Lenin and religion

Question 1

The living church

Answer 1

• The living church claimed to be a reformed version of the old orthodox church where the people had the power
• It’s leader Archbishop Vedenskii wasn’t willing to support communism, in 1923 he publicly debated religion and science with Lunacharsky
• public debates proved to be counterproductive and so in 1925 the central committee stopped them, growth in religious faith continued to grow throughout the 20s

Question 2

The church and the terror

Answer 2

Lenin used terror to weaken the Church

• November 1917 arch priest Ivan Kochurov was murdered outside Petrograd
• November 1918 politburo issued a secret order to the cheka sanctioning the mass execution of priests, in two years most popular orthodox priests had been killed.
• orthodox priests in Moscow were massacred in January following a church decree excommunicating bolsheviks

Question 3

Religion in the 1920s

Answer 3

communist policy regarding religion changed after the civil war, mass executions, violence and deportation was replaced with more subtle methods that emerged in 1921 and 1922

Question 4

The reasons for communisms dislike of Islam

Answer 4

During the 1920s soviet authorities campaigned against Islamic groups for two reasons. They claimed:

1. Islam encouraged crimes based on custom particularly infringing on womens rights
2. Islam had the loyalty of many people in Caucus and central Asia which they wanted to replace with power

Question 5

What the USSR did against Islam

Answer 5

In order to weaken Islam the Soviet authorities:

• closed mosques turning them into sports clubs or storage depots
• discoruaged pilgrimage
• attacked Islamic Shrines
• opened anti-islamic museums in the midst of recogniised holy places