THE BULGARIAN TOLSTOIST TEACHERS AND THEIR INTERNATIONAL CONTACTS IN THE 1920s - 1940s
Keywords:
pedagogues, Tolstoyism, international relationsAbstract
The article analyzes the relations of the Bulgarian Tolstoy pedagogues in the 1920s - 1940s: prof. Dimitar Katsarov, Iliya Enchev, Nikola Venetov /Nikola Antonov Dimov/, Ana Tsanova, Zheni Bozhilova-Pateva - with related communities from different countries of the world:
- Communard Tolstoists from Russia;
- vegetarians from Germany;
- Doukhobors from Canada;
- pacifists from Switzerland and India.
The leading ideas that create these peculiar connections are:
- for free education at school;,
- for living in a peaceful society, denying war and violence;
- for joint cultivation of the land in cooperatives,
- for moral and material support of co-creators.
A historical-pedagogical study of state and personal archives in different cities of Bulgaria was carried out. Interviewed descendants of Bulgarian Tolstoy pedagogues.
As a result of the retrospective analysis, the following conclusions are drawn:
Tolstoy pedagogues in Bulgaria provide international support for refusals from military service and receive similar support from their co-thinkers abroad.
They share the visions of a new school of educational reformers from Europe, Asia and America.
Tolstoists have a certain role in building a united front against militarism and war both in Bulgaria and abroad.
The Bulgarian followers of Tolstoy are advocates for a peaceful working life and through the farm in Mechkur they clearly show their like-minded people from abroad how to work cooperatively and rely on fraternal mutual aid.
The strongest connections are between Bulgarian and Russian Tolstoy pedagogues /Evgeniy Ivanovich Popov, Anna Malorod, brothers Gustav and Gunter Turk/, which is evident from the periodical press with a similar ideological orientation.
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