They Called Him a Radical: The Memoirs of Pete Maloff and the Making of a Doukhobor Pacifist

Peter ＂ Pete＂ Maloff was born in Saskatchewan in 1900, the year after the first Doukhobors, including his parents, immigrated to Canada. Living through the eras of WWI and WWII in a Doukhobor community strengthened his deep-rooted belief in pacifism and, at a young age, he dedicated himself completely to the idea that there must be another way to solve conflicts. This quest, as well as Maloff’s status as an ’ outsider, ’ was not always welcomed-- judges and wardens considered him a radical and his influence a threat, and his outspokenness and peaceful protests resulted in house arrest and years in Canadian jails. In They Called Him a Radical, Vera Maloff revisits her grandfather’s memoirs, written while under house arrest and covering the formative years from his birth to his late twenties, during which Pete’s resolve to live as a pacifist was cemented. Here, Pete writes of growing up in the new Canadian Doukhobor community at the turn of the century, meeting influential figures in the pacifist movement in California, his time in a cooperative freedom colony in Oregon, and his turning to writing, as he truly believed that the pen could be mightier than the sword.

Peter ＂ Pete＂ Maloff was born in Saskatchewan in 1900. He spent the first years of his life in the Doukhobor community of Christianovka. He dedicated his life to pacifism and was jailed for his activism. During his time under house arrest, he wrote his memoirs of the first thirty years of his life. Upon his release from house arrest in 1943, he continued to write and to speak to audiences about peace and equality. In the 1940s, he authored his comprehensive book, Doukhobors: Their History, Life and Struggle. He lived alongside his family until his passing in 1971. Vera Maloff was born into a Doukhobor family in the Kootenay valley of British Columbia. After retiring from a career in teaching, Vera began to record family stories passed down from generations. Her essays have been published in the Doukhobor magazine Iskra, in the West Kootenay Journal and in The New Orphic Review. Her first book, Our Backs Warmed by the Sun, was published by Caitlin Press in 2020. Vera lives with her partner, Steve, in the community of Shoreacres on the Slocan River, BC.