Heritage of the Kuzbass Communards in the context
of an actual research of L. N. Tolstoy’s work

The paper focuses on the study of the receptive field of Leo Tolstoy’s ideology in terms
of forming a holistic view of the writer’s work. The analysis of Tolstoy’s aesthetics and poetics
turns out, in many cases, to be unproductive without addressing the basic provisions of the doctrine system created by him. The shift from the aesthetic field to the teaching role of literature
determined not only the nature of Tolstoy’s literary work in the 1880s – 1910s but also the angle
of the reader’s perception of his works. This research is aimed at justifying the necessity of studying the reader’s reception of the writer’s literary works in the heritage of “Tolstoyans,” for whom the “teacher’s” compositions became not only a source of moral bases but also an inspiration for
their own creative pursuits. The actual material sources include the fieldwork materials, diaries,
letters, articles, and literary works by the members of the Commune living on the territory of the
Kemerovo region. Analysis of these materials within the framework of a receptive aesthetics and
discourse approach results in the conclusion that the Siberian Communards’ literary legacy represents a special discourse that conceptually reflects on the ideas of Tolstoyism.