Life in a penal battalion of the Imperial Russian Army

Published here for the first time in English, this document provides a unique account by a young peasant conscript in the Imperial Russian army-and follower of the pacifist teaching of the great Russian novelist Leo Talstoy-who was sentenced to serve two years in a penal battalion as a result of his refusal to bear arms. N. T. Iziumchenko's narrative points to an alternative tradition of non-violent protest against injustice and commitment to universal values. It shows that in Russia such sentiments were by no means confined to the westernized intelligensia but had authentic popular roots.