Stalim Vs Lenin - Religion Flashcards
What did Marx describe religion to be?
‘The opium of the people’
What was Lenin’s stance on religion? What may have influenced this opinion?
Why may this have been problematic?
He didn’t see religion as a threat and allowed freedom of worship following the October revolution - this was partly because the Bolshevik party was dominated by Christian orthodoxy
This acceptance of religion potentially undermines Marxism and would cause critics to question Lenin’s integrity to the creation of a communist state
Despite Lenin’s acceptance of religion what happened to church lands?
What was this a result of?
As a result of the 1917 decree on land private ownership of land was declared illegal - church land was therefore seized
When did the state officially delegate from the church?
What pushed this separation?
1918
New legislation which legalised abortion and divorce
What law was passed in 1921?
Legislation which outlawed the teaching of religion in schools
Comment on what happened to the patriarchy of the church
He was arrested in 1922 for opposing government policy.
- he would have been sentenced to a show trial however he chose to accept the changed to religion
Under Lenin in the 1920s what happened to churches?
Church bells were confiscated and melted down
Members of the RKSM would ransack local churches to demonstrate their loyalty to Bolshevism
The churches holy relics were also exposed as fakes in attempt to humiliate the church
What did Stalin’s 1936 constitution do to religion?
It criminalised the publication of religious propaganda
What happened to Muslim communities from 1935?
Pilgrimages to Mecca were forbidden
Wearing the veil was banned
By 1941 how many churches and mosques had been closed down?
40,000 churches
25,000 mosques
