Under the three guiding principles of education instead of upbringing, freedom instead of coercion and experience instead of dogma, Lev N. Tolstoy (Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoy) propagated a free school order that was to provide for a new type of school in Russia according to the standard of free learning in institutions. The concept followed the pedagogical principle of individual freedom and was not intended to be an instrument of education in the sense of indoctrination. Rather, following the reform pedagogical aspirations of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the new form of school was to be a place of independent, voluntary education oriented towards everyday life. The "Reich der Kinder" was a school for workers' and peasants' children, governed by around 800 children themselves. The pupils' activities included distributing only vegetarian food that they had prepared themselves and maintaining the objects on site.

Formation of a grassroots democratic form of school, which was to provide for new learning with new guiding principles. Following Jean-Jacques Rousseau's reform pedagogical aspirations, the new form of school was to be a place of independent, voluntary education oriented towards everyday life.

Lew N. Tolstoi