Communism and religion

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What did Lenin and most Marxist revolutionaries of his generation think about Marx and religion?
They believed that Marx was an enemy of religion= 'the opium of the masses'. Thus Lenin and other Marxist radicals believed that their revolution would liberate working people from capitalist exploitation and from the delusions of religion.
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Why was Lenin critical of the Russian Orthodox Church?
It was the dominant organised religion in Russia. For Lenin, it was an essentially ally of the Tsar. It was also an extremely rich institution-some priests led lives of privilege while working people were poor.
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Why was the new Communist Government suspicious of organised religion?
2 reasons- religions stood for values that were sometimes opposed to communist values, and because religious groups were organisations that were independent of the communist government and could organise opposition against the gov.
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What religious groups were there in the Soviet Union?
Muslim communities in Central Asia, North Caucasus and Azerbaijan. Lithuania had a large Roman Catholic Community. Significant Baptist minority in the Ukraine. Religious policies changed as the leadership changed
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What two potentially conflicted motives did Lenin's early religious policies reflect?
A commitment to legal equality of all people regardless of their beliefs. At the same time there was a terror campaign against the orthodox church
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What did Lenin introduce in the first months of the revolution that defined the relationship between the government and religion?
A series of decrees. Oct 1917 Decree on Land, Jan 1918 Decree concerning separation of church and state, and of school and church, 1922 soviet constitution
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What did the Oct 1917 Decree on Land mean for the relationship between church and state?
Gave peasants the right to seize land belonging to the church- church lost power
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What was the significance of the Jan 1918 Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State, and of School and Church?
It meant the church lost its privileged position in society. Church land, buildings and property were nationalised, state subsidies for the church were ended, religious studies banned
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What did the 1922 Soviet Constitution mean for religious people?
It guaranteed freedom of conscience for all soviet people- although the right existed in law, soviet courts lacked the power to force the gov. to obey the law or respect citizens' legal rights
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What did Lenin's policies mean for religious freedom?
It was seriously compromised
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How did Lenin use terror to undermine the church?
In the first year of the revolution senior priests were terrorised. E.g Nov 1919 Archpriest Ivan Kochurov was murdered, Jan 1918 metropolitan Vladimir was tortured and shot in Kiev, orthodox priests massacred
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When were more extreme measured sanctioned and what were they?
Nov 1918- the Politburo issued a secret order to the Cheka sanctioning the mass execution of priests.
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Why were roman catholic priests treated differently and what was this treatment like?
They had traditionally been a persecuted minority rather than part of the church that backed the Tsar. In the first half of 1918 they were deported and executions only started when the civil war began.
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What other policies were used against the church, esp during the 1921 famine?
The gov used propaganda against the church and seized church property - they seized church assets to fund famine relief and blamed priests who resisted for sabotaging relief efforts.
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What was Lenin's policy regarding Islam like?
It was contradictory. Gov. used the Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State to justify seizing the property of Islamic foundations and charities. This policy was quickly reversed, communist leaders encouraged local muslims to join the party
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Why were communists less antagonistic towards Islam than Russian Orthodox Christianity?
Because there had been no official link between Islam and Tsarism
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How did communist policy regarding religion change after the Civil War?
Mass executions, violence and deportations stopped. They were replaced by more subtle techniques. The new techniques emerged in 1921 and early 1922
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What was the 'Living Church'?
A strategy used against the Orthodox Church. It claimed to be a reformed version of the old orthodox church in which ordinary people had power
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Who organised a National Congress in April 1923 and what was its role?
The Living church, aided by the GPU. It deposed Patriarch Tikhon and introduced a new decentralised structure. It was part of a gov-backed strategy to split the church, take away its central leader and weaken its national structure
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Who was Patriarch Tikhon?
The head of the russian orthodox church who regularly clashed with the communist government.
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Which prominent figure of the living church was not prepared to support the communists and what did he do?
Archbishop Vedenskii, leader of the Living Church. In 1923 he publicly debated science and religion with Lunacharsky, gaining widespread support for his argument that science could not disprove God. Central committee stopped public debates w/ Church
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Was the gov's policy of splitting the church by backing the Living Church successful?
Yes, but the Church split did not diminish church growth, nor faith in saints in miracles which continued through the 1920s
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Why did the communists object to Islam during the 1920s?
They claimed that it encouraged 'crimes based on custom', particularly those infringing women's rights. They also recognised that Islamic organisations had the loyalty of many in the Caucasus and central asia- gov. wanted to extend their own power
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How did the Soviet authorities weaken Islam?
closed mosques, turning them into sports clubs or storage depots, discouraged pilgrimages, attacked Islamic shrines, started campaigns against women wearing Islamic dress (chador), opened anti-islamic museums in the midst of holy places
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Why was Stalin quite pragmatic when dealing with religion?
His religious priorities tended to be driven by his other priorities
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Why did Stalin order the closure of many churches in the country?
Because they were aiding resistance to his policies
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How else did Stalin deal with religion?
Outside of Russia, Stalin set targets for the number of people from different ethnic groups that he wanted purged. In the Central Asian republics, where Islam was main religion, NKVD attacked local priests and intellectuals.
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Which groups did the NKVD attack in particular?
Groups that had been set up to defend Islam from communist attacks. E.g the Jadids and Sufi groups. By the end of 1936 Sufi groups had been destroyed
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Were the actions against the sufi groups effective?
In spite of the claims of Soviet propaganda, Islam survived and these groups kept the traditions alive and growing, particularly in Kazakhstan
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Why did Stalin make a pragmatic alliance with the church during ww2?
The Orthodox church was linked to national identity so as patriotism awoke it was natural for people to look to the church, church provided comfort for bereaved families, soldiers found comfort in the thought that God would welcome them into heaven
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What did Metropolitan Sergey, the Church's most senior figure state in regards to WW2?
He urged Christians to fight for the motherland proclaiming Stalin 'God's chosen leader'
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In what ways did the State change its policy towards the Church?
Anti-religious propaganda ceased, Stalin granted Metropolitan Sergey an official residence in Moscow, he promised to end the censorship of religious magazines following the war, 414 churches re-opened during the final years of the war.
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What effect did the change in policy have on the church?
The Orthodox Church grew and the priesthood expanded from 9254 in 1946 to 11,827 in 1948. Numbers of Baptists, Pentecostalists, Methodists and Jehovah's witnesses increased.
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What was Khrushchev's view on religion?
More hardline. He saw it as part of his mission to revive the anti-religious campaign of the 1920s in order to liberate the soviet society from the last vestiges of religion.
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What did the soviet gov. under Khrushchev realise about religion?
Church attendance was a form of resistance. From the mid 1950s certain protestant churches began to prophesy that the soviet regime would end within a generation
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Which measures were part of Khrushchev's major anti-religious campaign that started in 1958?
Churches reopened during WW2 were closed, anti-religious propaganda and magazines were reintroduced, roman catholic monasteries were closed in 1959, orthodox convents placed under surveillance, patrols refused access to holy sites.
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How did Khrushchev use the soviet space program to attack religion?
Yuri Gagarin famously commented that having travelled up to the heavens he found no god. First woman in space, Tereshkova argued that her trip into space had led to the triumph of atheism
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Why did Khrushchev's campaign particularly target female believers?
Gov. figures showed that 2/3 of Orthodox churchgoers were female and 80% of protestant christians were women. He was concerned that women were passing beliefs on to their children
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What methods were used to target female religious believers?
1960 propaganda campaign encouraged men to take the leading role in the education of their children, campaigns against nuns- unnatural as they did not become wives and mothers, churches and islamic groups banned from running special events for women.
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In what ways were Khrushchev's policies against religion successful?
The KGB closed thousands of churches, reducing the number of Orthodox church buildings from 8000 in 1958 to 5000 in 1964.
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Why were Khrushchev's anti-religious policies unsuccessful?
They did not win the 'soul of the soviet people'. Women organised their own campaigns to protect their religious freedoms- led to the birth of a new dissident campaign that flourished in the 1960s-70s
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What was Brezhnev's stance on religion?
He advocated spreading the philosophy of atheism rather than attacking religious organisations or practises. He ended Khrushchev's campaign against religion.
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When was the Institute for Scientific Atheism opened and what was its role?
1968- published articles in newspapers and advised teachers how to spread atheism in the classroom
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How did Brezhnev's foreign policy of seeking allies in the middle east lead to a change in policy towards Islam?
the government started supporting anti-american Islamic groups, describing Islam as a 'progressive anticolonial and revolutionary creed' that was compatible with socialism
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Why did Brezhnev established the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan?
To allow Soviet Islamic leaders and scholars to have limited contact with fellow muslims in other countries
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What was the result of Brezhnev's religious policies?
His attempt to promote atheism did not lead t a reduction in the number of people professing religious faith. No more churches or mosques closed. The proportion of people professing a religious faith remained STABLE at 20% from 1960-1985
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What could the soviet regime never do regarding the suppression of religion?
Kill the faith of soviet citizens who looked beyond politics for life's ultimate meaning.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Why was Lenin critical of the Russian Orthodox Church?

Back

It was the dominant organised religion in Russia. For Lenin, it was an essentially ally of the Tsar. It was also an extremely rich institution-some priests led lives of privilege while working people were poor.

Card 3

Front

Why was the new Communist Government suspicious of organised religion?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What religious groups were there in the Soviet Union?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What two potentially conflicted motives did Lenin's early religious policies reflect?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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Comments

noorgal

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Really great resources! I see you used the Hodder textbook haha 

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