In one famous incident, one of Tolstoy's relatives who was visiting his home demanded meat for dinner, Tolstoy responded by acquiring a live chicken which he tied to her table and offered her a knife to slaughter it. "How can one hope that peace and prosperity will be established in the world if our bodies are living graves where killed animals are buried?" asked the great writer.
Tolstoy died in 1910 and his vegetarian societies continued to grow until the Russian revolution of 1917 after which the societies were persecuted and banned.