“What extent was the Soviet Government’s policy on religion consistently hostile in the years 1917-85?”

Question 1

“What extent was the Soviet Government’s policy on religion consistently hostile in the years 1917-85?”
Violence - not consistent

Answer 1

• Lenin was convinced that the Church was an enemy of the revolution, and therefore he used terror to try to undermine the Church. In the first year of the revolution senior priests in the Orthodox Church were terrorised: Orthodox priests in Moscow were massacred in January following a Church decree excommunicating the Bolsheviks
  More extreme measures were sanctioned in November 1918 when the Politburo issued a secret order to the Cheka sanctioning the mass execution of priests. Within two years most of the most popular Orthodox priests had been killed.
• During the collectivisation drive, Stalin ordered the closure of many churches in the country largely because they were aiding resistance to his policies. Outside of Russia, Stalin set targets for the number of people from different ethnic groups that he wanted purged.
• Khrushchev’s major anti-religious campaign started in 1958. It included the following measures: Churches reopened during and after the Second World War were closed. Anti-religious propaganda was reintroduced. Anti-religious magazines were reintroduced, for example Science and Religion was published regularly from 1960. Roman Catholic monasteries were closed in 1959.
• Brezhnev ended the prior overt campaign against religion. Church closures stopped and so did the poster campaigns. Brezhnev advocated spreading the philosophy of atheism rather than attacking religious organisations or practices.

Question 2

“What extent was the Soviet Government’s policy on religion consistently hostile in the years 1917-85?”
Propaganda campaigns - consistent

Answer 2

• One strategy used against Orthodox Church was the establishment of the Living Church. The Living Church claimed to be a reformed version of the old Orthodox Church in which ordinary people had power. The Living Church, aided by the GPU, organised a national congress in April 1923 which deposed Patriarch Tikhon and introduced a new decentralised structure. This was part of a government-backed strategy to split the Church, take away its central leader and weaken its national structure.
• Khrushchev’s major anti-religious campaign started in 1958. It included the following measures: Churches reopened during and after the Second World War were closed. Anti-religious propaganda was reintroduced Anti-religious magazines were reintroduced, for example Science and Religion was published regularly from 1960. Roman Catholic monasteries were closed in 1959.
• Khrushchev’s campaigns particularly targeted female believers, as government figures showed that two-thirds of Orthodox church goers were women and over 80 percent of Protestant Christians were women. Moreover, he was concerned that women were passing on religious beliefs to their children. Therefore from 1960 a propaganda campaign encouraged men to take the leading role in the education of their children. There were also campaigns against nuns, which accused them of being unnatural women’ for refusing to do their ‘natural duty’ by becoming wives and mothers. Churches and Islamic groups were banned from running special events for women, such as women-only prayer meetings.

Question 3

“What extent was the Soviet Government’s policy on religion consistently hostile in the years 1917-85?”
Religious tolerance

Answer 3

• During the Second World War Stalin made a pragmatic alliance with the Church. One of his strategies for winning the war was to appeal to the patriotism of the Russian people to boost morale and inspire them to fight. Stalin reached out to the Church during the war for a number of reasons: The Russian Orthodox Church was linked to Russian national identity.
• Early in the war Stalin reached an understanding with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Sergey urged Christians to fight for the motherland. proclaiming Stalin ‘God’s chosen leader’.
• In return, the government changed its policy towards the Church: From the outset of war anti-religious propaganda ceased. Communist publications, such as Bezbozhnik (‘The Godless’), were officially closed.
• During the Second World War, the easing of restrictions on the Church led to growth. The Orthodox Church grew and the priesthood expanded from 9254 in 1946 to 11,827 in 1948.
• 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.

Question 4

“What extent was the Soviet Government’s policy on religion consistently hostile in the years 1917-85?”
Violence towards other religious groups

Answer 4

• During the 1920s Soviet authorities initiated campaigns against Islamic groups. Communists objected to Islam for two main reasons. First, they claimed that Islam encouraged “crimes based on custom’, particularly those infringing women’s rights.
• Secondly, they recognised that 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. In order to weaken Islam the Soviet authorities:
• Closed mosques, turning them into sports clubs or storage depots discouraged pilgrimages attacked Islamic shrines started campaigns against women wearing the chador, a traditional form of dress which sometimes included a a veil opened anti-Islamic museums in the midst of recognised holy places.
• The NKVD began to target groups that had been set up to “save Islam from Marxist pollution” and by 1936 these groups had been destroyed even in stronghold areas such
  as Turkestan. However, traditions stayed alive among the populations.