Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) (Russian: Христианская Община Всемирного Братства[1]) was the main spiritual and economic organization of the majority of Doukhobors from Russia in Canada, followers of Peter V. Verigin, from its incorporation in 1917 until its bankruptcy in 1938.
Verigin explained to his followers in an 1896 letter: "The name 'Doukhobor' is not understood by outsiders ... yet the name 'Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood' will tell more clearly that we look on all men as our brothers, according to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.
At one end of the range of possibilities, the settlers could become individual homesteaders, each family living on and farming its allotment of 160 acres (0.65 km2), as envisioned in Dominion Lands Act and encouraged by the Canadian authorities.
There were, of course, also many intermediate options - as, e.g. in a typical 19th century Russian peasant community, where land was owned collectively, but partitioned (and regularly repartitioned) among families for individual farming.
On the practical level, whatever their private beliefs, most of the poorer members of the community simply could not afford to strike out on their own, and would follow the communal-minded leaders.
In the early years (1904,[5] 1906 (Doukhobor Genealogy Website)[6]), these meetings took place in the now-defunct village of Nadezhda, some 10 km of Veregin, Saskatchewan.
Soon after assuming office (1905), Frank Oliver demanded that, in order to keep their land, the Doukhobors naturalize as British subjects, swearing the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown.
Verigin solution to this catastrophe was to privately buy land in British Columbia in his own name, and resettle his followers there, in communal villages of their liking.
Attempts of Verigin's widow, Anastasia F. Golubova (1885–1965) Russian: Анастасия Ф. Голубова[-Божья]; often spelled in English as Holuboff), who had been Verigin's common-law wife for some 20 years, to lead the community, were supported by only a few hundreds Doukhobors, who in 1926 split from CCUB, forming a breakaway organization called "The Lordly Christian Community of Christian Brotherhood" (Russian: Господняя Христианская Община Всемирного Братства).