religion

Question 1

what did Karl Marx claim religion was?

Answer 1

‘opium of the masses’

Question 2

lenins legal reforms

Answer 2

the october 1917 Decree on Land
the January 1918 Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State

Question 3

Who was tortured and shot in January 1918

Answer 3

metropolitan Vladimir

Question 4

Lenin gov view towards islam

Answer 4

. waqfs continued to fund schools in muslim areas
. communist leaders encouraged local Muslims to join the party

Question 5

why were lenins gov communists less antagonistic towards islam than russia orthodoc christianity

Answer 5

there had been no official link between Islam and Tsarism

Question 6

during the 1920s why did soviet authorities initiate campaigns against Islamic groups?

Answer 6

as they claimed islam encouraged ‘crimes based on custom’, particularly those infringing women’s rights
. islamic organisations had the loyalty of many people in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and therefore they wanted to destroy the religion in order to extend their own power

Question 7

in order to weaken islam the soviet authorities…

Answer 7

opened anti-islamic museums
discouraged pilgrimages
closed mosques

Question 8

nkvd, stalin and islam

Answer 8

In the Central Asian republics, where Islam was the dominant religion, the NKVD attacked local priests and intellectuals.

Question 9

religion and stalin and war

Answer 9

The Russian Orthodox Church was linked to Russian National Identity. Therefore, as patriotism re-awoke, it was natural for Russians to look to the Church. The Church provided comfort for bereaved families. Soldiers also found comfort in the thought that God would welcome them into heaven. When facing death in battle, one soldier commented that there was more comfort and inspiration in a few of Jesus’ words than there was in the entire works of Marx and Lenin

Question 10

Early in the war Stalin reached an understanding with leaders of the ROC…

Answer 10

Metropolitan Sergey, the Russian Orthodox Church’s most senior figure, urged Christians to fight for the motherland proclaiming Stalin ‘God’s chosen leader’. In return the government changed its policy towards the Church:
stalin promised that the Churches that had been closed by the government would re-open; 414 churches re-opened during the final year of the war

Question 11

When did Khrushchev’s anti religious campaign start and what measures did it include?

Answer 11

1958
churches re-opened after wwii were closed
anti-religious propaganda was reintroduced, for example science and religion was published

Question 12

When did Khrushchev’s anti religious campaign start and what measures did it include?

Answer 12

1958
churches re-opened after wwii were closed
anti-religious propaganda was reintroduced, for example science and religion was published regularly from 1960
patrols refused to let believers have access to holy sites

Question 13

what did brezhnev end and how

Answer 13

ended Khrushchev’s overt campaign against religion. Church closures stopped and so did the poster campaigns. Brezhnev advocated spreading the philosophy of religion rather than attacking religious organisations or practices.

Question 14

what did brezhnev end and how

Answer 14

ended Khrushchev’s overt campaign against religion. Church closures stopped and so did the poster campaigns. Brezhnev advocated spreading the philosophy of religion rather than attacking religious organisations or practices.

Question 15

what did Brezhnev open in 1968?

Answer 15

the Institute for Scientific Atheism, which published articles in newspapers and advised teachers how to spread atheism in the classroom.

Question 16

what did Brezhnev’s foreign policy of seeking allies in the Middle East lead to a change in?

Answer 16

Brezhnev’s foreign policy of seeking allies in the Middle East led to a change in policy towards Islam. Previous leaders had described Islam as a ‘backward and barbarian’ religion. Under Brezhnev, the government started supporting anti-American Islamic groups. As a result, from the late 1960s the Soviet Government described Islam as a ‘progressive, anticolonial and revolutionary creed’ that was compatible with socialism.