Eurasian Vegetarian Society »History in Russia

History in Russia

The history of vegetarianism in Russia - http://www.vegetus.info/russia/

Vegetarianism today - http://www.vegetus.info/russia/

Peter Brangues
Russia unknown. The cultural history of vegetarian lifestyles from the beginning to our days

Russia has a long tradition bezmyasnogo power during periods of fasting. Nevertheless, modern vegetarianism, which arose in the West in the middle of the XIX century. and are now experiencing a remarkable renaissance, came to her in 1890. Through the influence of Leo Tolstoy, as well as activities of such scholars as ANBeketov and Voeikov in Russia before the First World War formed a strong vegetarian movement. In the first book in detail, on the basis of archival material reveals its history. Show echo vegetarian ideas in the works of Leskov, Chekhov, Artsybasheva, V. Soloviev, Natalia Nordmann, Nazhivina, Mayakovsky, as well as artists Paolo Trubetskoy, Repin, Gay and many others. Depicts the fate of vegetarian societies, restaurants, magazines, attitudes toward vegetarianism doctors, a trend in the development of the movement until its suppression after 1917, when a vegetarian concepts continued to exist only in a "scientific utopias" and "science fiction".

Book by Peter Branga
"Russia is unknown. The cultural history of vegetarian lifestyles from the beginning to the present day can be purchased on the web -
http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/2806254/
http://www.gnosisbooks.ru/news.php
http://www.bookazin.ru/id57989.html
http://www.sprinter.ru/books/1883150.html

Special fate of the Russian vegetarianism

Peter Brangues.

Among vegetarians all
the world's only Russian principle
"Thou shalt not kill" set mostly
condition of vegetarianism.
VP Wojciechowski [1]

Food - the existential need. Usually we eat every day. Daily Bread Give us this day. Food and associates, and separates the various human groups - nations, religious communities and families.

Nowadays, the growing role played by vegetarianism, bezmyasnoe or pure vegetable diet. However, it is better not to talk about vegetarianism as such. After all, there are many varieties of vegetarianism: a laktoovovegetariantsy (eat milk, cheese and eggs), laktovegetariantsy (milk and cheese), there vegantsy (no animal products), Alchemycal (no cooked food), fruktoedy or fruktoriantsy (just fruit). Besides, there are people, especially in Russia, who eat fish and consider themselves vegetarians. Between all these groups is a strict limit: one that separates laktovegetariantsev from vegantsev. After all, the consumption of milk and cheese still involves some form of animal, whether traditional or industrial.

Modern vegetarianism the West

Today in the industrial countries of Western Europe and the USA from 3 to 10% of the population adhere to one of the different modes of vegetarian food. In the U.S., according to surveys, 12 million people live on vegetarian diet, in the UK - 3.5 million, in Germany - 3. The vast majority of vegetarians in Western countries are laktoovovegetariantsami or laktovegetariantsami, to a lesser extent present vegantsy (in the U.S. half a million in Great Britain 200 000), and strict Alchemycal fruktoedov and generally very little. A growing number of supporters becoming "partial vegetarianism» («Teilzeitvegetarier»), limited, so to speak, "hot Sunday» («Sonntagsbraten»).

Vegetarianism is including the economic factor. In 2003, Germany had 2,148 stores of natural products, trading exclusively vegetarian food («Reformhäuser»), with an annual turnover of 658 million euros. In addition, there is an enormous network of retail outlets specializing in biological products («Bioläden»), as a rule, and so included in the special department of general food stores.

Regarding the dissemination of knowledge among the general public about vegetarianism - the knowledge that you can live without meat and fish - the level of information to the latest time was everywhere quite low, despite the fact that the vegetarian movement in individual countries have been in the middle of the nineteenth century. However, since mid-1980's, the level of public awareness of the vegetable diet significantly increased. The first reason is the work of the media. Newspapers and magazines, radio and television are trying to communicate to consumers as economic and environmental, and ethical and medical issues in particular that the image of power, which in modern society is predominant. In various discussions, talking about the causes of various metabolic disorders, on cancer and cardiovascular diseases, representatives of medicine is mentioned, and the benefits of vegetable diet, or only moderate consumption of meat products.

"The dogma of the protein, ruling in the XIX century, has been shattered. Pyramid food "is generally known - at the bottom as a basis for" healthy eating "fruits and vegetables in the middle of the flour products and potatoes, but the top - a small amount of meat and fish. It's possible, even in very small villages, hotels or restaurants do not offer the guests in addition to the traditional second dish with meat or fish, one or more vegetarian dishes. At the student and his high-school cafeterias this regime plays a decisive role, not only because of reduced costs. Hospitals vegetable (vegetarian) diets rarer, more rarely in nursing homes - the inhabitants still like to adhere to traditional forms of power.

In Russia the development of vegetarianism is still only planned, the number of vegetarians is relatively small both in absolute and relative terms. Meanwhile, in the years 1890-1917 is in Russia emerged considerable vegetarian movement, and which will be discussed below. It was suppressed after the October Revolution, and violent means. In addition, the specificity of socialization after 1917, and last but not least nationalized economy left little room for the implementation of the aspirations small community groups. Theme "vegetarianism" was taboo. Great Soviet Encyclopedia flatly stated: "Vegetarianism is based on false hypotheses and ideas in the Soviet Union has no followers," [2] .

Vegetarian ideas to the nineteenth century

Waiver of meat consumption, we find already in ancient times, beginning with the Pythagoreans VI century BC and up to the Platonic III century AD Porfiry. True, the ancient Greeks in general believed the main vegetable food, meat played an important role during the sacrificial rituals and festive. Thus, no physiological considerations made philosophical movements reject eating meat, but the belief in the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis), and the belief that ill-treatment of persons connected with cruelty to animals [3] . The Christian church in the West and the East from the beginning was to fight the vegetarian teachings, seeing their relationship with the various religious sects. And, indeed, for example, the Bogomil sect that arose in the Balkans (X-XIV century), and the Cathars in France and Italy (XII-XIV century) reject the use of meats. Middle Ages and the Renaissance almost did not know of vegetarianism in the modern sense. Ardent opponents of animal food, such as Leonardo da Vinci, were the exception rather than the rule. But the Renaissance, rediscovering the ancient culture, and thus prepared the way for a new vegetarian movement. Subsequently, vegetarians sometimes called "Pythagoreans."

The emergence of modern vegetarianism

"Modern" vegetarianism is beginning to emerge in the West with the eighteenth century and especially in Protestant countries, already did not know the church office. In the first place it occurs in the environment in which meat consumption per capita was particularly high (England, USA). Significant impact on the spread of vegetarian ideas were many philosophers, writers and poets - Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Gay and others. Percy Bysshe Shelley made an ardent vegetarian lifestyle in the treatises «On the Vegetable System of Diet» and «A Vindication of Natural Diet», as well as in a voluminous footnote 17 to the poem "Queen Mab" [4] .

In 1847, in Manchester, was established the first significant association vegetarians, «The Vegetarian Society». In New York in 1859 was also osnovano "American vegetarian consent» («The American Vegetarian Convention»). An outstanding representative of vegetarianism in the U.S. was Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), a Presbyterian minister, received a science education. He advocated a simple meal and a healthy lifestyle. Subsequently, his name was given some bread products wholemeal (graham bread). In the future, physician John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943) continued the tradition, preaching a sort of "moral physiology.

A little later than in the English-speaking countries, vegetarian movement began to spread in Germany. In 1867 Nordgauzene Pastor Edward Balzer, founded the "Union of Friends of the natural way of life» («Verein von Freunden der natürlichen Lebensweise»), and in 1868 Gustav von Struve, one of the participants in the revolution of 1848, headed "Vegetarian Society» («Die vegetarische Gesellschaft ») in Stuttgart. The two most significant society united in 1892 in the German Vegetarian Union »(« Deutscher Vegetarierbund »), however, is not without moral support from Leo Tolstoy. German vegetarian movement more than the rest was a reaction to the processes of industrialization, urbanization and associated changes in diet. The answer to these processes and desire to become a general reform of life (Lebensreform): return to nature, to promote gardening and exercise.

In Roman Catholic countries - France, Italy, Poland, and also in the German Catholic lands - vegetarianism to date received less common, in many respects thanks to the church office. In France before the revolution of 1789 the clergy and laity fasted approximately 160 days of the church year. But between 1850 mi and 1920's the number of fasting days of steady decline, while in the second half of the twentieth century church in general practically abandoned strict fasting. And in 1899 was founded "Vegetarian Society of France» («Société Végétarienne de France»). The peculiarity of the French vegetarianism was considered to focus on "scientific ideas", to focus on medical issues and physical development.

The emergence of vegetarian movement in Russia

Modern vegetarianism reached Russia late. There are different reasons. We say that two of the most important. First, in Russia the process of industrialization started later than in Europe and North America. In addition, Russia has already had a thousand-year tradition of religious abstinence from meat. Not only for the Russian monasticism, but also for the faithful of the Orthodox layman post until the beginning of XX century, continued to play a greater role than in European countries. Four lengthy period of fasting and fasting mode on Wednesdays and Fridays lead to the total number of fasting days in a year exceeds 220. In 1906, Jenny Schultz, one of the first activists vegetarian movement in Russia, reported the readers coming out in Frankfurt am Main journal «Vegetarische Warte»: «The many and in most cases, long periods of fasting followed the rich and poor people in the town and village with great integrity. This is the reason that the local population so easy to arrange to vegetarianism. [...] What is missing is promoting.

Yet in mid-1860 in St. Petersburg became the first company vegetarians. Called him in jest: "Neither fish nor fowl." And in 1878, a prominent Russian botanist Andrew Beketov (1825-1902) in the August issue of The Messenger of Europe 'published study "Human Nutrition in the present and future" - came out strongly in defense of the vegetarian lifestyle. In this article, you can find all the basic arguments, which even today are in favor vegetable diet: the physiology of food (you can not live without meat, which proves a big part of living inhabitants of the Earth), savings (can not be entered for all mankind dietary habits of the European bourgeoisie) , environment (production of vegetable food requires much less soil) and ethics (the real humanity - love, not one person, but to all living things). Brochure Beketova was soon translated into German and French, but in Russia it passed almost unnoticed at first.

"The sun vegetarian world" - Leo Tolstoy

Yet since the early 1890's, vegetarianism in Russia has spread rapidly. This occurred primarily due to the authority of Leo Tolstoy, which in 1884 turned to bezmyasnomu nutrition and has since worked constantly in his defense. The refusal of animal food, Tolstoy saw a "first step" upgrade moral life. His preaching abstinence, simplification, a return to natural life, but most call "Thou shalt not kill!" - Influenced the distribution of plant food to Russia, and the fact that he was strengthened called "cruelty-free food." Essay Tolstoy's first step "(1892) soon became a have a huge impact on the vegetarian movement in Russia, and didst abroad. This work is regarded as a kind of "bible" of the Russian vegetarians. Impressed by this book a number of prominent figures of Russian culture - Nikolai Leskov, Nikolai Ge and Ilya Repin - became vegetarians.

Vegetarianism - food question or outlook?

From 1892 to 1914 the Russian vegetarian movement continued rapid expansion. However, soon - and more clearly than in the West - is where the differences between the two main currents: religious ethics and hygiene. Publishing "Intermediary" has launched a vegetarian treatise in the spirit of Tolstoy.

February 16, 1896 in Moscow, "a meeting at the IODE, in the presence of Tatiana Lvovna Tolstoy and chaired by Paul Biryukov, was" unanimously determined to consider the main principles of vegetarianism his moral grounds " [5] .

However, as St. Petersburg Vegetarian Society, founded in December 1901 and the first Russian Vegetarian Journal - "Vegetarian Journal" (St. Petersburg, 1904-1905), sponsored by primarily university professors and doctors were more likely vegetarianism "Western type. Professor Ivan Tarkhanov as the goal of the journal marked "to find out impartially on the basis of scientific strengths and weaknesses vegetarianizma in terms of human, biological and medical" [6] .

The circumstances as leading inevitably to the general thrust of vegetarianism in Russia, became the foundation of the Moscow Vegetarian Society "(1909-1930 years) and the important role of second-vegetarian magazine -" vegetarian reviews, edited by Joseph perper (first in Chisinau, and then in Kiev in 1909 -1915 years). Thanks to the activities of these institutions has won "Tolstoy's direction": vegetarianism was understood as an ideology, which aims at a thorough reform of both personal and public life. In 1909, the aforementioned Jenny Schultz wrote in a German magazine «Vegetarische Warte»: «In general, the Russian people have a lot of idealism. Here, look at vegetarianism for the most part with a perfect side; hygienic side yet little known " [7] .

Moscow became the center of "Tolstoy's" vegetarianism even more so after 1912 there arose the same company "spiritual awakening". This new association has taken the initiative to organize the first All Vegetarian Congress, which took place in Moscow on 16-20 April 1913 (it was attended by 200 people), after overcoming numerous obstacles imposed by the authorities. The predominance of the ideal of "Russian vegetarianism becomes particularly evident when comparing sequence order of the Congress to the ranking order of the Third International Congress of vegetarians in Brussels (1910). In Brussels, planned the following topics: 1. Vegetarianism and Health, 2. Vegetarianism as a means of treatment 3. Economic and social aspects of vegetarianism, and only then: 4. The moral side of vegetarianism.

The program of the Moscow congress was scheduled for another sequence of topics: 1. What is vegetarianism? 2. Vegetarianism and Morality 3. Vegetarianism and Beauty, 4. Vegetarianism from a religious point of view, 5. Vegetarianism and education. And just like threads 6 and 7, followed by: Vegetarianism and health, vegetarianism from an economic point of view. Takoe distribution of the main objectives was reflected in the resolutions adopted by the Moscow congress. However, participants of the Congress was unable to establish an All-Russian vegan organization. A second congress, which was scheduled to take place in 1914 and which was later postponed to 1915, has not taken place.

Vegetarian Society and dining

From 1900 to 1914 Russian vegetarians was launched major organizational activities. Были учреждены вегетарианские общества в 15 городах (Санкт-Петербург, 1901; Варшава, 1903; Киев и Кишинев, 1908; Москва, 1909; Вильно, 1910; Минск, 1911; Саратов, Полтавa, Одесса и Ростов-на-Дону, 1912; Харьков, 1913; Житомир, Екатеринослав, Екатеринодар и Тюмень, 1914). Правда, количество членов этих обществ не было высоким, оно менялось из года в год по разным причинам (высокие членские взносы, вмешательство властей – например, в 1910 году по приказу киевского губернатора Вегетарианскому обществу этого города пришлось исключить из числа своих членов всех студентов, то есть 25% своего состава). Количество членов в Петербурге никогда не превышало 174 человек, в Москве – 238, в Одессе – 270. Таким образом, общее количество членов в России колебалось между 1000 и 2000. Но подобное положение наблюдается и на Западе. Подавляющее большинство тех, кто предпочитает растительное питание, отказывается от строгой институциональной привязки. В Германии в 1900 году числилось 1213 членов Вегетарианского общества, а в 1905 году – 1935. Совсем недавно, в 1995 году, в нем числилось менее 4000 членов, в то время как, по данным опроса, число вегетарианцев равнялось 2,9 миллиона. Питание – как и многие другие вопросы стиля жизни – считается частным делом, хотя оно и является частным делом, весьма релевантным в общественно-политическом смысле [8] .

Однако вегетарианские столовые в предвоенной России росли как грибы и работали очень успешно. Если в 1904 году во всей России их насчитывалось не больше 10, то в 1914 году их было уже 73 в 37 городах. В Германии в 1913 году имелось 184 вегетарианских столовых или ресторанов, «лишь» вдвое больше, чем в России. А число посетителей одних только столовых, управляемых Московским вегетарианским обществом, составляло в 1909 году 11 000, а в 1913-м – 642 870. Тем не менее такие деятели русского вегетарианского движения, как Павел Бирюков и Николай Гусев, продолжали требовать, «чтобы вегетарианство понималось не как вопрос еды, а как вопрос религиозно-нравственного мировоззрения». Гигиенический интерес к растительному питанию был дезавуирован как «желудочное вегетарианство», как вегетарианство кухонное или «кулинарно-медицинское».

Разумеется, имелись и отдельные лица, которые изо всех сил старались пропагандировать вегетарианство именно как вопрос питания, сознавая, что постепенный отказ от потребления мяса мог бы иметь огромные медицинско-гигиенические, экономические, экологические, этические и, наконец, общественные последствия. Назовем среди них лишь профессора Александра Воейкова (1842-1916), «отца русской климатологии», разрабатывавшего – о чем умалчивают как справочные книги, так и его биографии – во многих своих трудах вопросы питания, поднятые Андреем Бекетовым; назовем писательницу Наталью Нордман (1863-1914), жену Ильи Репина, предложившую знаменитому физиологу Владимиру Бехтереву основать «кафедру вегетарианства» в Петербурге; осуществись эта мысль – кафедра стала бы первой в мире.

Новые споры о «направлении»

Война и революция

Когда разразилась Первaя мировaя войнa, то во всех воюющих странах вегетарианцы оказались перед дилеммой. Как можно противникам убийства животных проливать человеческую кровь? В России этот вопрос ставился особенно резко ввиду толстовского императива «Не убий!». Правда, именно такое доминирование этических, миролюбивых устремлений оградило деятелей русского вегетарианского движения от шовинистических заявлений вроде тех, которые делались в то время немецкими вегетарианцами, вернее, их официальными представителями, рассматривавшими в августе 1914-го «войну народов» как великий шанс для поощрения вегетарианства и приветствовавшими войну как возможность закалить народ, воспользовавшись нуждой в продуктах: «Довольствуйтесь трехразовым, а еще лучше двукратным питанием в день, при котором вы будете чувствовать [...] настоящий голод. Ешьте медленно; пережевывайте тщательно» [12] .

February Revolution of 1917 and hailed Russian vegetarians. «Раскрылись пред нами светлые врата лучезарной свободы, к которым давно шел измученный народ русский!» [13] Зазвучали призывы основать братские вегетарианские коммуны. Праздновалась отмена смертной казни. Вегетарианские общества России, заявил Нафталь Бекерман в «Вегетарианском вестнике», теперь ожидают следующего шага – «прекращения всякого убийства и отмены смертной казни над животными» [14] .

Октябрьская революция пробудила новые надежды. Однако большевики не проявили особого интереса к пожеланиям отдельных общественных групп. Подавление толстовцев и различных религиозных сект, а вместе с ними и вегетарианских организаций началось еще во время Гражданской войны. В 1921 году религиозные секты, преследовавшиеся при царской власти (в особенности до революции 1905 года), встретились для проведения первого Всероссийского съезда сектантских сельскохозяйственных и производительных объединений. В параграфе 11 резолюции съезда группа участников, «вегетарианцев по убеждению», заявила: «Мы считаем убийство не только человека, но и животных недопустимым грехом перед Богом и не употребляем мясной убойной пищи, а потому от лица всех сектантов-вегетарианцев просим Наркомзем не требовать от сектантов-вегетарианцев выполнения мясной повинности, как противной их совести и религиозным убеждениям» [15] . Съезд принял резолюцию единогласно. Владимир Бонч-Бруевич (1873-1955) прокомментировал это язвительной насмешкой, указав на то, что далеко не все секты, представленные на съезде, признавали себя вегетарианцами: молокане и баптисты, например, употребляют мясо.

Вегетарианцы в Советском Союзе

В период НЭПа Московское вегетарианское общество продолжало существовать. Но власти упорно отказывали совету Общества в утверждении устава, несмотря на то что бывшие друзья и приверженцы Толстого обратились за поддержкой к высшим инстанциям (в том числе к председателю Моссовета Льву Каменеву). Столовыe МВО продолжали работать, но в явно осложненных условиях. Весной 1929 года положение драматически обострилось. Протокол № 7 собрания МВО от 18 мая 1929 года завершается словами: «Считать законченными все ликвидационные дела О-ва» [16] . Впрочем, факт существования вегетарианских столовых еще в конце 1920-х годов подтверждается их ироничным упоминанием в романе Ильфа и Петрова «Двенадцать стульев» (1928).

С начала 1930-х годов вегетарианские идеи можно было найти лишь в работах по научной утопии питания – в книге «Пища будущего» (1979) химика Александра Несмеянова, президента Академии наук СССР в 1951-1961 годах, убежденного этического вегетарианца, рассматривавшего возможности создания и употребления синтетической пищи. Кроме того, вопросы вегетарианского образа жизни обсуждались в научно-фантастической повествовательной прозе, в повестях Константина Циолковского («Вне земли», 1920), а позднее в романах Эммануила Зеликовича («Следующий мир», 1930) и Александра Казанцева («Фаэты», 1974).

В период перестройки авторы отдельных работ по физиологии питания стали указывать на «значительный опыт изучения вегетарианства, накопленный за рубежом» [17] . В самом деле, есть немало указаний на то, что в результате 60-летнего табуирования в России данной темы уровень информации o существенных аспектах растительного питания пока что еще отстает от аналогичного в других странах. Так, Геннадий Фадеев в июне 1998 года сформулировал специфику судьбы вегетарианского движения в России следующим образом: «До революции особенный подъем общественного внимания к вопросам вегетарианского, или как тогда было модно выражаться, «безубойного» питания возник с начала девяностых годов прошлого века и резко упал в 1917 году после небезызвестных событий, потрясших державу. Вопрос – что есть? – большинством голодного населения стал рассматриваться в совершенно ином ракурсе… А когда людей накормили, оказалось, что тех просвещенных личностей, которые восприняли и способствовали возрождению прогрессивной идеи растительноядного питания человека, в России почти не осталось» [18] .

Как дальше?