Organizing his homestead and running it properly be- comes a permanent obligation on the settler. For laziness, negligence and reluctance to occupy himself with home- steading he is reverted to the communal labor, that is, to convict status. He is sentenced to penal servitude for one year, and is removed from his hut to prison.
Article 402 of the Code permits the Governor-General of the Amur "to maintain at government cost those Sakha- lin settlers who are acknowledged by the local authorities to possess no private means." At present the majority of the Sakhalin settlers receive clothing and food allowances equal to prison rations from the government for the first two or three years after being released from penal labor. The administration renders such assistance to settlers on the grounds that it has a humane concern for their practical needs. In fact it would be difficult to see how a settler could build a hut, plow the land and earn his bread at the same time. Nevertheless, it is quite common to find an order showing that some settler is being deprived of his rations
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because of negligence, laziness and because "he did not begin building a house," etc.9
After ten years of settler status, the settlers are per- mitted to transfer to peasant status. This new term is accompanied by extensive rights. A peasant-formerly-a- convict can leave Sakhalin and settle anywhere he wishes in Siberia, with the exception of the Semirechensk, Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk provinces. He is permitted to join peas- ant societies with their approval, and can livc in cities, and engagc in trade and industry. Hc is now subjcct to trial and punishment by civil courts and not by thc Code on Convicts. Hc also reccivcs and sends correspondcnce through thc regular postal scrvice without the prcliminary censorship establishcd for convicts and scttlcrs. Ncvcrthc- lcss, thc main clcmcnt of cxile still rcmains in this ncw status; hc cannot rcturn to his homcland.10
Thc grant of pcasant rights in tcn ycars is not condi- tioned by any spccial provisions in thc Code. Exccpt for the conditions providcd in thc clauses to Articlc 375, the con- dition rcquiring a tcn-year pcriod is not dcpcndcnt upon whcthcr the sctdcr was a farming homcstcadcr or an ap- prenticc. Whcn wc talkcd about this, thc Supcrintcndent of Prisons of the Amur Kray, Mr. Kamorsky, confirmcd that the administration docs not havc thc right to rctain an exilc in his scttlcr status for longcr than tcn years, or to placc any conditions upon his rccciving pcasant rights. Howcvcr, I did cncountcr some old folk on Sakhalin who had cnjoycd scttlcr status for morc than tcn years and had not as yct bccn awardcd pcasant staws. I was unablc to chcck thcir claims against thc official list and thercforc can- not judgc as to thcir veracity. The old folk can makc mis- takes or cvcn lie, although with thc stupidity and confusion rampant among thc clcrks and thc ignorancc of thc younger officials, all kinds of capriccs can bc expccted from the Sakhalin officcs.
The ten-year tcrm can be cut to six ycars for those set- tlers who "bchaved in thc approved fashion, cngagcd in beneficial work and acquircd settler characteristics." This privilege pcrmitted by Article 377 is widely used by the
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island commandant and the district commandants. Almost all of the peasants with whom I became acquainted re- ceived this status in six years. Unfortunately, "beneficial labor" and "settler characteristics," which are the conditions enumerated in the Code for receiving the privilege, are understood differently in the three districts. For example, in the Tymovsk district a settler will not become a peasant so long as he is indebted to the government and his hut is not covered with boards. In Alexandrovsk a settler does not practice farming, does not need tools and seeds, and there- fore incurs smaller debts. He therefore can obtain his rights more easily.
One unconditional requisite is imposed: the settler must become a homesteader. Penal convicts more than others are people who by nature are incapable of becoming home- steaders, and they feel comfortable only when they are working for somebody else. When I asked whether a settler who does not have his own homestead because he works as a cook for an official or is a bootmaker's apprentice can ever profit from the reduction and actually receive peasant rights, I was told that it was true in the Korsakov district; the answers were more vague in both the Northern dis- tricts. Under such conditions there can obviously be no talk of norms, and if a new district commandant demands iron roofs and the ability to sing in a choir, it will be difficult to convince him that his demands are arbitrary.
\X'hen I was in Siyantsy, the settlement inspector or- dered twenty-five settlers to gather around the guardhouse and announced to them that by a decree of the island corn- mandant they had been transferred to peasant status. The decree was signed by the general on January 27, and an- nounced to the settlers on September 26. The joyful tid- ings were received in total silence by all twenty-five settlers. No one crossed himself or expressed gratitude; they all stood there with grave faces and were silent as though all of them had become homesick with the thought that every- thing on earth, even suffering, comes to an end. When Yartsev and I asked which of them would remain on Sa- khalin and which would leave, not one of the twenty-five expressed the desire to remain. They all said they yearned to return to the mainland and would gladly leave immedi- ately, but they had no money and would have to think it over. As they talked, they agreed that it is not sufficient to have money for the fare because they would also have to spend money on the mainland. They would have to plead for acceptance into society and entertain everyone, and they would have to buy land and build a house, and finally they would need about 150 rubles. And where could they get a sum as large as that?
In spite of its size, I found only 39 peasants in Rykovskoye, and they had no intention of putting down their roots here. They were all planning to leave for the mainland. A man called Bespalov was building a large two- story house with a balcony on his plot; it was rather like a country villa. They were all observing the building with perplexed looks on their faces, and they could not under- stand why he was building it. That a rich man with grown sons should remain in Rykovskoye forever when he had the means to settle anywhere outside of Sakhalin gave them the feeling that he was suffering from a strange whimsical extravagance. When I asked a cardsharp peasant in Dubky if he would go to the mainland, he stared proudly at the ceiling and answered, "I will make an effort to leave."11
The peasants are driven from Sakhalin by a feeling of insecurity, loneliness and constant fear for their children. The main reason is the peasant's passionate longing to live in freedom before he dies and to live a real life, not a prison existence. They speak of Ussuriysky Kray and the Amur, both of them nearby, as the promised land. You sail on a boat for three or four days, and then you come upon freedom, warmth, harvest. People who have moved to the mainland and settled there write to their Sakhalin friends saying that people shake hands with them and vodka costs only 50 kopecks a bottle.
Once when I was strolling along the pier in Alexan- drovsk, I entered the cutter boathouse and saw an old man of sixty or seventy and an old woman. They were sur- rounded with bundles and bags and were obviously all ready to travel. We started to talk. The old man had re- cently received his peasant rights and was now leaving for the mainland with his wife; he would go to Vladivostok and then "wherever God sends us." They said they had no money. The boat was scheduled to depart in twenty-four hours but they had already come to the pier and were hid- ing in the cutter boathouse with their belongings and wait- ing for the boat, as though they were afraid they would be turned back. They spoke of the mainland with affection, with reverence and with the conviction that they would find a truly happy life.