Religious Intolerance in the USSR after 1929

Religious Intolerance

The root of the USSR was Karl Marx and the leaders of it followed his teachings. Marx saw religion as an error and a false understanding of the world, so this idea was fundamentally placed in the mind of all Marxist thinkers that led the USSR.

Marx believed religion would whither away as Revolution gained pace and the world became more realistic, however Lenin wanted Religion eradicated much more rapidly as he already had sped up Marx’s theory.

The real active intolerance began in spring 1918, with the brutal murder of Church leaders, Nuns, Monks and Priests. The Cheka shot those celebrating Religious holidays and not working. Churches were robbed of their gold, silver and riches with their religious texts also being burnt.

The real intolerance of Religion was yet to come but really began under Stalin’s rule when in 1929 Religion was outlawed outside of Churches or other areas that the Soviets designated (of course which would be sub standard and often abandoned areas). Christmas had already been completely outlawed. The Muslim faith was said to be nearly wiped out of Russia as only 2,000 Mosques remained across the nation.

Churches received heavy taxes and those who could not pay had their buildings seized and destroyed by the Government. At least 100,000 Orthodox Priests were murdered and a further ...

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Churches received heavy taxes and those who could not pay had their buildings seized and destroyed by the Government. At least 100,000 Orthodox Priests were murdered and a further 80,000 arrested by 1939. This left about 100 churches remaining open and around 100 practising bishops. Those with Religious background were discriminated against not only in the Bolshevik party where they lost top positions but in the USSR itself with them not able to work, travel or collect food rations.

Propaganda was key for the Bolshevik party to infect their views on Generations. Images such as the one below depict two smiling soviet workers driving a Christ figure out of a factory, this was to show Religion hindered the Soviet workforce and needed to be gone.

To the right of this is an image of God holding a Middle Class factory owner on his lap. It roughly translates as depicting Jehovah as favouring the rich, wealthy and the cruel. Of course during this time the Middle Class were being wiped out in place of the Proletariat in Russia.

An extensive education and propaganda campaign was undertaken to convince people, especially the children and youth, not to become believers. The role of the Christian religion and the was painted in black colours in school textbooks. This was to present the Church as dark and negative.

For instance, much emphasis was placed on the role of the Church in such historical horror stories as the , persecution of , , and other heretical scientists, and the . School students were encouraged to taunt and use against classmates wearing crosses or otherwise professing their faith. These methods all saw the level of practising religious peoples in the USSR decrease dramatically.

In the 1920s there were many "anti-God" publications and social clubs sponsored by the government.

Sources: AQA Totalitarian History Textbook

http://www.smith.edu/artmuseum/exhibitions/godlesscommunists