state remained
just as powerful. But now cases of refusing to comply with the
unchristian demands of the government are striking at the very
root of state authority, because the whole authority of the state
is based on the compliance with these unchristian demands.

The sovereign powers of the world have in the course of time been
brought into a position in which, for their own preservation, they
must require from all men actions which cannot be performed by men
who profess true Christianity.

And therefore in our days every profession of true Christianity,
by any individual man, strikes at the most essential power of the
state, and inevitably leads the way for the emancipation of all.

What importance, one might think, can one attach to such an
incident as some dozens of crazy fellows, as people will call
them, refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the government,
refusing to pay taxes, to take part in law proceedings or in
military service?

These people are punished and exiled to a distance, and life goes
on in its old way. One might think there was no importance in
such incidents; but yet, it is just those incidents, more than
anything else, that will undermine the power of the state and
prepare the way for the freedom of men. These are the individual
bees, who are beginning to separate from the swarm, and are flying
near it, waiting till the whole swarm can no longer be prevented
from starting off after them. And the governments know this, and
fear such incidents more than all the socialists, communists, and
anarchists, and their plots and dynamite bombs.

A new reign is beginning. According to the universal rule and
established order it is required that all the subjects should take
the oath of allegiance to the new government. There is a general
decree to that effect, and all are summoned to the council-houses
to take the oath. All at once one man in Perm, another in Tula, a
third in Moscow, and a fourth in Kalouga declare that they will
not take the oath, and though there is no communication between
them, they all explain their refusal on the same grounds--namely,
that swearing is forbidden by the law of Christ, and that even if
swearing had not been forbidden, they could not, in the spirit of
the law of Christ, promise to perform the evil actions required of
them in the oath, such as informing against all such as may act
against the interests of the government, or defending their
government with firearms or attacking its enemies. They are
brought before rural police officers, district police captains,
priests, and governors. They are admonished, questioned,
threatened, and punished; but they adhere to their resolution, and
do not take the oath. And among the millions of those who did
take the oath, those dozens go on living who did not take the
oath. And they are questioned:

"What, didn't you take the oath?"

"No, I didn't take the oath."

"And what happened--nothing?"

"Nothing."

The subjects of a state are all bound to pay taxes. And everyone
pays taxes, till suddenly one man in Kharkov, another in Tver, and
a third in Samara refuse to pay taxes--all, as though in
collusion, saying the same thing. One says he will only pay when
they tell him what object the money taken from him will be spent
on. "If it is for good deeds," he says, "he will give it of his
own accord, and more even than is required of him. If for evil
deeds, then he will give nothing voluntarily, because by the law
of Christ, whose follower he is, he cannot take part in evil
deeds." The others, too, say the same in other words, and will
not voluntarily pay the taxes.

Those who have anything to be taken have their property taken from
them by force; as for those who have nothing, they are left alone.

"What, didn't you pay the tax?"

"No, I didn't pay it."

"And what happened-nothing?"

"Nothing."

There is the institution of passports. Everyone moving from his
place of residence is bound to carry one, and to pay a duty on it.
Suddenly people are to be found in various places declaring that
to carry a passport is not necessary, that one ought not to
recognize one's dependence on a state which exists by means of
force; and these people do not carry passports, or pay the duty on
them. And again, it's impossible to force those people by any
means to do what is required. They send them to jail, and let
them out again, and these people live without passports.

All peasants are bound to fill certain police offices--that of
village constable, and of watchman, and so on. Suddenly in
Kharkov a peasant refuses to perform this duty, justifying his
refusal on the ground that by the law of Christ, of which he is a
follower, he cannot put any man in fetters, lock him up, or drag
him from place to place. The same declaration is made by a
peasant in Tver, another in Tambov. These peasants are abused,
beaten, shut up in prison, but they stick to their resolution and
don't fill these offices against their convictions. And at last
they cease to appoint them as constables. And again nothing
happens.

All citizens are obliged to take a share in law proceedings in the
character of jurymen. Suddenly the most different people--
mechanics, professors, tradesmen, peasants, servants, as though by
agreement refuse to fill this office, and not on the grounds
allowed as sufficient by law, but because any process at law is,
according to their views, unchristian. They fine these people,
trying not to let them have an opportunity of explaining their
motives in public, and replace them by others. And again nothing
can be done.

All young men of twenty-one years of age are obliged to draw lots
for service in the army. All at once one young man in Moscow,
another in Tver, a third in Kharkov, and a fourth in Kiev present
themselves before the authorities, and, as though by previous
agreement, declare that they will not take the oath, they will not
serve because they are Christians. I will give the details of one
of the first cases, since they have become more frequent, which I
happen to know about [footnote: All the details of this case, as
well as those preceding it, are authentic]. The same treatment
has been repeated in every other case. A young man of fair
education refuses in the Moscow Townhall to take the oath. No
attention is paid to what he says, and it is requested that he
should pronounce the words of the oath like the rest. He
declines, quoting a particular passage of the Gospel in which
swearing is forbidden. No attention is paid to his arguments, and
he is again requested to comply with the order, but he does not
comply with it. Then it is supposed that he is a sectary and
therefore does not understand Christianity in the right sense,
that is to say, not in the sense in which the priests in the pay
of the government understand it. And the young man is conducted
under escort to the priests, that they may bring him to reason.
The priests begin to reason with him, but their efforts in
Christ's name to persuade him to renounce Christ obviously have no
influence on him; he is pronounced incorrigible and sent back
again to the army. He persists in not taking the oath and openly
refuses to perform any military duties. It is a case that has not
been provided for by the laws. To overlook such a refusal to
comply with the demands of the authorities is out of the question,
but to put such a case on a par with simple breach of discipline
is also out of the question.

After deliberation among themselves, the military authorities
decide to get rid of the troublesome young man, to consider him as
a revolutionist, and they dispatch him under escort to the
committee of the secret police. The police authorities and
gendarmes cross-question him, but nothing that he says can be
brought under the head of any of the misdemeanors which come under
their jurisdiction. And there is no possibility of accusing him
either of revolutionary acts or revolutionary plotting, since he
declares that he does not wish to attack anything, but, on the
contrary, is opposed to any use of force, and, far from plotting
in secret, he seeks every opportunity of saying and doing all that
he says and does in the most open manner. And the gendarmes,
though they are bound by no hard-and-fast rules, still find no
ground for a criminal charge in the young man, and, like the
clergy, they send him back to the army. Again the authorities
deliberate together, and decide to accept him though he has not
taken the oath, and to enrol him among the soldiers. They put him
into the uniform, enrol him, and send him under guard to the place
where the army is quartered. There the chief officer of the
division which he enters again expects the young man to perform
his military duties, and again he refuses to obey, and in the
presence of other soldiers explains the reason of his refusal,
saying that he as a Christian cannot voluntarily prepare himself
to commit murder, which is forbidden by the law of Moses.

This incident occurs in a provincial town. The case awakens the
interest, and even the sympathy, not only of outsiders, but even
of the officers. And the chief officers consequently do not
decide to punish this refusal of obedience with disciplinary
measures. To save appearances, though, they shut the young man up
in prison, and write to the highest military authorities to
inquire what they are to do. To refuse to serve in the army, in
which the Tzar himself serves, and which enjoys the blessing of
the Church, seems insanity from the official point of view.
Consequently they write from Petersburg that, since the young man
must be out of his mind, they must not use any severe treatment
with him, but must send him to a lunatic asylum, that his mental
condition may be inquired into and be scientifically treated.
They send him to the asylum in the hope that he will remain there,
like another young man, who refused ten years ago at Tver to serve
in the army, and who was tortured in the asylum till he submitted.
But even this step does not rid the military authorities of the
inconvenient man. The doctors examine him, interest themselves
warmly in his case, and naturally finding in him no symptoms of
mental disease, send him back to the army. There they receive
him, and making believe to have forgotten his refusal, and his
motives for it, they again request him to go to drill, and again
in the presence of the other soldiers he refuses and explains the
reason of his refusal. The affair continues to attract more and
more attention, both among the soldiers and the inhabitants of the
town. Again they write to Petersburg, and thence comes the decree
to transfer the young man to some division of the army stationed
on the frontier, in some place where the army is under martial
law, where he can be shot for refusing to obey, and where the
matter can proceed without attracting observation, seeing that
there are few Russians and Christians in such a distant part, but
the majority are foreigners and Mohammedans. This is accordingly
done. They transfer him to a division stationed on the Zacaspian
border, and in company with convicts send him to a chief officer
who is notorious for his harshness and severity.

All this time, through all these changes from place to place, the
young man is roughly treated, kept in cold, hunger, and filth, and
life is made burdensome to him generally. But all these
sufferings do not compel him to change his resolution. On the
Zacaspian border, where he is again requested to go on guard fully
armed, he again declines to obey. He does not refuse to go and
stand near the haystacks where they place him, but refuses to take
his arms, declaring that he will not use violence in any case
against anyone. All this takes place in the presence of the other
soldiers. To let such a refusal pass unpunished is impossible,
and the young man is put on his trial for breach of discipline.
The trial takes place, and he is sentenced to confinement in the
military prison for two years. He is again transferred, in
company with convicts, by étape, to Caucasus, and there he is shut
up in prison and falls under the irresponsible power of the
jailer. There he is persecuted for a year and a half, but he does
not for all that alter his decision not to bear arms, and he
explains why he will not do this to everyone with whom he is
brought in contact. At the end of the second year they set him
free, before the end of his term of imprisonment, reckoning it
contrary to law to keep him in prison after his time of military
service was over, and only too glad to get rid of him as soon as
possible.

Other men in various parts of Russia behave, as though by
agreement, precisely in the same way as this young man, and in all
these cases the government has adopted the same timorous,
undecided, and secretive course of action. Some of these men are
sent to the lunatic asylum, some are enrolled as clerks and
transferred to Siberia, some are sent to work in the forests, some
are sent to prison, some are fined. And at this very time some
men of this kind are in prison, not charged with their real
offense--that is, denying the lawfulness of the action of the
government, but for non-fulfillment of special obligations imposed
by government. Thus an officer of reserve, who did not report his
change of residence, and justified this on the ground that he
would not serve in the army any longer, was fined thirty rubles
for non-compliance with the orders of the superior authority.
This fine he also declined voluntarily to pay. In the same way
some peasants and soldiers who have refused to be drilled and to
bear arms have been placed under arrest on a charge of breach of
discipline and insolence.

And cases of refusing to comply with the demands of government
when they are opposed to Christianity, and especially cases of
refusing to serve in the army, are occurring of late not in Russia
only, but everywhere. Thus I happen to know that in Servia men of
the so-called sect of Nazarenes steadily refuse to serve in the
army, and the Austrian Government has been carrying on a fruitless
contest with them for years, punishing them with imprisonment. In
the year 1885 there were 130 such cases. I know that in
Switzerland in the year 1890 there were men in prison in the
castle of Chillon for declining to serve in the army, whose
resolution was not shaken by their punishment. There have been
such cases in Sweden, and the men who refused obedience were sent
to prison in exactly the same way, and the government studiously
concealed these cases from the people. There have been similar
cases also in Prussia. I know of the case of a sub-lieutenant of
the Guards, who in 1891 declared to the authorities in Berlin that
he would not, as a Christian, continue to serve, and in spite of
all admonitions, threats, and punishments he stuck to his
resolution. In the south of France a society has arisen of late
bearing the name of the Hinschists (these facts are taken from the
PEACE HERALD, July, 1891), the members of which refuse to enter
military service on the grounds of their Christian principles. At
first they were enrolled in the ambulance corps, but now, as their
numbers increase, they are subjected to punishment for non-
compliance, but they still refuse to bear arms just the same.

The socialists, the communists, the anarchists, with their bombs
and riots and revolutions, are not nearly so much dreaded by
governments as these disconnected individuals coming from
different parts, and all justifying their non-compliance on the
grounds of the same religion, which is known to all the world.
Every government knows by what means and in what manner to defend
itself from revolutionists, and has resources for doing so, and
therefore does not dread these external foes. But what are
governments to do against men who show the uselessness,
superfluousness, and perniciousness of all governments, and who
do not contend against them, but simply do not need them and do
without them, and therefore are unwilling to take any part in
them? The revolutionists say: The form of government is bad in
this respect and that respect; we must overturn it and substitute
this or that form of government. The Christian says: I know
nothing about the form of government, I don't know whether it is
good or bad, and I don't want to overturn it precisely because I
don't know whether it is good or bad, but for the very same reason
I don't want to support it either. And I not only don't want to,
but I can't, because what it demands of me is against my
conscience.

All state obligations are against the conscience of a Christian--
the oath of allegiance, taxes, law proceedings,
and military service. And the whole power of the government rests
on these very obligations.

Revolutionary enemies attack the government from without.
Christianity does not attack it at all, but, from within, it
destroys all the foundations on which government rests.

Among the Russian people, especially since the age of Peter I.,
the protest of Christianity against the government has never
ceased, and the social organization has been such that men
emigrate in communes to Turkey, to China, and to uninhabited
lands, and not only feel no need of state aid, but always regard
the state as a useless burden, only to be endured as a misfortune,
whether it happens to be Turkish, Russian, or Chinese. And so,
too, among the Russian people more and more frequent examples have
of late appeared of conscious Christian freedom from subjection to
the state. And these examples are the more alarming for the
government from the fact that these non-compliant persons often
belong not to the so-called lower uneducated classes, but are men
of fair or good education; and also from the fact that they do not
in these days justify their position by any mystic and exceptional
views, as in former times, do not associate themselves with any
superstitious or fanatic rites, like the sects who practice self-
immolation by fire, or the wandering pilgrims, but put their
refusal on the very simplest and clearest grounds, comprehensible
to all, and recognized as true by all.

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