religion under Lenin

Question 1

Marx had described religion as ‘the opium of the people’ used to?

Answer 1

justify the power of the upper classes over the people

Question 2

The Bolsheviks were aggressively atheistic, saw religion as a sign of?
What did Lenin declare the party’s aim was?

Answer 2

saw religion as a sign of backwardness
lenin declared the party’s aim was to ‘destroy the ties between the exploiting classes and the organisation of religious propaganda’ and replace it with scientific education

Question 3

However, Lenin did not see the church as a threat, what did he allow after the October revolution?

Answer 3

allowed freedom of worship after the October revolution

Question 4

Lenin accepted that raw largely atheist Bolshevik minority were surrounded by an overwhelmingly Christian Orthodox minority, what did he believe was the best policy?

Answer 4

toleration

Question 5

In January 1918 what did the Bolsheviks issue and what did this mean?

Answer 5

The bolsheviks issued the Decree on the separation of Church and State
This declared that the Church could not own property, church buildings had to be rended

Question 6

church schools and seminaries were?
religious instruction in schools were?

Answer 6

schools + seminaries taken over by the state
religious instruction= outlawed

Question 7

when was the teaching of religion in schools forbidden?

Answer 7

from 1921

Question 8

what were priests and clerics declared as?

Answer 8

‘servants of the bourgeoisie’

Question 9

The fact the priests and clerics were seen as the ‘servants of the bourgeoisie’ what did this mean?

Answer 9

they were not allowed to vote
did not receive ration cards , or got those of the lowest category

Question 10

deprived of rations meant that?

Answer 10

hundreds of peasants lost their lives during the years of War communism

Question 11

who was Patriarch Tikhon?

Answer 11

the head of the Orthodox Church

Question 12

Patriarch Tikhon’s attitude to the bolsheviks?

Answer 12

denounced the bolsheviks and called upon the faithful to resist them by all possible spiritual means

Question 13

when was Tikhon arrested?

Answer 13

he was arrested in 1922 for his opposition to the direction of government policy
he chose to accept religious changes = and was result was released , and on his death in 1925 given a state funeral

Question 14

The Bolsheviks mounted an enormous propaganda , in 1921 what was established? What did they do?

Answer 14

the Union of Militant Godless was established = branches across the country
They held events such as debates to prove that God did not exist

Question 15

the union of militant godless had its own?
where were peasants taken?

Answer 15

newspaper = which attacked the clergy as fat apcsites living off the peasantry
relics and icons ridiculed
peasants were taken for rides in planes to show that there was no God in the sky

Question 16

what was instead promoted as the new ‘religion’ ?

Answer 16

communism

Question 17

public and private religious rituals were bolshevism, how?

Answer 17

Christmas and easter became Komsomol Christmas
instead of baptisms children were ‘octobered’ with names e.g Ninel (Lenin spelt backwards)

Question 18

red weddings were conducted in front of?

Answer 18

a portrait of Lenin rather than an alter
- couples making vows to each other and the principles of communism

Question 19

anti-clerical propaganda can be seen when Lenin used what to attack the churches?

Answer 19

Lenin used the famine of 1921-22 to demand that churches surrender its valuables including vessels used in rituals, for famine relief
instructions sent to local soviets to seize the valuables

Question 20

how many people were killed or executed in 1922 in the anti-Church campaign?

Answer 20

• more than 800 people were killed or executed
  including:
  28 bishops
  1215 priests