How accurate is it to say that the Soviet government’s hostility towards religion did not change in the years 1917–85?

What did The Soviet government consistently regarded religion as incompatible with?

Marxist-Leninist ideology between 1917 and 1985

What was the result of this hostility?

continuity in official hostility towards religious belief and institutions

However, what changed?

the methods and intensity of this hostility changed significantly over time

What did The violent persecution of religion under Lenin and Stalin differ from?

differed markedly from the more bureaucratic controls employed under Brezhnev

What was the strongest continuity in Soviet policy towards religion between 1917 and 1985?

the government's commitment to atheism and its belief that religion was fundamentally incompatible with socialism

Although the methods used against religion varied considerably, what did every Soviet leader seek to reduce?

religious influence and promote an atheist society

What did The ideological basis of Soviet hostility towards religion originated in?

Marxism-Leninism

How had Karl Marx had famously described religion?

as the "opium of the people", arguing that it distracted workers from their true economic interests

As Lenin fully accepted this view, what did he regard religious belief as?

a barrier to the creation of a socialist society

Soon after the Bolsheviks seized power, what did the government take steps to weaken?

the influence of religion

What was the Decree on Freedom of Conscience?

separated the Orthodox Church from the state - lost its privileged status

When was was the Decree on Freedom of Conscience?

January 1918

3 examples of what the Decree on Freedom of Conscience included?

Church was deprived of land without compensation, its publications were outlawed and all religious education outside the home was banned

What do These measures reflected the regime's determination to do?

to remove religion from public life

When did The promotion of atheism intensify?

during the 1920s

When was the League of the Militant Godless established?

1921

What was the League of the Militant Godless?

set up by Bolsheviks as part of a propaganda campaign against religion

The League of the Militant Godless by 1940?

3.5 million - illustrating the scale of official efforts to undermine religious belief

Under Stalin, despite temporary tactical adjustments during the Second World War, what remained official policy?

atheism

When did Stalin permitted a limited revival of the Orthodox Church?

after 1943 to strengthen wartime patriotism

Although Stalin permitted a limited revival of the Orthodox Church after 1943, what did he never abandon?

the long-term goal of reducing religious influence

What did religious organisations remain under?

close state supervision and were denied any independent political role

What did Khrushchev’s approach to de-Stalinisation not extend to?

religious policy

Due to Khrushchev being very anti-religious, what was the programme he pursued similar to?

active repression that was similar to Stalin’s

What did Khrushchev launch between 1958-1964?

he launched a major anti-religious campaign, claiming that religion would disappear completely within a generation

What did Schools, youth organisations and the media promote?

scientific atheism, while religious activity was discouraged

What did this major anti-religious campaign aim to do?

aimed not merely to control religion but ultimately to eliminate it

Even under Brezhnev, when persecution became less intense, what remained unchanged?

the ideological position

What did the 1977 Soviet Constitution guarantee?

reedom of worship, but it also guaranteed the right to conduct atheist propaganda

Under Brezhnev, what continued to promote atheistic values (3)?

Education, television and newspapers

What were Religious organisations permitted to exist only under?

strict state regulation through the Council for Religious Affairs

What did no Soviet leader abandon?

the belief that religion was incompatible with socialism - Government policy consistently sought to limit religious influence while encouraging atheism through education and propaganda

Therefore, what was a there a major continuity in?

in Soviet hostility towards religion - the commitment to state atheism remained fundamentally unchanged

Although hostility towards religion was present from the beginning of Soviet rule, when did the intensity of persecution increase significantly?

between Lenin's early restrictions and Stalin's aggressive assault on religious institutions during the 1930s

Under Lenin, what did the Bolsheviks initially focused on rather than completely destroying religious practice?

reducing the political and social influence of the Church

What removed the Church's legal privileges, nationalised Church property and banned religious instruction in schools?

the Decree of Freedom of Conscience (1918)

However, what remained the government’s priority?

the Civil War and consolidation of Bolshevik power

During the famine of the Civil War, what happened to the Church?

attacks on churches increased and valuable objects were seized to help pay for food supplies

Under Lenin, what happened to Priests (3)?

deprived of the vote, denied rations during the civil war and suffered as victims of the Red Terror (1921-22)

By 1923, how many Bishops and Priests had been killed?

28 bishops and 1,000 priests

What did The campaign demonstrated a willingness to use?

force against religious institutions on a much larger scale than before

What did the League of the Militant Godless in 1921 seek to encourage?

sought to encourage atheism and ridicule religious belief - Through propaganda, publications and public campaigns

What did the League of the Militant Godless show the Soviet government was increasingly committed to by the 1920s?

s increasingly committed not merely to limiting religion but to eliminating it altogether

What intensified dramatically under Stalin?

persecution intensified dramatically

What policy did a campaign of religious repression accompany?

Stalin’s policy of collectivisation

What was religion portrayed as during the cultural revolution associated with the First Five-Year Plan (1928–32)?

religion was portrayed as an obstacle to socialist modernisation

What were closed across the USSR (3)?

Churches, mosques and synagogues

When did the scale of religious persecution reach its height?

during the Great Purges of 1936–38

During the Great Purges of 1936–38, what were religious leaders treated as?

treated as potential enemies of the state and many were arrested by the NKVD

How many Orthodox churches in 1917?

54,000

How many Orthodox churches in 1941?

fewer than 500 remained open

By 1939, how many Bishops were left?

12 out of 163

2 examples of the regime also targettring religion through propaganda and education?

religious holidays were replaced by secular celebrations, while schools promoted scientific atheism - aim was not simply to weaken religious institutions but to transform Soviet society into an atheist society.

What was the aim of this propaganda?

aim was not simply to weaken religious institutions but to transform Soviet society into an atheist society

What demonstrates a major increase in the severity of anti-religious policy?

The contrast between Lenin's early legal restrictions and Stalin's mass closures, arrests and destruction of religious institutions demonstrates a major increase in the severity of anti-religious policy - Although both leaders were hostile to religion, Stalin's government pursued its elimination far more aggressively

Why did hostility towards religion clearly didn’t remain unchanged?

While Lenin established the foundations of anti-religious policy, Stalin significantly intensified persecution, making the 1930s the period of greatest hostility towards religion in Soviet history

When did Government policy towards religion change substantially?

during and after the Second World War

Why did Stalin temporarily relaxed anti-religious policies?

in order to strengthen national unity during the war

What did Khrushchev later launch?

a renewed campaign against religion

What do these dramatic shifts demonstrate?

at government hostility towards religion did not remain constant throughout the period

Before the Second World War, what had Stalin's government pursued?

some of the harshest anti-religious policies in Soviet history

What did Stalin recognise about the Church when the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941?

that the Russian Orthodox Church could help mobilise patriotic support for the war effort - religion played a beneficial role in sustaining morale during the hardships of war

3 examples that show Stalin’s more liberated approach to the Church?

the patriarchate was re-established, some churches reopened and new seminaries were set up to train priests

What did religious leaders publicly support?

the war effort and encouraged loyalty to the Soviet state

By 1947, how many churches were operating?

around 22,000 (compared with fewer than 500 in 1941)

What else did the government also allow to reopen?

also allowed some monasteries to reopen and reduced pressure on believers

After Stalin's death in 1953, there was initially no major anti-religious campaign, but what did Khrushchev eventually launch?

a renewed assault on religion between 1958 and 1964

Unlike Stalin's campaign, this did not rely primarily on executions or mass imprisonment - how did Khrushchev undermine religion?

sought to undermine religion through administrative pressure, propaganda and restrictions on religious practice

How many churches were closed between 1959-1964?

10,000 existing churches

What happened to surviving priests?

pressured and harassed by secret police

Who else suffered from restrictions on their right to congregate and worship?

Baptists and Jews

What did Khrushchev famously predict in 1961?

that religion would disappear from Soviet society

What does The contrast between Stalin's wartime accommodation of religion and Khrushchev's renewed anti-religious campaign demonstrate?

considerable fluctuation in government policy

During the war, what was religion temporarily viewed as?

a useful source of national unity

Under Khrushchev, however, what goal did the regime returned to?

the goal of reducing religious influence and accelerating the creation of an atheist society

Under Brezhnev, Soviet hostility towards religion continued, but how was it expressed?

n a more pragmatic and controlled manner than under either Stalin or Khrushchev

Under Brezhnev, rather than attempting to eliminate religion through large-scale campaigns, what did the government focus on?

supervision, regulation and surveillance - demonstrating both continuity in anti-religious attitudes and change in the methods used to deal with religion

What did Brezhnev end when he came to power in 1964?

he ended Khrushchev's aggressive anti-religious campaign - there were no further attempts to close thousands of churches or claim that religion would disappear in the immediate future

Instead, the leadership adopted a more realistic approach - what did they recognise?

that religious belief remained widespread despite decades of persecution

Where did stories of religious persecution not go down well and Brezhnev was aware of this?

in the West - had a damaging impact on the USSR’s attempts to conduct foreign policy

However, the state did not become religiously tolerant - what did Religious organisations continued to be closely monitored through?

the Council for Religious Affairs (CRA)

When was the Council for Religious Affairs (CRA) established?

in 1965 by merging earlier state bodies responsible for supervising religious groups

Role of the CRA (3)?

regulated church activities, approved appointments of clergy and ensured that religious organisations remained politically loyal

How did the KGB also played an important role in monitoring religious activity?

Under Andropov (1967–82), unofficial religious groups were subject to surveillance and harassment by the KGB

What religious organisations was the government especially hostile to?

religious organisations that challenged state authority

For example, what happened to members of the unregistered Baptist movement (3)?

frequently fined, arrested or denied employment opportunities

How does the 1977 Soviet Constitution illustrate change?

Article 52 guaranteed "freedom of conscience" and the right to practise religion

How does the 1977 Soviet Constitution illustrate continuity?

it also guaranteed the right to conduct atheist propaganda - demonstrating that the state still promoted secular values and regarded atheism as preferable to religious belief

Examples of Brezhnev's government continuing to invest heavily in atheist education (3)?

Schools, universities and youth organisations such as the Komsomol encouraged scientific atheism - while religious influence remained excluded from public life

What were Religious organisations prevented from doing?

prevented from exercising significant social or political influence - permitted to operate only within strict limits

Differences between Brezhnev’s policy on religion and Stalin’s

under Brezhnev: no mass executions of clergy, no attempt to destroy organised religion completely, The Russian Orthodox Church was allowed to function (provided it cooperated with the state) and Many churches remained open throughout the Brezhnev era

How do Brezhnev's policies reveal an important shift in methods?

government remained ideologically hostile to religion and continued to promote atheism, but it increasingly relied on regulation, surveillance and administrative controls rather than direct persecution

What does this more pragmatic approach, reflect the regime's acceptance of?

acceptance that religion had survived decades of anti-religious campaigns

Overall, why is it only partly accurate to claim that Soviet hostility towards religion remained unchanged between 1917 and 1985?

there was a clear continuity in the government's commitment to atheism and its belief that religion was incompatible with socialism. Nevertheless, the intensity and methods of hostility changed considerably