The Hutterites
of James Valley
Christopher Adam
The James Valley Hutterite colony is situated approximately six
kilometers from the Manitoban village of Elie and about 40km west of
Winnipeg. On September 27, 2007, twenty of us, all participants at the
Canadian Ethnic Studies Association’s biennial conference, visited this
small Anabaptist community to glimpse into the everyday existence of
the colony’s 95 inhabitants. The Hutterite religion was established by
Jakob Hutter in Central Europe during the 1520s, at the time of
Europe’s Protestant Reformation. Hutterites first arrived to Canada in
1918 from the United States, after being forced to leave for refusing
to serve in the US military during World War I. Several dozen colonies
were established in Alberta and Manitoba during the following decades.
According to the most recent estimates, there are 105 Hutterite
communities remaining in Manitoba and the total number of members
stands at an estimated 9,075 in this province. (1) Colonies
situated in Manitoba belong to the Schmiedeleut branch of Hutterites,
while 98 in Alberta and 29 in Saskatchewan, as well as two in British
Columbia, form part of the Dariusleut branch. (2) A third branch,
called the Lehrerleut, also has a fairly prominent presence in Alberta
and Saskatchewan, as well as in a handful of Midwestern states. The
James Valley colony, however, is considered to be one of the most
successfully run, in terms of both its social and economic existence.
At the centre of Hutterite existence is communal living, which closely
resembles the egalitarianism and sense of community that permeates life
in Israel’s Kibbutzim, despite the very different religious and
ideological differences that have led to the development of both types
of colonies. (3) Yet communal living within a larger society that
increasingly embraces individualism has its challenges, as do
occasional defections from these and the accessibility of unprecedented
amounts of information through the Internet. Some scholars have argued
that only Hutterites and the Kibbutzim have been successful in
implementing and maintaining a communal existence and that their
success can be attributed to the “cradle to grave” social and economic
security that the community provides its members, the incorporation of
modern technology despite the otherwise “traditional” lifestyle
embraced by the Hutterites, the central role of the family as the
smallest unit of the community and the effective instilment of a strong
work ethic. (4) In the case of the Hutterites, one would also
have to add to these factors the control of information that enters and
exits the community, which mostly involves limiting access to the
Internet for members of the colony.
Occasionally, Hutterites would welcome people from the “outside” to
observe life in their colony. Donald D. Huffman, a sociologist
affiliated with Cedar Crest College in the United States, is among a
small group of people who not only observed everyday life in a
Hutterite community, but was also an active participant in it, after
relocating to a colony in Minnesota during his Sabbatical, in order to
conduct scholarly research. According to Huffman’s first-hand
observations, genuine belief in the “community of goods” has always
been the key element that created and maintained social cohesion in the
colony. (5)
As our bus rolled out of Winnipeg, headed to James Valley, we caught a
glimpse of Manitoba’s vast, prairie landscape. Even though it was still
September, overnight frost had left its mark, with most trees already
adorned in autumnal colours, summer flowers bitten by the cold, windy
weather and yellowed leaves covering the ground. Upon arrival, we were
greeted by John Hofer, one of the colony’s leaders, who gave us a
guided tour of the community. In addition to showing us the community’s
schoolhouse, church, main dining hall, kitchen and farming facilities,
John provided us with some insightful information into the everyday
functioning of the colony and its relationship with Elie, and outside
society in general.
“Welcome to our beautiful world”—John said, smiling from ear to ear, as
we stepped off the bus. The bespectacled young father serves as the
community’s German and Bible teacher. As all other married men, John
grows a beard and enjoys voting rights when it comes to any issue—great
or seemingly small—that would impact the community’s life. This could
mean anything from the acquisition of new farming equipment to a
decision to divide the community down the middle in two parts and have
one half relocate and settle elsewhere, as was done recently in James
Valley. At the centre of Hutterian life is the concept that no one in
the community can afford to remain idle, as a strong work ethic on the
part of all members is the key to economic prosperity and social
cohesion. As such, when a colony reaches a population of about 160
inhabitants, the situation becomes more difficult to manage and it is
time to ask half the inhabitants to settle elsewhere.
As in the outside world, young Hutterite children start their education
in kindergarten, where the focus is on teaching them how to play,
interact and socialize with each other. Children are introduced to the
colony’s communitarian values at a very young age and this outlook is
reinforced in both elementary and high school. Local teachers from Elie
and elsewhere in Manitoba who visit the colony, take part in the
educational process, but John noted that it is ultimately in the
community’s best interest to have Hutterites train as teachers in the
outside world, in order to return and benefit the colony with their
acquired skills and provincial certification. During our visit, young
boys in suspenders, dark trousers and collar shirts, as well as girls
in long skirts and with head coverings played together on swings
outside the kindergarten, resembling children from the “outside” in all
but their attire.
Despite the Hutterite colony’s traditional, communitarian lifestyle,
tell-tale signs of the 21st century are everywhere. The main elementary
classroom is equipped with several computer terminals, although none
has internet access, in order to ensure that students are not tempted
to visit websites that contravene the colony’s moral and religious
values. The kitchen is equipped with the most up to date technology,
and closely resembles what one would expect to find in the cafeteria of
any major public institution. The colony’s farming equipment and their
agricultural techniques are visibly up to par with Manitoban standards
and great care is taken to ensure the health of the
livestock—especially the pigs—in order to keep them disease free and
maintain rigorous hygiene.
Everyone has a specific role in the community and most are assigned
their duties at a young age. Members are given a symbolic, token
‘salary’ of $3 each month, but in reality cash plays a minimal role in
the lives of most, as all food, clothing and other necessities are
provided by the community. Most meals are served in a communal dining
hall and all valuables are either shared, or divided equitably. This
form of communitarian living is often referred to as the “community of
goods,” and Hutterites believe that their way of life is a continuation
of the authentic practices of the early Christian church. (6)
As can be expected, religion plays a very central role in the colony.
As with other Anabaptists, Hutterites are baptized at a relatively late
age. For most people, baptism occurs when they are between 21 and 25
years old. Marriage also tends to occur after a young Hutterite male
has been baptized. While a young man is permitted to marry a girl from
another colony, the approval of the community’s elders is generally
required.
John also brought us into the community’s church--a small building with
a very ascetic interior. When the discussion turned to morals and
ethics, a number of us in the group became curious about how, or if,
the colony controlled what people read, in order to ensure that no
books or other publications deemed inappropriate or contrary to
Hutterite values got into the hands of members. John noted that the
only publications that were outright banned were “lustful magazines,”
but that families were ultimately free to have in their homes any books
or literature. As the community’s Bible teacher, however, John was keen
to convince his students to avoid western, cowboy novels, which he felt
usually involved recycled storylines and were a waste time. Instead,
youngsters were encouraged to read works of non-fiction (with John
specifically mentioning science books) as these served a ‘useful’
purpose and would expand one’s knowledge. Yet when it comes to reading,
as well as to all other aspects of life in this Hutterite colony, the
very nature of communal existence means that the inhabitants are always
accountable to each other. While there may be no central authority to
officially regulate books and literature, family, friends and
neighbours surely play an informal regulatory role, as they persuade or
dissuade others from specific activities.
Hutterites pray before each meal and also give thanks to God after
consuming their food. At the end of our tour, we were invited to the
colony’s dining hall and were provided with a simple lunch, comprised
of homemade breads, jam, cheeses, fresh butter and coffee. Meanwhile, a
group of women—all dressed in traditional Hutterite clothing—were
busily preparing for dinner in the kitchen and some were engaged in
storing preserves downstairs. As an indicator of self-sufficiency,
entire rooms were lined with shelves holding hundreds of jars of
pickled vegetables, compotes and fruits, all of which was from produce
grown by the community.
This relative self-sufficiency is one of the most concrete indications
of the colony’s wish to live apart from the world, as well as limit and
control contact with outside society. Since Hutterian existence is
firmly based on adherence to a communal ideology that permeates all
aspects of religious, social and economic life, the maintenance of
clear boundaries and decreasing vulnerability to the encroachments of
“modern,” mainstream Western society, is a matter of survival.
Yet breaking down stereotypes and preconceived notions that “outsiders”
may have when they think of communal existence in “traditional”
Anabaptist colonies as regressive and even oppressive is equally
important for the Hutterites, in order to ensure that their way of life
is both tolerated and respected by the majority population. Welcoming
participants of an ethnicity and immigration conference to spend an
afternoon in the colony was one way to build this trust with the
outside.
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Endnotes:
1. CBC News Indepth: The Hutterites, CBC News,
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/hutterites/) May 10, 2006. [Accessed
on: October 6, 2007]
2. “Geographical Distribution,” Hutterites.org,
(http://www.hutterites.org/geographicaldistribution.htm )
[Accessed on: October 6, 2007].
3. Our Hutterite guide emphasized that he has been in contact
with Kibbutzim, as representatives of these communities have looked to
successful colonies like James Valley, in order to more effectively
address challenges that face their communitarian existence. For a
comparative study on collectivism between the Hutterites and the
Kibbutzim, see: David Barkin, “Kibbutz and Colony: Collective Economies
and the Outside World,” Society
and History, Vol. 14, No. 4. (Sep., 1972), pp. 456-483.
4. Pierre L. van den Berghe, “Hutterites and Kibbutzniks: A Tale
of Nepotistic Communism,” Man,
New Series, Vol. 23, No. 3. (Sep., 1988), 522.
5. Donald W. Huffman, “Life in a Hutterite Colony: An Outsider's
Experience and Reflections on a Forgotten People in Our Midst,” American Journal of Economics and
Sociology, Vol. 59, No. 4. (Oct., 2000), 553.
6. “Amish, Hutterites,” Global
Mennonite Anabaptist Encyclopedia Online, Mennonite Historical
Society of Canada, (http://www.mhsc.ca/mennos/tamish.html ) 1998.
[Accessed on: October 6, 2007].
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Christopher Adam, "The Hutterites of James Valley." Kaleidoscope, Vol. 5, No.
6. Toronto. (Nov.-Dec. 2007), p. 27-29.