Politics

The Hutterites emerged out of a period of religious, social, political, and economic turmoil that erupted into war and persecution. As part of the Anabaptist movement, they challenged the practice of infant baptism, refused to go to war, and advocated the separation of church and state. To these beliefs they added radical economic change, insisting that the Christian norm was to live and work communally. Such a challenge to the established order was intolerable to those in power. Although the Hutterites are a religious group, they have been politically threatening to governments for nearly five hundred years. Since their beginnings in Tyrol and Moravia, they have frequently been persecuted. Even today their views disturb politicians in both Canada and the United States. Nevertheless, Hutterites believe that governments are ordained by God and must therefore be obeyed, except when decrees conflict with their religious beliefs.

Because of persecution, they are suspicious of rulers and governments. Their belief in the separation of church and state includes the avoidance as much as possible of those who wield power. In recent years, Hutterites have voted if there were issues that they considered important locally, but usually they do not do so. Membership on local councils and boards is discouraged, although they may sit on agricultural boards that directly affect their economic welfare. Generally, Hutterites do not take part in politics outside their colonies. Nevertheless, their large corporate enterprises are increasingly touched by the multifaceted welfare state.

Their treatment during World War I was the major reason why most Hutterites left the United States for Canada in 1918. With the entry of the United States into the war the previous year, the public mood had become extremely anti-German. The 2,000 German-speaking Hutterites in nineteen colonies, who objected to military service, were easy targets. They refused to buy liberty bonds, which they believed supported the war effort, and angered many compatriots. Rumours circulated that flour sold to outsiders at South Dakota’s Bon Homme colony contained glass. Encouraged by the local newspapers, a mob drove two hundred steers and a thousand sheep off the settlement to be sold to compensate for the Hutterites’ lack of support for the war.

In contrast, Canada has accommodated Hutterites and their religious beliefs to some extent. By World War II, this country had provided alternative service, and Hutterite religious beliefs were recognized. Farm exemptions were granted to some members of the community, while others worked in alternative service camps. The Hutterites were permitted to stay together; they served in the Kananaskis camp in Alberta, and eighty were sent to Fort William (Thunder Bay) to load grain ships.

Contact with provincial governments with regard to landholdings has been extensive. When the Hutterites came to Canada in 1918, nine of the first fifteen colonies were established in Alberta, a sizeable presence that attracted notice. Within seventy years there were 130 colonies in the province, heavily concentrated in the south. In 1955 Alberta had passed a Communal Properties Act, which stipulated that colonies must be at least sixty-four kilometres apart and could not own more than 2,590 hectares each. The act forced the Hutterites to move farther north in the province and into Saskatchewan and Montana. In Manitoba, where colonies had also been begun in 1918, hearings were held on the landholding issue in 1947. The province was more reluctant to legislate, and it reached an informal agreement with Hutterite leaders in which they promised to limit colonies to 2,072 hectares per colony and locate them at least sixteen kilometres apart, with no more than two colonies in any one municipality. By 1969 both the Manitoba premier and the provincial Human Rights Commission considered the agreement unjust, and it was no longer followed after 1970. Hutterites had first arrived in Saskatchewan in 1958. Because of anti-Hutterite feeling, they too reached an agreement with the provincial government whereby colonies would be at least fifty-six kilometres apart and with holdings of no more than 4,047 hectares.

In addition to the issues of military service and landholding, schooling for their children has also brought Hutterites into conflict with governments. They believe that modern educational practices can fragment the community. Theories about human nature with which they disagree, history books with too much emphasis on war, and the promotion of assimilation all make them wary of the public school system. Eventually all the provinces and states in which Hutterites live agreed to operate schools in the colonies in buildings provided by the community and with teachers supplied by the local school board. This approach has worked well in all the jurisdictions.

The modern welfare state, with its income tax, family allowances, old age benefits, and pension and medical plans, has also been of concern to Hutterites and has led them to make their own arrangements. In 1969 they began to seek exemption from the Canada Pension Plan. The following year the federal cabinet decided against granting them exemption, but further negotiations resulted in an act of Parliament in 1974 that freed both the Hutterites and the Amish from participation in the plan. Canada’s income tax system also had been modified to accommodate Hutterite belief. When the rates were low, a sampling revealed that Hutterites would have no taxes to pay. Since they were not benefiting from family allowances and old age pensions, there was little pressure to change. More recently, the question was raised as to whether the colonies should be taxed as corporations or as individuals. By 1968 an agreement was reached with the federal government that they would pay taxes on a “deemed individual income” basis. The colony’s total income would be divided by the number of adult members and adjusted for the appropriate exemptions and reductions. The Schmiedeleut and Lehrerleut accepted this arrangement, but it was not until 1981, after a ruling from the Federal Court of Canada, that the Dariusleut came under a similar arrangement.