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By the Same Author
MOSCOW DIALOGUES
RUSSIAN SOCIOLOGY (in preparation)
RELIGION UNDER THE SOVIETS (published in U.S.A.)
RELIGION
and
COMMUNISM
RELIGION
and
COMMUNISM
A Study of Religion
and Atheism
in
Soviet Russia
by
JULIUS F. HECKER, Ph.D.
NEW YORK
JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.
....
1934
Grad
Unies kauate
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Tri frius 1 3-31-ES:
To
JOHN HAYNES HOLMES,
Poet and Preacher,
to whom Truth is God
and the witness thereof Religion.
PREFACE
IN the Soviet Union, in every sense-geographical, racial,
cultural-East and West meet. But whilst face to face with
one another, as yet, of these two, there is no synthesis. On the
contrary a bitter conflict rages between the mystic, ascetic,
life-denying, other-worldly ideal of the East and of Old Russia,
and the rational, Marxian, will-to-power, life-asserting passion
of the West and of New Russia. Will the latter triumph,
crushing the other? Or will there emerge from this conflict
a higher, synthetic culture, rich in strength, thought, beauty?
It is hoped that the study pursued in this problem will serve
in throwing some light upon this question.
The fate of Religion under Communism is of great concern to
many earnest and thinking people. I, personally, have always
considered it a problem of major interest and throughout the
last fifteen years have continually studied it from one aspect or
another. In this present work I have been compelled, by the
limitations of the volume, to confine myself to Religion and
Communism in the Soviet Union. Much also could be
learned from the views of Western thinkers upon this problem;
nevertheless, the Soviet Union is the only nation that on an
enormous scale is actually carrying out the destruction of
organized religion in order to clear the ground for the newly
developing Communist social order.
This book attempts to tell the story of the conflict between
religious thought and organization and radical atheist thought
and Communist organization.
In a previous book, Religion Under the Soviets (published in
U.S.A. in 1927), I showed the status of religion as it then
existed in the Soviet Union. When that book was being
written organized militant atheism, sponsored by the Com-
munist Party, was only beginning to take shape. Since then
it has become a far-reaching movement and now has probably
attained its maximum development; hence, major attention
ix
1
PREFACE
is given here to the study of the anti-religious forces which,
however, can only be understood upon the background of the
religious history of the Russian people.
The facts presented may appear alarming as regards the
outlook for religion in the Soviet Union. That there may be
no doubt as to the actual situation I am giving in the appendices
a translation of the most important Party pronouncements
upon the subject; also the decrees of the Soviet Government
which clearly show the legal position of organized religion in
the Soviet Union and the conditions under which it is permitted
to function. Finally I give the legislation by which a govern-
ment department has been set up to regulate the functioning of
religion within the existing laws. All these documents deserve
attentive study.
Students wishing to continue the study of this subject and
who possess a reading knowledge of Russian will find a selected
bibliography in my Religion Under the Soviets, and a more
extensive bibliography in the recent work of Professor N. M.
Nikolsky, History of the Russian Church (1931). The anti-
religious developments of recent years are best reflected in the
Russian monthly review, Antireligiosnik, which has been
issued in Moscow since 1926. The aspect of Communist
philosophic theory, which must be grasped in order to get the
philosophic bearing underlying the study of Communism and
Religion, is treated in my Moscow Dialogues, a series of Dis-
cussions on Red Philosophy.
In this volume it has been my earnest desire to treat the
subject as objectively as possible without denying my own
convictions in the matter, which are the result not merely of
theoretic study but of a long, painful readjustment of my own
mind throughout many years or direct contact with both
Religion and Communism in the Soviet Union.
Moscow, February, 1933.
J. F. HECKER.
X
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM STATED
•
II. THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
Pagan Survivals-Ecclesiastical Culture-Ikon and Relic
Worship-Doctrinal Peculiarities-The Ethics of the
People.
III. CHURCH AND STATE
Church and State under Feudalism-Centralization of
State and Church Authority-The Church and the Institu-
tion of Serfdom-Bureaucratic State Control of the Church.
IV. NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
Differentiation of Old Believers-Extremist Sects-The
Evangelical Sects.
V. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
Foreign Sources of Russian Atheism-The Beginnings of
Russian Enlightenment-The Russian Voltairians-The
Masonic Reaction-A. N. Radischev, First Martyr
of Revolutionary Thought.
VII. INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS
AFTER GOD
The Church and the Intellectuals-The Neo-Christians.
VIII. TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
Tolstoy's Religious Development-Tolstoy's Contact with
the People-Principles of Tolstoy's Religious Philosophy.
IX. COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
·
Communist Philosophy of Life-Dialectics and Religion—
Socialist God Builders.
PAGE
ix
VI. RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT. 102
The Decembrist Movement-The Narodnik Movement—
The Conspiracy of Ideas.
I mo
13
37
56
76
128
155
1
174
xi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
X. THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE
REVOLUTION
The 1917-18 Council of the Church and the Re-establish-
ment of the Patriarchate-The Counter-offensive of the
Revolutionists-The Church and the Famine of 1921-
The Living Church Movement.
XI. THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
Numerical Strength of the Union of Atheists-The Atheist
Youth Movement-Atheism in the Red Army-Atheism
among the Minor Nationalities-The Atheist International
-Chief Causes of Atheism.
XII. COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
The Effect of Collectivization upon Religion-New Tactics
of Anti-religious Propaganda.
XIII. ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS
PROPAGANDA
Special Educational Activities-Anti-religious Literature-
Anti-religious Museums-The Fine Arts as Weapon of
Anti-religious Propaganda.
XIV. THE OUTLOOK
APPENDIX I. Important documents relating to Religion
issued by the U.S.S.R. Communist Party :
(A) Programme and Rules of the U.S.S.R. Communist Party of
Bolsheviks
•
(B) Problems and Methods of Anti-religious Propaganda (Theses
adopted at the Party Conference on Anti-religious Propa-
ganda and at the General Committee of the U.S.S.R. Com-
munist Party, April 27-30, 1926)
INDEX
د.
"C
(B) Decree of the All Russian Central Executive Committee and
Council of Peoples Commissars of the R.S.F.S.R. about
Religious Organizations, April 8, 1929
(C) Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and
the Committee and Council of Peoples Commissars of
R.S.F.S.R., relating to the formation of a Central Com-
mission on Religious affairs
•
PAGE
189
APPENDIX II. Decrees and Stipulations of the Soviet
Government relating to Religion and the Church:
(A) Decree of January 23, 1918, On Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Societies
289
215
232
246
266
275
275
290
293
297
xii
THE PROBLEM STATED
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM STATED
Is civilized humanity in need of religion? This question is
more and more often asked by thinking people and variously
answered. The mystics and representatives of organized
religion generally reply by a categorical affirmative. Others
accept it conditionally, as in the case of such confirmed
rationalists as Bernard Shaw who, while rejecting every form
of organized religion, proclaims a still vaguely defined religion
of the "life force." Others, like the Comtian and modern
humanists, raise humanity upon the pedestal of deity and
proclaim a religion without God, or dedicate their altars, as
did the classic Athenians, to the unknown and unknowable
God.¹ In Western civilization there are but few really con-
firmed atheists among liberal intellectuals; the Communist
movement alone declares itself unreservedly and categorically
against every religion, whether orthodox, humanitarian, or
philosophical.
८८
¹ Among the English Moderns, Julian Huxley may be cited as quite
representative of this trend of thought. In What Dave I Think, pp. 187
ff., he emphasises that religion is not a divine revelation but a function
of human nature. . . first, a reaction of the human spirit to the facts
of human destiny and the forces by which it is influenced; and secondly,
a reaction into which there enters a feeling of sacredness.'
"J
Canon Charles E. Raven, the brilliant representative of the hypothesis
of emergent evolution in Anglican theology, is, in my opinion, inconsistent
in making his doctrine the basis of theism. It is more akin to pantheism
and lends itself much more to the Humanist interpretation of religion than
to Orthodoxy. Canon Raven seems to recognize this, when he says in
his The Creator Spirit, " From embryo to saint is man's Pilgrim's Progress;
if we could see it whole and complete, we should resolve the antithesis
of organism and environment, of nature and nurture, of freedom and
determinism, of process and deity" (page 87).
"We must learn to appreciate earth if we are to be fit for heaven;
and for me the revelation of it is so overwhelming that there is often little
room and little desire for more. Is this Pantheism? No doubt good folks
will say so (page 107, italics are mine).
**
I
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Our problem is, therefore, first to demonstrate the reasons
which have led the Communist movement to this uncom-
promising stand; and secondly, to examine, in the light of
modern social science and philosophy, whether there is no
error in the Communist reasoning, or perhaps some misunder-
standing in the concept of religion as understood by Communists
who reject it, and as affirmed by others who offer a different
interpretation. This necessitates an agreement in terminology.
What do we really mean by religion? Scores of definitions
have been formulated and new ones added by almost every
thinker upon the question. Some of these definitions, true
enough, are little more than rhetorical phrases, whilst others
emphasize some one special aspect which happens to seem
most important to its author.
If we turn to the German classical idealist philosophers, we
find that Kant held religion to be a right attitude of the will
growing out of the belief in the morality and sovereignty of the
moral order. Schleiermacher, rejecting Kant's moral theory of
religion, sought its origin in the sense of piety, which he de-
scribed as a feeling of dependence and a direct relation to the
absolute, ultimate reality. Hegel, differing from both Kant
and Schleiermacher, exalted the intellectual aspect of religion
as the grasp of eternal truth. Thus will, feeling and reason
have been respectively emphasised as the sphere of religion by
the classical writers of the German idealist school.
When we turn from the philosophers to the sociologists and
anthropologists, we find them advancing the view that religion
is primarily a social product. Durkheim, for example, makes
the authority of the social group itself the source of religion ;
the sacred is the socially sanctioned. Other sociologists, like
Benjamin Kidd, see in religion an ultra-rational sanction for
social conduct in the individual; Franklin H. Giddings defined
religion as "belief in the possibility of life"; similarly Rein-
hold Niebuhr says that " at its best religion is both a sublima-
tion and a qualification of the will to live." 1 Charles A. Ell-
wood, another sociologist, associates religion with the whole of
¹ Reinhold Niebuhr, Does Civilization Need Religion, p. 26,
2
THE PROBLEM STATED
human nature and the social life of man. To him religion is
a many-sided phenomenon. Tersely expressed, Ellwood
accepts Barton's formulation, " Religion is man's attitude
toward the universe regarded as a social and ethical force." 1
Similar definitions are advanced by many other modern
students. Thus says Caird: "A man's religion is the expres-
sion of his ultimate attitude toward the universe, the summed-
up meaning and purport of his whole consciousness of things." 2
These definitions are either too broad or too narrow when
compared with what, historically, religion has been in the
experience of the race. Professor John Oman is quite right
when, sharing Runzes' point of view, he believes that religion
includes so many manifestations that it is quite impossible
to give it an all-embracing definition. He therefore prefers
to speak of a religious attitude of mind as a guide in the sphere
of religion: "If we have a religious interest and a religious
attitude of mind, we shall know what belongs and what does
not belong to religion." 3 This point of view makes religion
depend upon subjective criteria with an ever-shifting scale
of values. What to one appears to be superstition, or the
phantom of a diseased mind, or a surpassed or sublimated sex
impulse, seems to another a religious reality of eternal value.
4
Oswald Spengler approaches the problem of religion as a
stage in the cultural development of the human race, and he
defines religion as the awakening of man at a time when he
masters his being, negates and destroys it. That is, when he
overcomes his animal consciousness. Fear and love are
accordingly the basic emotions of religion. It is the desire
to free oneself from the anxieties and torments of conscious-
ness, the desire for relaxation from the tension of thought and
1 Charles A. Ellwood, The Reconstruction of Religion, p. 26.
2 Caird, The Evolution of Religion, Vol. I, p. 30.
3
³ J. Oman, The Sphere of Religion, Science, Religion and Reality, edited
by Joseph Needham, p. 262. Cf. also The Natural and the Supernatural,
P. 7:.
4" Religion nennen wir das Wachsein eines Lebewesens in den Augen-
blicken, wo es das Dasein uberwaeltigt, beherrscht, verneint, selbst
vernichtet." Oswald Spengler, Der Untergang des Abendlandes, Vol. I,
p. 323.
3
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
meditation born out of fear, the desire to solve and annihilate
the consciousness of the loneliness of the ego in the cosmos. It
is the desire to escape the conditional state of nature with its
existence, old age and death. Religion overcomes this fear
by understanding its causes. The theoretic critic becomes the
seer; the technician, the Priest; the discoverer, the Prophet.¹
Thus at the root of all religions we find an unconscious impulse,
an inner urge to come to terms and adjust oneself to that which
is not like oneself but something altogether different, one may
call it the Universe. The mode" of coming to terms" and
of associating with the other" inevitably developed into a
cult and worship. This Spengler calls the function of the
“technician.” This element of worship must not, by any
means, be ignored as many of the modern definitions ignore it.
In our opinion it is the chief attribute of every religion and
there is none without it.
CC
j
Finally there is an effort towards a rational interpretation
of the subjective and social experience just mentioned. This
prepares the ground for a theology and inevitably appears at
a certain stage in the development of organized religion. Thus
we find that religion is equally the product of emotion, of
will and of rational interpretation. It has its subjective experi-
ence and its objective roots, its intellectual formulation and its
social application. The many sidedness and the subtleties
of religious experience undoubtedly account for the great
variety of definitions. If judged by its effects, we find that
to one religion means unquestioned passive submission to
tradition and custom; to another it is an instrument of escape
from the hard and unpleasant realities of life; to a third it
may be an inspiration to action; to a fourth a soporific, an
opiate to dull the reason or excite the imagination; to a fifth,
religion is a force of control over others, a class implement of
exploitation; to others it is the means to mystic contemplation,
æsthetic enjoyment, satisfaction of cosmic curiosity, and so on.
In recent years students of the psychological origins of
religion have endeavoured to discover traces of God by an
1 Cf. ibid., p. 324-27.
4
THE PROBELM STATED
intuitive irrational approach, considering the nature of religion
outside the scope of rational concepts.
as
(C
Among the serious scholars who have devoted themselves to
the study of the irrational origins of religion should be men-
tioned Professor Rudolph Otto of Marburg, author of Das
Heilige and Das Gefühl das Uberweltlichen.¹ Otto's hypothesis
is that man is endowed with a sensus numinis-that is, a sense
of awe—an innate characteristic revealing itself in a longing
for the otherworldly," the "sacred," or the "divine," for
something which is "altogether different" from the nature of
man ("das ganz andere," to use one of Otto's favourite
expressions). Thus Otto's hypothesis is that " religion begins
of itself." 3 This does not mean that man from the outset
was equipped with a ready-made religion, but it means that
he is endowed with its basic element, which is present in the
most advanced religion as well as in its most primitive forms.
This basic element is the sensus numinis from which, when it
creates "Wunderwesen," develops the concept of God, an
awe-inspiring being to which man is irresistibly drawn, his
reactions ranging between terrifying fear and self-effacing love.
In his extensive research into the great Oriental religions and
into the various forms of Christian mysticism, Otto discovers
undeniable traces of this sensus numinis, and since his hypothesis
is a serious challenge to the atheist position of Communist
scholarship, we shall try to indicate how this challenge may be
answered from that quarter.
It can easily be shown that human qualities such as reason,
ethical evaluation, and religious and æsthetic appreciation, all
have a prehuman basis. No serious scholar, whatever his ?
speciality, will deny that man has originated from some
common ancestor of the anthropoid ape family. If we are to
accept some sensus numinis, or let us call it a religious instinct,
in man, naturally we must ask what is its animal base? To
say that it is an a priori quality of human nature is not a satis-
¹ In England a similar theory has been developed by Professor John
Oman. See the latter's The Natural and the Supernatural.
*
2 Das Gefuhl das Uberweltlichen, p. 2.
3 Ibid., p. I.
5
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
factory answer. Man is a continuation of the animal species,
but he is possessed of a new quality which cannot be reduced
to the animal without a remnant. Now this remnant of the
irreducible new qualities of man consists in his reason and his
ethical, æsthetic and religious sense. While human reason
can never be reduced to animal reason, it cannot be understood
without first understanding the animal brain. Human reason
therefore presupposes animal reason, but in man it appears
raised to a higher power. What has raised it? What has
broken the continuity and brought about the mutation of its
human quality? The Communist answers that such is the
Dialectic Law of the transition of quantity into quality; the
larger human brain has a new quality which the animal brain
cannot possess. Higher organization of organic matter simply
reacts that way. Such is the law of nature. Now if human
intelligence is a mutation and an offspring of animal intelligence
upon a higher plane, the sensus numinis, in our opinion, is
equally an offspring of a former animal characteristic. Otto
describes the sensus numinis in its primitive form as an emotional
stupifaction of awe and fear.¹ This is a commonly observed
animal characteristic. The bird is stupified in the presence of
a snake and is unable to fly away. The terror of natural
phenomena acts upon animals in much the same way as upon
human beings. I do not deny that human "awe" has a new
quality which differentiates it from animal fear, just as any other
animal instinct in man takes on a new quality. What in the
animal appears as a stupefying fear in the presence of the
unexpected and the terrifying, in man becomes the seed of
religion, of numinus awe. It provides a perfect analogy to
Kant's moral sense or categorical imperative, which in its
animal state is known to us as "social instinct," but which in
the human state is a conscious social responsibility, i.e. a
categorical imperative. In the animal state, the sensus numinis
is "stupifying fear"; in the human stage, it is a conscious
appreciation of this fear and a reflection upon its wunder-
Otto says: "Emotionen des numinosen Staunens und
1 Ibid., p. 3.
der Scheu."
6
THE PROBLEM STATED
wesen. Such an interpretation makes any a priori category
of the sensus numinis unnecessary, neither does it minimize the
religious sense any more than it minimizes the moral sense, or
human intelligence, because of its animal antecedents. All
human psychic characteristics are new qualities, but these
qualities only arise upon some biological or social animal base.
They are a continuity and yet something new. To those
reasoning from the dialectical hypothesis of evolution there is
nothing mysterious in these mutations. It is a well-observed
law of nature.
law of
While Communist theory recognizes the many-sidedness and
the subjective elements in religion, it tends to simplify the
matter by exposing its objective roots, which it traces to the
social economic conditions, and is confident that with the
change of these objective conditions the subjective experience
will undergo a cardinal change, discarding religion altogether.
✓ To the query-does modern civilization need religion?-
the Communist answer is yes, so far as decaying capitalist
civilization is concerned. There, under pressure of crisis, in
an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear, religion serves as an
escape mechanism for the classes which history has already
condemned. It also is still a necessity to certain elements of
the petty bourgeoisie and those of the backward toiling classes
who have not as yet grown class-conscious and are held down
by traditions. In a socialist society the uncertainties, fears
and isolations of the individual vanish, and religion, at least as
it has been known so far, is certain also to disappear. The
class-conscious workers are guided by an atheist ideology which
nevertheless gives them direction to a purposive life.
On the contrary Reinhold Niebuhr, in his able study on the
fate of religion under modern civilization, believes that religion,
while in a state of decay in capitalist society, may still have
chances of rejuvenation. He points to the crushing influence
which machine civilization, backed by modern science, reveal-
ing an impersonal universe, has had upon the integrity of human
personality. In such a universe the human spirit seems to
be reduced “ to a mere effervescence to outlast the collocation
W
▼
7
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
of forces which produced it."1 Depersonalization of the
universe and depersonalization of civilization through the
machine are the forces which impede personality and threaten
to crush it. Niebuhr takes personality for that type of
reality which is self-conscious and self-determining,
›› 2 and he
cannot think it could be valid except in a universe where
creative freedom is developed and maintained not only in
individual life but in the universe as well. These complaints
indicate revolt against mechanized civilization and a mechani-
stically determined universe.
According to this reasoning, if religion is to survive, it must
create a new metaphysics which must meet these demands of
personality. This is one aspect of the problem. The other
is the fact "that more men in our modern era are irreligious
because religion has failed to make civilization ethical, than
because it has failed to maintain its intellectual respectability," 3
and here is the real tragedy of religion in the modern world.
Organized religion, by logic of class society, has come under
control and has been put to the service of the decaying ruling
classes to which the ethical demands of a socialized democracy
has no promise nor appeal. To begin with, the masses of
industrial workers drift away from the Church and grow
indifferent to religion. Can anything reclaim them? Niebuhr
answers in the affirmative. He says: the quest for what is
not real but always becoming real, for what is not true but is
always becoming true, that makes man incurably religious."
It is the quest for the ideal implicit in human nature. Every
organism is urged to move on towards its own completeness
which calls for moral purpose and ethical freedom. This
makes man rise above the present conflict, maintained by a
religious hope, preventing despair. Religion is generated by
the desire for perfection and freedom, which cannot be realized
in this world as it is constituted; therefore men have always
become "otherworldly," finding compensation in the unreal
and mystical.
<<
4
CC
1 Reinhold Niebuhr, Does Civilization Need Religion, p. 5.
2 Ibid., p. 6.
3 Ibid., p. 12.
4 Ibid., p. 239.
8
THE PROBLEM STATED
}
What can the Communist answer to this enlightened opinion
of a thoughtful observer? We believe he would say that
Communist philosophy has for its goal the conquest of those
two major evils of capitalist civilization which Niebuhr has
detected; the first of which is a depersonalized civilization
growing out of the subjection of the individual to the machine.
The Communist system makes the machine servant and not
master, and through its aid man is freed from dependence
upon nature, making it possible to overcome class society, since
classless society is the one condition of true freedom. Secondly
the dialectic philosophy of Communism has overcome
mechanistic metaphysics and has endowed the universe with a
law which gives meaning to cosmic necessity and makes a self-
directed, purposeful life possible. In Communist classless.
society, escape to another mystic world becomes unnecessary,
since man shall have here the freedom to live a full life. This in
itself will deprive religion of the soil in which it grows and it is
bound to wither away. The Communist answer to our query
is that a classless Communist civilization will have no religion, but
it will have a spiritual culture and an integral philosophy of life.
✓
The student of Communist atheism is struck not only by
this clearly thought out theory but also by the militant tactics
of Communist atheism and by that elaborate machine which is
systematically at work to wreck the still existing institutions of
religion and to uproot their every vestige. There was nothing
ever like it in the history of the human race. In the Soviet
Union, religion is at present put to the supreme test of its
vitality. It may have resources which to us have so far re-
mained hidden and which may now reveal themselves, but the
known forces which have produced the historic religion of the
Russian people have exhausted themselves and Communism
is digging in that country the grave of Orthodox religion.
During the last fifteen years already half the Russian churches
have been closed, destroyed or put to other uses.
This process
still continues, though at a somewhat slower rate. Neverthe-
less it seems that in another generation religion, as organized
at present, is doomed to disappear.
"
▼
B
9
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
To appreciate fully the significance of this process, the tragedy
of religion in Russia must be studied against its historic back-
ground. In the first chapters of this book we shall, therefore,
sketch the one thousand years development of Russian Christi-
anity from its inception to the present, showing how it was
embraced by the people and what was its social significance.
The relation of State and Church in Russian history calls
for special attention, for the present plight of the Church is in
a large measure the result of this unholy alliance. It also
brought into existence the Nonconformist movement, the
evangelical forms of which are to some extent holding their
own against the competition of Communist propaganda. For
the present at least Evangelical Christianity, for reasons which
we shall show later, has a better chance of survival than the
historic Orthodox Church.
-

Apart from the Evangelical mass movement and the popular
religion of the people, are the remnants of the old intelligentsia,
showing desperate efforts to adjust their religious demands to
modern science and the encroachments of mechanical civiliza-
tion. Impotent to cope with these, many of the intellectuals
sought refuge in apocalyptic mysticism or, as in the case of
Tolstoy, in resolutely rejecting modern civilization altogether
and reverting to primitive, pre-capitalistic, rural forms of life.
While the influence of the intellectualist "God-wrestlers and
God-seekers,” as they were called, is practically nil in the Soviet
Union, it flourishes among the Russian immigrants in Western
Europe and America.
Parallel to the development of the religious thought and
tradition we must sketch the anti-religious tradition in Russia,
which had its beginnings in the 18th century and has culminated
in the Communist anti-religious movement. The clash of the
Church with the Revolution also had its long history. The
uncompromising enmity of the proletarian Revolution to the
Church has its sources in this struggle which lasted for nearly
a century.
In the chapters dealing with the anti-religious movement
we describe the methods and organization of this extensive
10
7
܀
THE PROBLEM STATED
movement and show the conflict which is now raging between
militant atheism and religion in the Soviet Union. It is our
aim not to obscure this issue but to present the existing situa-
tion with all its tragic consequences to the Church, not only in
the Soviet Union but throughout the world, wherever Com-
munist propaganda and organization exist, as for example, in
Central China where a population greater than that of the
United Kingdom and France together is held under Com-
munist control and is being rapidly Sovietized, where also the
anti-religious policy of the Party is carried out equally well,
although with greater caution than in Russia itself.
In our study we also pay attention to the description of the
Atheist International which pursues the task of organizing
proletarian freethinkers and atheists all over the world. Mili-
tant atheism is directed not only against organized Christianity
but against every other religion. In the atheist centres in
Moscow, Leningrad and other large cities, specialists are at
work studying methods to combat Judaism, Islam, Budd-
hism, Shamanism, and the other great religions of the East.
1
There is a tendency among some writers on Communism ¹
to ignore the religious issue, or to regard it as a misunderstand-
ing, interpreting Communist opposition to organized religion
as an opposition to the abuses of religion but not to religion in
its pure state. This is a great error. Communists, particu-
larly Lenin, have always emphasized that reformed, modernized,
socialized and every other improved religion, is worse than the
old orthodox, reactionary religion. As a matter of fact, Com-
munists are much more tolerant to reactionary religion than to
any of its modernized and philosophically improved forms.
Lenin fought hard to eradicate within his own Party every
vestige of the old religion and prevent the appearance of any
new socialized and modernized form.
The Communist intolerance towards religion has led critics
to the conclusion that Communism must be itself a new world
religion. For, they argue, the Communist claims alone to
hold the truth and that intolerance is the first and sure attribute
¹ For example, Middleton Murry in The Necessity of Communism.
:
II
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
;
of any new religion. To prove this it is shown that the aims
of Communism do not differ from those of Christianity at its
best. Communist theory presupposes a belief in the possibility
of a good, free, ethical life and its faith in the common man as
the hope of the future is altogether unwarranted from the
scientific point of view; it spurs the faith of its adherents to the
point of missionary zeal and martyrdom, the like of which the
history of religion alone presents its parallels; finally Com-
munist theory is apocalyptic in outlook, for it expects to reach
its goal only after a desperate bloody conflict with its class
enemies, a parallel to the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon.
These comparisons and parallels are thought provoking.
The Communist optimistic faith in the common man is not
denied; on the contrary it is Communism's fundamental
working hypothesis, which it continually checks by experience
and from experimental work carried out in special psycho-
logical laboratories. But the Communist himself objects to
calling his creed and movement a religion. He does not object
to calling it an ideology, which he construes upon scienti-
fically tested facts, and he employs in his service experimental
science to a degree which no other social movement has ever
done. One thing he does openly confess, and in this respect
Communist teaching is not unlike religious dogma, it is frankly
partisan, it accepts its proletarian class bias and scornfully
rejects any so-called objective, impersonal, or super-class
science and philosophy.
Communists greatly dislike religious terminology. In this
respect they suffer from acute logophobia, a prejudice against
unpleasant terminology. This is of course quite human and a
common ailment of most people. In our study we shall avoid
treating Communism as a religion, either in terminology or
through psychological analogy. To do so would not help in
solving our problems but rather obscure the issue. Of course
Communists are human beings and whatever difference in
theory and opinion the opposing philosophies may possess,
there still remains the basis of common humanity, on which
we shall always be able to meet and understand one another.
1

12
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER II
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
THE religion of the great mass of Russian people, including the
Ukrainians, the Georgians, and some of the other minority
races of the former Russian Empire, is nominally orthodox
Christianity as taught by the so-called "Holy Orthodox
Church," or the "Greek Orthodox Church." It was intro-
duced into Russia from Byzantium at the time when the rivalry
between the Eastern and the Western sections of the Christian
Church was nearing its breaking point; the final severance
took place in 1054. The Byzantine emperors were hard
pressed by the advancing Moslems and the continuous raids.
of barbarians, and sought the support of the latter by their
Christianization. Thus, at about the middle of the 10th
century, the people of the Balkans were Christianized, and
there were also groups of Christians in Southern Russia,
particularly amongst the roving warriors.
The official date of the baptism of the Russian people is
given as 988. This was a mass performance ordered by the
ruling prince, Vladimir of Kiev, who undertook this religious
reform of his people partly from personal leanings towards
the Christian cult, but chiefly because of political considerations,
wishing to establish closer contact with the Byzantine Emperor
whose sister he married. He wanted also to be sure of the
loyalty of his army, which by this time had many Christians in
its ranks. Princess Olga of Kiev, who became a convert to
Christianity in 955, had also a share in persuading Vladimir
to become a Christian. Later she was canonized and is
venerated as the first Russian Christian saint.
One of the peculiarities of the Russian Orthodox Church,
by which it was marked from its very inception, was its close
13
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
***'*ml?g
organic relation to the State and to the patronage of the Crown.
In this it differed from its rival in Rome, where the Church
maintained a relative independence from the State and sought
always to rule princes and emperors, rather than be ruled by
them. Another peculiarity of the Russian Church is the fact
that the Christianity it adopted at the close of the 10th century
was the religion of a declining State, rapidly losing the once
glorious traditions of the Byzantine Empire. For these
reasons the religion which Vladimir took over from Byzantium
was already a completely stereotyped orthodoxy, lacking the
fervour and the youth of its apostolic days. Finally, being
imposed upon the people by order of a despotic ruler, it was
simply grafted upon the existing paganism, much of which
has survived to this day in the religious cult and the customs
of the common people.
ANT
Chris
"
PAGAN SURVIVALS
99 66
The Pagan Slavs had not a very highly developed religion.
They worshipped Perun, the thunder god, together with
many spirits of nature. There was also a cult of the dead and
an ancestor veneration, together with a preanimistic worship
of the uncanny and of the awe-inspiring generally. Russian
folk lore shows many survivals of totemic ideas. Animals
were generally considered friendly and helpful. They are
tenderly called "godmother wolf," "godmother fox," "czar
bear," and so on. The horse was always considered a symbol
of power, because its early owners were usually knights and
princes. The he-goat enjoyed particular popularity; to him
were ascribed powers to scare away bad spirits and to aid in
the growth of crops. The last ears of grain gathered from the
fields were braided into his beard and he was presented with
a freshly baked loaf of bread. To this day, in some parts of
Russia, village youths dress in goatskins and, with the he-goat
as mascot, they wander through the fields singing: "Where
the goat passes, the grain will grow.
There was strength in this Christian paganism. It was due
to its antiquity, its quaint beauty and, in spite of its boasted
در
14
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
orthodoxy, its independence from speculative thought, from
puritan morals and individualism. The syncretism of the old
Slavic paganism with Byzantine Christianity, which became
the Russian orthodox religion, has many elements of a crude
anthropomorphism and religious materialism which, however,
was quite suited to the primitive economy and social life of the
peasants and the town folks of feudal times. They still
worshipped and appeased the spirits of the hearth, the field,
the forest, the waters, etc.; they used magic and incantations
against illness, “bad luck," the " evil eye,” drought and flood
and other forces of nature against which primitive man felt
himself impotent. Even such a subtle concept as the "Grace
of God" was understood quite materialistically; to this day
Samara peasants close windows and chimneys and plug up
cracks in the walls when the priest is invited to say prayers in
the house. These precautions are taken to make sure that as
little as possible of the "grace" of the prayer may escape
through any possible opening in the house.
(C
To satisfy the demands of these primitive needs the priest
functioned similarly to the former magician and medicine man.
He had the power of "grace" which was bestowed upon him
by the mystery of ordination, and he was attired, besides, in
sacerdotal vestment, equipped with a holy cross, an ikon, sacred
ointment, and holy water. All these invested him with powers
of grace which, when administered with the proper
"words "and" signs," were able to give the coveted protection
and relief. The personality, wisdom and moral quality of the
priest as a man had nothing to do with the efficacy of" grace";
as long as the ritual was carried out according to the old
traditions and the price of the performance was not too
exorbitant, the parishioners were entirely satisfied.
Up to the 18th century illiterate village priests were quite
the common rule. Before ordination they had to learn the
words of the service by heart and they repeated them ever
after with but the least idea of their meaning. This semi-
paganism of the masses was not denied even by such an
authority on Russian Orthodox Christianity as the famous
در
15
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CC
High Procurator of the Holy Synod, Pobyedonostzev, who
practically ruled the Church and the State for two generations.
Pobyedonostzev, who died in 1907, said: Our clergy
teaches little and seldom. The Bible does not exist for the
illiterate people. . . . In far off parts of the country the
people understand absolutely nothing as to the meaning of the
words of the service, not even the Lord's Prayer, which is
often repeated with alterations which altogether destroy its
meaning. And yet, in all those primitive minds there is
erected, as in ancient Athens, an altar to the unknown god, and
they resign their lives to providence as a matter of course."
The original Slavic cult of the dead has fully survived and
has merged with the Christian cult. The primitive idea of the
soul was crudely materialistic. It was thought to be like a
bee or a tiny mouse, or a butterfly, or a small bird, which lived
in the little nest formed between the neck and the chest.
When man slept or died, this little soul-animal went from him.
Death differed from sleep only in so far as in sleep the depar-
ture of the soul was temporary and in death permanent. Under
Christian influence the soul changed its shape from an animal
to a pneuma, an intangible something, but none-the-less real
and hence to be cared for.
In some of the more backward sections of the country, like
White Russia, the care of the soul of the departed is still taken
quite seriously. It begins even before death has set in. It is
considered highly important not to lose sight of the soul;
therefore into the hands of the dying person is pressed a
burning candle. As soon as death has set in, the flame of the
candle is extinguished and the direction of the departing smoke
indicates the direction in which the soul has fled. If the eyes
of the deceased happen to remain open this is considered a sure
sign that the departed is looking for some mate to take with
him, so the eyes of the dead are quickly shut and sometimes
such heavy objects as large copper coins are placed upon the
eyelids to keep them down. The deceased is washed and
dressed by strangers, not by relatives, for it is feared that any
discomfort to the dead during this performance may arouse his
16
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
wrath and it is therefore thought safer to employ strangers,
whom the dead does not know, to render him this last service.
On the contrary the night watches are held in the presence of
relatives to assure the dead of their affection for him. Psalm
readers are employed to read to the dead for his solace and
this is continued day and night as long as the deceased is in
the house. After the burial, memorial services and feasts are
held and some of the food is deposited on the grave. These
ceremonies are repeated on the ninth, the twentieth and the
fortieth days, when it is believed the soul finally departs from
the earth. But the return of the dead is considered always
possible, and therefore semi-annual memorial services are
conducted.
In White Russia, according to Professor N. M. Nikolsky,¹
the cult of the dead is still practiced on " ancestral days." In
spring and autumn, particularly during the latter season, a
family feast is arranged, for which occasion a thorough cleaning
of the premises is undertaken. Plenty of food and drink is
served, and when the family is gathered about the table the
family head opens "the soul trap," a small opening in the
ceiling, and the ancestors are invited to join the feast. The
head of the family speaks thus: "Holy grandfathers we call
you, holy grandfathers come down to us. There is everything
our house possesses, holy grandfathers we beg you, if you wish,
to come down to us!" During the meal all present throw
morsels of food and drink under the table and after the meal
the ancestors are requested to depart with the words: Holy
grandfathers, you have come down here, you have drunk and
eaten, fly back home. Tell us what else you want, rise then,
rise to heaven!" This survival of pagan rites illustrates how
the Christian ideas of the immortal soul fitted in well with the
primitive Slavic cult of the dead.
CC
Under the patronage of the ruling princes the Church grew
in wealth and power. The dreary landscape of the Russian
plains was soon dotted with quaint onion-shaped domes which
in towns and settlements produce a beautiful skyline. Not all
1 ¹ N. M. Nikolsky, History of the Russian Church, 1931.
¦
·
[
17
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
of the Slavic tribes, however, accepted the new religion as
resignedly as the people of Kiev. Novgorod, report the
Chroniclers, was baptized with the aid of the sword and with
fire. And from the Northern Rostov three bishops fled for
their lives when they tried to burn up the old idols of the town.
But in time the Christian Byzantine cult attracted the people
by its gorgeous beauty and ceremony, though the teachings of
the Church remained quite unintelligible to the barbarian Slavs.
Hence, their "conversion " remained but an outward affair
and gradually merged with the old folk lore. The affection
which the people had to the new ikon cult was not unlike that
which they cherished for their former family idols and fetishes.
Their old magic rites and feast days were simply re-christened
with new names. This, of course, is not only peculiar to the
Slavic Church. It was the case wherever there was com-
pulsory or mass conversion of savage or barbarian people.
The early Russian Church deserves credit for much
colonizing in the remote parts of the great Russian country.
Monastic settlements sprang up in the wilderness, becoming
the nuclei for trade and frequently developing into large towns
and cities. The Church quickly realized its advantages as
a colonizer. Everywhere it went it established titles to enor-
mous tracts of land. By the 17th century, it actually owned
one-third of all the land in Russia, besides thousands of
peasant serfs; but subsequently it lost a part of the land by
expropriation measures carried out by the Tzars since the 18th
century, and particularly during the reign of Catherine II, who
turned much of the land over to the crown and its favoured
nobility.
ECCLESIASTICAL CULTURE
Cities like Kiev, Novgorod, Moscow and most of the older
cities of Russia, were culturally speaking ecclesiastical towns.
Their most valued property was held by the church. For
example, in Moscow a generation ago, at a time when the
population was about half a million, there were in this city
10 cathedrals, 15 monasteries, 9 convents, 2 deaconess centres,
18
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
351 churches and 33 chapels, with 1,233 clerics, besides several
thousand monks, nuns and professional choristers, supplying
the music to the churches.¹ The ringing of the bells of these
many churches, their gorgeous processions on feast days, the
splendour of their music and the mysticism of the ritual, filled
the atmosphere of the city and gave it a quality of its own.
The old Moscow was limited to the walls of the Kremlin:
within it there is still a mass of church buildings and palaces
with little space for residential purposes. But as the city grew
to wider circles around the Kremlin, churches were planted
at every city gate and along the main thoroughfares.
The Mother Church of Moscow is the old cathedral of the
Assumption of the Holy Virgin in the Kremlin. Its foundation
dates back to early 14th century. Many times it was destroyed
and again rebuilt. It was often looted by invaders, but the
piety and patronage of the ruling princes always re-endowed
this ancient church. The last to loot it was Napoleon who,
from this church alone, took as much as 1,300 pounds of
silver, 720 pounds of gold and many precious stones. This
enormous amount of metal was used for decorating the altar
gates and the sarcophagi of the Muscovite princes and patri-
archs, who were interred in the walls of this church, which is
decorated by as many as 375 ikons, besides fine fresco orna-
mentation on the walls, the dome, and the pillars.
In this church took place the gorgeous ceremonies of the
Tsars' coronations and the anointing of the Patriarchs and
Metropolitans. Frequently great processions made their
start hence to various parts of the town and to the river Moscow
to bless its waters. These processions were held in com-
memoration of great historic events in the national history,
such as the liberation of the city from the invading Tartars, the
Poles and, last of all, Napoleon; also during such great church
festivals as Easter and New Year.
In these "Processions of the Cross," as they were called,
1 This data does not include churches and clergy of other creeds such as
the Old Believers, and other dissenters, Roman Catholics, Protestants,
Jews, etc.
19
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
usually participated all the clergy of Moscow, all the fine
choirs and thousands of people. One orthodox writer called
these processions "the church in motion." He writes:
"What temple walls can include so many sacred objects, so
numerous a congregation of clergymen, singers and such a mass
of people as a procession of the cross." Festive ringing of
the numerous bells of the Kremlin and nearby churches
announced the starting of the procession. It was led by
gorgeously vested choirs of boys and men. The clergy,
headed by a bishop, followed in full vestment; zealots of the
faith carried the sacred ikons, crosses and richly decorated
gonfalons. The whole was a most impressive spectacle. In
the centre of the procession, raised upon a high dais, were
carried the sacred "miracle working" ikons of the Vladimir
Virgin and the Iberian Virgin; the first was housed in the
Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin, and the other,
called "The Gatekeeper," was for centuries in a little shrine
outside the gate leading to what is now the Red Square. The
dais was carried in such a way as to leave a passage below it,
and particularly fervent believers in the miraculous power of
those images prostrated themselves upon the pavement and
lay there in expectation that the sacred ikons, in passing over
them, would take with them all their infirmities. Women
possessed "shrieked hysterically at the sight of these vener-
ated images and frequently raised the accompanying mob to
a pitch of fanaticism. Male bystanders, watching the pro-
cession, had to remove their headgear or run the risk of having
it knocked off by zealots in the mob. Thus the piety and
religious zeal of Russian orthodoxy showed itself.
CC
IKON AND RELIC WORSHIP
Another favoured expression of the religious fervour of the
Russian Christians was their passion for making pilgrimages to
sacred shrines and places throughout the country. They were
always in search of the miraculous. This encouraged particu-
larly monastic centres and convents to possess some miracle
working ikon or relic, the latter usually consisting of an in-
CC
1
20
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
(C
corruptible " saint—a mummified body, which was considered
a sure sign of sanctity. This belief originated in the naive
interpretation of the scriptural passage which says,
nor wilt
thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.' Naturally
monasteries which could not dig up real mummies were
tempted to fraud, and frequently exposed to the miracle-
hungry mob some dummy specially prepared for them.
addition cures of cripples were instigated, and all kinds of
other sensational miracles performed. Of course, there were
occasionally real cures; for faith, even in a dummy saint, may
remove mountains and the power of auto-suggestion can do
many wondrous things.
In
در
One of the queer results of this rivalry for sacred ikons and
relics is that during feudal times ruling princes frequently
undertook raids and besieged towns and monasteries to capture
some particularly popular relic or ikon, or, if it proved im-
possible to get them by force, to obtain these sacred objects by
fraud or bribe. The belief in the magic power of these
pictures and bones was so strong that no warrior felt secure in
going to battle unless some such relic was carried in the ranks;
most of the famous ikons of Russia have a great war history
behind them. Many of the sacred virgins are credited with
victories over invaders or as conquerors of new territories and
peoples.
K
It may be of interest to hear the histories of some of these
ikons.
We have already mentioned the Vladimir ikon of the Holy
Virgin, housed in the Kremlin Cathedral of the Assumption.
It is credited with existing as long as Christianity itself. It
is supposed to have been painted by St. Luke and presented to
Mary the mother of Jesus. Mary seeing this painting of her-
self greeted it with the words: "Behold from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed," and then added, "the
grace of him whom I have born and mine will abide with this
ikon." In the 5th century, under Emperor Theodosius the
Younger, this ikon was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople,
and in the middle of the 12th century it was brought to Kiev,
21
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
to Prince Ury Dolgoruky, where it was for a short time exhibited
in a virgin's convent. Soon afterwards Prince Andrew, the
son of Ury, went on a campaign to the North and took this
ikon with him for protection. On reaching the principality
of Susdal, within ten miles of the town of Vladimir, the horses
which carried the ikon refused to go further and Andrew took
it for a hint that the Virgin wanted to rest there. This was
corroborated to him in a vision in which the Virgin stated
that she wished her ikon to remain in Vladimir. Prince
Andrew was obedient and at once ordered for her the erection
of a habitation in the form of a church. He enshrined his
ikon most lavishly in silver, gold and precious stones. Thirty
pounds of gold alone, says the historian, were used for this
purpose. Thenceforth the ikon became known as the Vladi-
mir ikon of the Virgin. Her fame spread far and wide and
she was the object of the envy of many princes. She partici-
pated in many battles and not a few victories were accredited
her; but she also suffered some reverses. In 1237 the Tar-
tars besieged and captured the city of Vladimir; of course
they looted and destroyed the church, taking with them the
precious ornaments of the Virgin. Somehow the ikon miracu-
lously survived and soon was rehoused in a new church and
splendidly redecorated by the ruling Prince George of Vladimir.
In 1395 the fierce Tamerlane swept with his horsemen over
the Russian plains, setting Moscow as his goal. Basil,
Basil, the
ruling prince of Moscow was greatly frightened; his only
hope, he believed, of escaping destruction was to appeal to the
principality of Vladimir for the aid of the Virgin. A delegation
of high clerics from the Kremlin cathedral was hurriedly
despatched to Vladimir and by threats and bribes succeeded
in extracting the Virgin from the town in spite of the weeping
and lamentation of the population. So great was the crowd
accompanying the ikon that it took ten days to carry her in
procession to Moscow. When she approached the city gate,
innumerable people lined both sides of the road kneeling and
crying, "Mother of God! Save the Russian land!" The
high nobility and all the clergy of Moscow met the ikon and
22
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
accompanied her in a gorgeous "procession of the cross
to the Cathedral of the Assumption where she was duly en-
throned. While this was taking place in Moscow, Tamerlane
was dozing in his tent, but was startled by a vision of a high
mountain moving towards him, from which descended a com-
pany of saints carrying golden crosiers; over them hovered,
in beaming light of indescribable magnificence and splendour,
a woman surrounded by hosts of warriors. Frightened he
called his sages into council and asked them what this vision
might mean. They answered, "This woman of heavenly
splendour which you have seen is the God Mother, the pro-
tector of Christians, and therefore we shall not vanquish
them." To the surprise of everybody Tamerlane ordered
his retreat and, concludes the chronicler: "For the sake of
the virtuous life of Prince Vasily Dmitrievitch God honoured
him and spared the Russian land from the invasion of godless
Temir-Aksaka (Tamerlane) by the coming of the miraculous
image of His (Christ's) Pure Mother, painted by his own divine
spokesman, Luke." 1 The street by which the Virgin entered
Moscow in 1395 is to this day called Sretenka, that is “the
street of meeting"; and the gates of the city through which
she had passed are called the Sretenka Gates. To com-
memorate the event, a fortlike monastery was built near this
gate and was called the Sretensky Monastery. Thenceforth
the ikon remained in Moscow and is credited with many
miraculous deeds in saving the city from invaders. Before
this ikon, princes, tsars and warriors swore allegiance to their
country. It is still housed in the Kremlin Cathedral of the
Assumption of the Holy Virgin. The ikon in itself is a small
painting on a wood panel, twelve by seven inches; it represents
the Virgin with the infant Christ clinging close to her neck.
The ikon is mounted in a silver case and the panel is decorated
by precious trimming of gold and precious stones valued at
$100,000.
This Vladimir Virgin, while very popular with the Musco-
vite rulers, is by no means the only attraction of its kind in
¹ See F. I. Rychin, Guide Through Moscow Sanctuaries, pp. 23–24.
""
▼
23
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Moscow. There are hundreds of other ikons of the Virgin,
the Saviour and of popular saints, which enjoy as great and
perhaps greater popularity among the people than the one just
described, and reproductions of which are found in practically
every Russian household.
The curious thing about these sacred panels is that copies of
them, if properly prepared and blessed, are just as effective
in their miraculous power as the originals. A good case in
hand is the ikon of the Iberian Virgin. It is a copy from the
original, miracle-working ikon of the Greek monastery on
Holy Mount Aethos. This ikon was called by the Greeks the
Portaitissa of Iberia, that is, the Gate-keeper of Iberia. The
monks of Mt. Aethos, being in constant need of money, made
an offer to the pious Tsar Alexis to prepare for him a copy of
the sacred ikon in return for the privilege of coming to Russia
to collect alms for their monastery. They assured the Tsar
and his chief adviser, the later Patriarch Nikon, that the copy
would have all the merits of the original. In a letter addressed
to the Tsar and to Nikon, Pakhomius, the Father Superior of
the Monastery, gives a detailed description of the Mt. Aethos
recipe for transferring the wonder-working quality from the
original to its copy. We shall quote somewhat extensively
from this most curious historic document, first published in
1879.
"In response to Your Majesty's will and the word from the
saintly Lord Archimandrite Nikon of the new Spassov
monastery, I, on my arrival into our monastery gathered our
whole fraternity of three hundred and sixty-five brethren for
much prayer and song, lasting from evening until sunrise. We
blessed water with holy relics (that is, bodily remains of dead
saints) and poured this holy water over the sacred miracle-
working ikon of the blessed God-bearer, the old Portaitess; we
collected this water into a great basin and again and again
poured it over the new ikon, made of cedar wood. Then we
gathered this water into a basin and zealously celebrated divine
and holy mass. After the holy mass we gave this holy water
and the holy relics to the ikon painter, the Reverend Friar and
24
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
Holy Father, Lord Yamblikhon Romanov, in order that he,
after mixing the holy water with the relics and the colours,
might paint the holy and blessed ikon, in order that the panel
and the colours be joined with the holy water and the relics.
And in painting this holy ikon, he partook of food only on
Saturdays and Sundays and completed it in great silence with
joy and vigilance."
The letter adds that while Romanov was painting the ikon,
Pakhomius and the three hundred and sixty-five brethren
conducted prayers from dark until sunrise twice every week
and daily celebrated holy mass till the ikon was completed,
which was within two weeks.
It must not be thought that I am unearthing these medieval
saint stories to make sport of the credulity of the people,
reviving tales otherwise long forgotten. This is not the case.
The Iberian Virgin survived the Revolution and its shrine
remained at the gates leading into the Red Square until 1930,
when the Soviet Government removed it to make room for
a wider street. And even now it still continues to
"work its
miracles," although in a much quieter place than before, being
housed in a small chapel situated in a blind alley, not far from
the Nikitskaya Street almost opposite the building of the
Conservatory of Music. Although there are no street signs
which would indicate the whereabouts of the ikon, thousands
of devotees manage to discover her, and the chapel is open from
morning until night every day, and many services are conducted
there which are specially ordered and paid for by the faithful.
To the orthodox Christian prayer seems possible only in
the presence of an ikon. In medieval times, 13th to 16th
centuries, it was customary that each parishioner, besides his
household ikon, had also his ikon hanging in the church, to
which he prayed during the service without regard for the
priest or anyone else. Trouble arose when someone else
dared to pray to an ikon not his own. This meant to steal
the" grace " from it and was greatly objected to by the owners.
The sight of such a service with each worshipper turning in a
different direction must have been ridiculous, but even to this
Fi.
C
25
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
""
day it is not unusual to find people praying before a favoured
ikon in some corner of the church all by themselves while the
service is chanted by the priests. The ikon is thus more than
a reminder of the presence of God; it is possessed of God and
full of "grace.
The ikon lives, feels, sees, and hears. It
watches over the home life and is pleased when tapers are lit
before it or when it is clothed in silver, gold and precious
stones. These beliefs are so ingrained in the mind of the people
that they still linger on and even intelligent people cling to
them, who otherwise appear quite rational beings.
The religious practices of the people with their ikon and
relic worship, their feast days, and sacerdotal functions are
of a purely utilitarian nature and are designed as protection
against evil spirits, disease and famine. The dogma of the
church is of secondary importance. Orthodoxy is rather
understood as conformity to the old rites and practices and has
little or nothing to do with the teachings of the Bible and the
basic dogma of the church. The Bible is practically unknown
and not read by the people. Bible-reading Christians were
always under suspicion of evangelical sectarianism, and as
a matter of fact the Russian evangelical sects originated with
the introduction and the spreading of the Bible by foreign
societies.
DOCTRINAL PECULIARITIES
If we turn to the teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church,
we find it emphasises the static aspects of religion. It considers
its chief function is to conserve the truth which was put into
its trust by the Fathers of the Church. There are no new
truths to discover and even the thought of such a thing is
heretical. On the occasion of the ninth centenary of the
"conversion of Russia," one of the solemn pronouncements
made by representative clergymen was expressed in the follow-
ing words: "The Orthodox Church alone has preserved the
divine doctrines just as they were committed to her, and will
preserve them unchanged to the end of the ages, without
adding to or taking from them a single iota, inasmuch as she
26
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
is the pillar and ground of truth, inasmuch as the spirit
of God which dwelleth within her preserveth her from all
error."
This is precisely the doctrinal position of the Greek Orthodox
Church. It considers its task to preserve, not to develop or
search for truth. Therefore the learning of Orthodox theo-
logians limited itself to the apologetic function of guarding
against any possible innovation. By the "Divine Doctrine,"
which is mentioned in the above statement, is meant the Nicene
Creed and the canons of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.1
The doctrines of the first four of these Councils were raised
by the Emperor Justinian, as confirmed by the Fifth
General Council, to the level of the Holy Scriptures, and
this ruling has been accepted by the Russian Orthodox
Church.
Let us briefly recall what doctrines were developed in these
Councils, which as we have seen, are still valid in the Russian
Church, and which it intends to preserve unchanged to the end
of the ages. The first General Council of Nicaea in 325,
because of its Catholic representation, was unquestionably the
most important of the doctrine-making Councils. The
principal problem it attempted to solve was to give definition
of the Godhead, which to the philosophically-minded Greeks
seemed to be of the highest importance and about which
passionate controversies were carried on by the followers of
Arius and Athanasius, especially at Alexandria, the most
prominent centre, in the early centuries after Christ, of philo-
sophical and theological speculation.
As is well known the controversy turned on the relations of
the Divine Persons in the Trinity, dealing in the most subtle
shades of meaning of words for which only the Greek language
finds expression. And yet this excess of dogmatism in the
most abstract region of human thought was elevated, sub-
scribed, sealed, and guarded by anathemas as "Divine Doc-
¹ These Councils are known according to the names of the cities in
which they were held in Nicaea in 325; in Constantinople in 381; in
Ephesos in 431; in Chalcedon in 451; in Constantinople in 553 and 680;
in Nicaea in 787.
27
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
trine," of which the Greek Orthodox Church of to-day is the
most ardent supporter.¹
Although the makers of the Creed intended to have it stand
unaltered for " ever and ever," there were, nevertheless, certain
additions and subtractions made at the Fourth General Council
in 451. From that time on it has stood unaltered.
Other problems which occupied these Councils pertained.
largely to the condemnation of heretics, i.e. those ecclesiastics
who did not yield to the rulings of the majority in the contro-
versies. Besides this, the Councils regulated the conduct of
the clergy and gradually developed the Greek Orthodox system
of ecclesiastical hierarchy. Thus the institution of the patri-
archate was established at the Fourth General Council in 451.
The Seventh and last General Council recognized by the
Russian Church sanctioned the veneration of sacred pictures
and condemned the iconoclasts who would destroy them.
This was in the year 787. Since then the Holy Spirit
ceased to reveal "Divine Doctrine." Orthodoxy was stereo-
typed and theologians of the Church for almost twelve centuries
have spent their energies in guarding against adding or taking
from it a single iota.
This stereotyped doctrinal position of the Eastern Church,
Greek and Russian, explains some of the peculiarities which
distinguish it from those of the West, whether Roman Catholic
or Protestant. It is particularly marked by the absence of
1 The Creed, which was the final outcome of the heated debates of the
ecclesiastics at Nicaea, reads as follows:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things both
visible and invisible;
""
"C
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father,
only begotten that is to say, of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the
Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things in
earth-who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made
flesh and was made man, suffered, rose again on the third day, and went
up into the heavens ;
"C
And in the Holy Ghost.
But those that say' there was when He was not,' and' before He was
begotten He was not,' and that' He came into existence from what was
not,' or who profess that the Son of God is a different 'person' or sub-
stance,' or that He is created, or variable, are anathematized by the
Catholic Church."
<<
28
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
a learned clergy. There is no need for them, since no new
truth is to be discovered. There exists some scholarship to
perpetuate the traditional theology and guard against heretics.
who might undermine the Orthodox faith, but for original
thinking there is neither need nor place in the Orthodox.
Church. This may account for the fact that the few original
religious philosophers Russia has produced were all laymen;
the best known of these are the Slavophil Khomayakov and,
more recently, Vladimir Soloviev. The Russian Church,
unlike the Churches of the West, has developed no institutions
of secular learning There were never Church Colleges and
Universities in Russia, and even the former theological semi-
naries and academies, which generally maintained a fair standard
of scholarship, have ceased to exist and seem not to be missed
whatever by the Church, which manages very well without
a learned clergy.
The monasteries, which in the West were generally centres
of learning, were not so in Russia, at least not with respect
to letters. The learned monk was looked upon with suspicion.
"Book cunning" could easily lead to spiritual pride, and was
considered a weapon used by the devil to drag the souls of
men to hell.
A narrative of the monks of the famous Petchersky Monastery
tells how one of their brothers, named Nikita, had a vision of
an angel who told him to become learned in order that he
might instruct the people who came to him for advice. He set
out to learn the Scriptures by heart and actually could recite
the whole of the Old Testament. The Brethren suspected
that it was the devil who seduced Brother Nikita to this folly
and by persistent admonition and prayer succeeded in driving
off the evil spirit from the learned Nikita, "and," ends the
narrative, "Nikita lost all his knowledge."
Thus, because of the absence of learning, the Russian Church
was not only unable to develop further the religious ideas she
had received, but she was even unable to preserve them un-
changed. Paul Miliukov, the historian of Russian civilization,
makes the assertion that the Russian Church necessarily
<<
29
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
adopted very easily and involuntarily the dogma of her former
She attained this result by dint of simplifying
pagan creed.
Eastern Christianity and reducing it to a state of complete
materialization. Simplified and materialized, the oriental
creed has become a particular and national type of Russian
orthodoxy.
The veneration of ikons and relics, which if properly under-
stood has æsthetic and symbolic value for the faithful, has lost
most of its spiritual quality in the practice of the Russian
Church. The ikon, as we have shown, is such an important
factor in the religious life of the Russian people that we must
know the teachings of the Orthodox Church in regard to its
purpose. As always the Church reverts to the interpretation
and sanction given to the use of ikons by the General Councils.
We already know that the Seventh General Council, which met
at Nicaea in 787, occupied itself with the iconoclastic con-
troversy and decided in favour of the veneration of sacred
pictures. The arguments presented at the Council favouring
the veneration of pictures are still advanced by the Russian
Church.
>>
(C
<
St. Methodius of Constantinople, one of the champions in
the defence of sacred images at the iconoclastic controversy,
writes to his opponents: You say that this veneration of the
images has made gods of them? But it is you, yourselves,
who ought to teach the people in what way it is befitting to
honour them. For, supposing that some villager or country
boor were to meet a servant of the King, and should worship
him as if he were the King himself, and should say to him,
Have mercy on me, most gracious Majesty,' would you order
that both the servant who received this homage and the man
who offered it should be punished with death (on a charge of
laesa majestas)? Certainly not, inasmuch as he did it in
ignorance. But it is the business of those who know to explain
to the inexperienced that this is not the King; inasmuch as
the King lives in his palace and no one sees him except at such
time as he chooses to show himself outside. And so you should
teach those who in ignorance make a god of an image of Christ,
39
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
that it is not Christ in the flesh but only an image of him. For
Christ is in Heaven, and no man seeth Him, so far as I know,
until He appear in His second coming to judge the world.
And this they would certainly understand, and would regulate
their worship accordingly. For this is what Bishops are
meant for, namely to teach the people to believe and pray.”
Thus in the early Church pictures were maintained princi-
pally on the ground of their practical utility. Images were the
books for the unlearned and, in truth, the images in the older
churches do represent the orthodox plan of salvation and the
history of the Church. A classic illustration is furnished by
the Moscow Cathedral of the Assumption and is considered
to be a perfect model of the orthodox idea of a Christian
church. Its iconostasis, that part of the church where the
altar is situated, is divided horizontally into several tiers or
stages, upon which in long rows are mounted the various ikons.
The basic idea expressed in the pictures (ikons) is the beautiful
and truly Christian doctrine of "the Communion of Saints "
down through the ages..
The upper tier represents the saints of the era before Moses,
with the Lord of Sabaoth in the centre. There are Adam,
Seth, Enoch, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who symbolize
continuity of holiness proceeding from the Father of All Life.
The next tier represents the saints of the Old Testament
Church, from Moses to Christ, with the Holy Virgin in the
centre. The prophets on either side of her hold scrolls con-
taining the Messianic hope. In the tier below is pictured the
story of the Gospels in twelve great events. On the fourth
row (immediately above the royal gates) the Christian Church
itself is depicted by the reign of Christ who is seated on a
heavenly throne as the everlasting High Priest making inter-
cession for our sins; on either side of Him stand, in position
of prayer, His Mother and St. John the Baptist, as two repre-
sentatives of human perfection, the nearest intercessors before
Him on behalf of sinful man. On both sides of them are
1
¹ These events are celebrated in the twelve principal feasts of the
Orthodox Church. Easter is called the "Feast of Feasts."
31
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ranged all the Apostles, beginning with St. Peter and St. Paul,
as preachers of the Gospel of Christ and builders of His Church.
Thus, beginning from above and descending upon the inner
wall of the nave is depicted the gradual growth of the Church
as the invisible Communion of Saints.
The four central pillars of the church are representative of
the Martyrs, whose blood has been the strength of the Church;
on the royal gates in the iconostasis are the ikons of the Annun-
ciation and the four Evangelists; on the south wall are paintings
of the General Councils, whose doctrines and canons contain
the teachings of the Orthodox Church, and on the west
wall is represented the Last Judgment. Besides these, there
are many other ikons and paintings, representing madonnas
and saints who were important factors in the making of the
Russian Church and State.
(C
The doctrinal interpretation of the ikons, however, goes
beyond the ideas of symbolism. According to St. John
Damascene, whose point of view triumphed at the Seventh
Council, the ikon became an object of incarnation of the Logos.
This idea must have much to do with the belief in God-
manifested" ikons, now prevalent in Russia. There are
scores of ikons in Russia which the Church claims were not
made by man but were sent down by God from Heaven.
This is proved by their wonder-working power. I doubt
whether the Fathers of the Councils would have accepted these
myths, but in Russia they are but a natural development of the
idea which was advocated by St. John Damascene, and are
a clear case of what Milukov calls the materialization of the
Christian ideas in Russia.
Next to this ikon worship the doctrine of prayer for the
dead is of the greatest importance in the practice of the Ortho-
dox Church. We have shown that it fitted in well with the
traditional ancestor worship and the care of the departed.
The enormous wealth of the Church has grown chiefly out of
the exploitation of this superstition. Princes and rich men
frequently endowed monasteries and churches on condition
that daily prayers should be said for their departed souls.
✓
32
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
The doctrine of retribution for sins committed on earth and
the possibility of being relieved from punishment by the
prayers of the Church was a mighty weapon in the possession
of the clergy, who exploited it to its utmost capacity. Even
to this day the income of the clergy is mostly obtained from
this source. Most orthodox Russian families still maintain
the custom of having the priest, at least once a year, pray for
the departed members of the family. These indulgences sold
by the Church had, of course, their immoral effect on the people
and largely account for the glaring amorality of Russian
Christians.
THE ETHICS OF THE PEOPLE
Religion had little to do with shaping the moral code and
practices of the Russian people. Systematic teaching of the
decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount and other Christian
precepts was almost impossible in the early Russian Church
owing to the gross ignorance of the clergy, the absence of
schools, and of the institution of preaching, besides the general
illiteracy of the people and of the majority of the village clergy.
The traditions of the Slavic tribes, with their primitive economy
and social organization, did not fit in with the ethic of the early
Church. It remained thus in abeyance and the social relations
of the people were commonly regulated by time-honoured
customs and social expediency.
1
Russian folk lore with its tales, sayings, rhymes and pro-
verbs, contains the wisdom of the people. Lovers of antiquity
have collected these and their analysis shows that these sayings
generally met the social and moral demands of the groups
which produced them. Some of this folk lore antedates the
introduction of Christianity into Russia, but much of it is a
syncretic product in which the primitive ideas are intermingled
with Christian concepts and with words from the Bible. In
their scope they deal with practically every human need and
interest. There are sayings which pertain to God, to the
¹ There are some ten thousand such proverbs published in the collections
of I. I. Illustrov, V. Dal, I. Snegirev, T. I. Buslaev, B. Perogovsky and
others.
33
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
loyalty of the group to its rulers, to marriage, the rights of
property, to crime, taxation, validity of contract, taboos of
certain foods and drinks, poverty, sickness and health. Eminent
Russian jurists believe that Russian common law had its
origin in Russian folk lore. Sayings about diseases and their
cures contain not a few very correct observations and good
advice to which any physician could subscribe to-day.2
The proverbs relating to God emphasize characteristics
which were common to despotic rulers: "There is but one
God and one Tsar ; "God in the heavens, the Tsar on the
earth"; "All is in the power of God and the Tsar"; "The
Tsar is terrible but God is merciful"; etc. Scores of other
proverbs draw these analogies between God and the Tsar,
but there are also many which suggest other more democratic
characteristics, e.g. "Man for himself, but God for all ";
"Man walks, but God leads "; "Man proposes, but God
disposes." Divine care and mercy to the poor find frequent
expression in the proverbs: "God who gave us teeth will also
give us the bread"; God gave the body, he will also give
health"; "God is not poor, His mercy is not scanty." While
God's power is emphasized, there are also proverbs which
encourage man's own efforts: "Who lives purely is aided by
God"; "Who guards the truth is rewarded by God";
Who guards himself is guarded of God"; God is not in
force but in truth," and so on.
(C
(C
در
(C
The Christ of the proverbs is ever the suffering and for-
giving Christ: "Without a cross, without a Christ" is a
favoured saying. Sin and crime are almost synonymous;
but the sinner is not ostracized, he is thought of as “ the unfor-
tunate" and rather pitied than despised. Sin is taken as
1 Thus Professor Gorushkin of Moscow called attention to it. He says:
"In reading the old proverbs, one finds in them truth which cannot be
refuted, and one must recognize in them the spoken law. In the past
they must have had the power of law. This may be proven by the fact
that many of their principles are incorporated by us in the code of laws.
Similar opinions are expressed by Professors T. Moroshkin, P. Chubinsky
and N. Taganev.
"}
2 Professor of Medicine, Dr. N. T. Vysocky, made some valuable collec-
tions of proverbs pertaining to health and hygiene, diseases and their
remedies.
34
THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE
<<
quite inevitable in life: "God alone is without sin" is a
much-quoted proverb. "Where there is prohibition, there
is sin"; "If you do not sin, you do not repent—if you do
not repent, you cannot be saved"; this is the logic of orthodox
sinners, and "As there is no fire without smoke, there is no
man without sin." Even the archbishop, when hungry,
steals," runs one saying.
<<
""
Talk about "sin" is commonplace in Russian orthodox
circles but the emphasis is rather on forgiveness and mercy :
Quarrel with sin but be reconciled with the sinner ;
"Mercy over sin is like water over fire." While compassion
with the sinner is characteristic the proverb does not encourage
mingling with the evil-minded: "The evil man is like char-
coal, if it does not burn you it blackens you"; "Lying down
with the dog, you will rise with fleas."
Sociability, neighbourliness, hospitality, friendship, pity,
forgiveness, humility, patience, simplicity, etc., are the virtues
praised in the proverb: “To a united fold the wolf is not
awful"; "Good to us and good to all, this is the lawful
life"; "Where there is love, there is God." The spirit of
forgiveness was once dominant with orthodox Christians. It
reflected itself in the common speech of the people. Thus
the farewell word at parting is to this day proschaitey, that is,
forgive." The Russian forgives and forgets quickly. The
Revolution with all its cruelties has not left the people hateful.
The victorious as well as the defeated classes have quickly for-
gotten and forgiven their mutual grievances. The frightful
humiliation to which the Church has been subjected since the
Revolution she has borne with patience and accepts it as a
chastizement for her past sins.
<<
To say, however, that the Russian has a deep sense of moral re-
sponsibility would not conform to the facts. The supernaturally
sanctioned categorical imperative of the Protestant peoples is
not the ethics of the Russian Orthodox Christians. The servile
status of the peasant and worker masses during the feudal and
bourgeois epochs of Russian history constituted no proper social
basis upon which to develop a strictly individualistic ethic
35
+
*
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
with a profound respect to individual property and the sanctity
of personality. Now the social revolution has swept away the
old. A transitional stage, in which an adjustment in social
relations is taking place, is also shaping a new morality. The
future ideals of moral criterion are not yet clearly defined, but
the fact remains that with the new social order a new ethic also
is being created.
,
i
36
CHURCH AND STATE
CHAPTER III
✓
CHURCH AND STATE
THE unholy alliance of Church and State in Russia had much
to do with the progressive paralysis of the Church and its
present impotence. The Church from its very inception
in Russia was tied to the throne. The Christianizing of the
Russian people, as we have seen, went on under the direct
initiative of the ruling princes and from the very beginning the
Church leaned upon the strong arm of the State. At times in
Russian history the throne has been empty or has been occupied
by weaklings, and on these occasions the Church took over the
rudder of State; but the nobility, as a class, was too strong and
too jealous to leave the State an exclusive prey of the Church,
and so the arrangement was never more than temporary.
Again there were occasions when the throne of the Tsar and
the throne of the Patriarch were occupied by members of the
same family, as was the case with the first Romanovs; Michael
I was the son of the Patriarch Philaret and in actuality the
Patriarch ruled the country. Throughout these vicissitudes
of the Russian Church and State there was never any separa-
tion between the two; but, generally speaking, the State grew
the stronger and, in the early 18th century, brought the Church
completely under its domination, making it practically a depart-
ment of State, something of a police force over the consciences
of the people.
Following the parallel developments of Church and State
in Russia we may divide their history into the epochs of
feudalism, the period of centralization of power in State and
Church, the period of serfdom, and finally the bureaucratic
period of control of the Church by the State.
37
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CHURCH AND STATE UNDER FEUDALISM
Feudalism flourished in Russia between the 13th and the 15th
centuries. Throughout this period the Church, though still
nominally under the reign of the Patriarch of Constantinople,
was actually dependent upon the local feudal princes who
resented the interference of the alien Patriarch The invasion
of Russia by the Tartars and the pressure of the Moslems on
Constantinople made contact with the Byzantine Mother
Church very difficult. As a result the Russian Church began
to be ruled by Russian bishops chosen by the ruling princes.
These bishops were mostly former boyars or rich merchants,
whose custom it was to enter the monastery at the decline of
life. Frequently they founded their own monasteries, ruling
them as Fathers Superior and holding themselves quite inde-
pendent of the diocesan bishops. The diocesan bishops thus
had practically no power over the monasteries founded by the
princes; the monks therein were mostly from the following of
the prince, and peasants were admitted only to do the hard
work for their former feudal masters.
The administration of bishops consisted chiefly in collecting
income from the Churches in the given dioceses. The feudal
princes and rich landlords often built their own churches and
selected their own priests, but in doing so they had to come to
terms with the bishop to have these priests ordained and the
churches consecrated. This could be done only by a bishop,
who charged the feudal lords fixed fees for this service as well
as for every visitation of the parish. In addition, the bishop
collected tithes from the local priests and received large in-
comes from the Episcopal estates, many of which were given
them by princes and rich merchants. Some of these estates
were very large. Records of the 17th century show, for
example, that the Bishop of Vyatka owned 30 villages with the
lands and the forests surrounding them. To the fifteen
bishops of that period belonged 28,000 homesteads in towns
and villages and the Patriarch himself owned 7,000 households.
The bishops sublet these properties or exploited them after
38
CHURCH AND STATE
the fashion of the boyars and princes themselves, through a
special agency of tax collectors.
X
The princes retained the rights of dominium directum,
collecting a tax from the properties of bishops. They also
claimed the right of driving undesirable bishops from their
principalities. The relation of the Superiors of monasteries
to the prince was similar to that of the bishops. Under these
feudal conditions the Church lacked real unity, and the rivalry
common between the feudal principalities also characterized
the Church. Each of the princes wanted to possess some
popular wonder-working relic or ikon. If there were no
such local objects the Prince sought to obtain them by bargain-
ing with neighbouring princes and bishops and occasionally
organized raids to capture the coveted sacred objects by force.
During the feudal period many local cults with their own
patron saints had developed. Very often these saints were
former local princes who were venerated for their piety and
their lavish support of the Church, which declared them as
patron saints. Indigenous Russian Christianity was strikingly
backward in intellectual achievements. Most priests were as
illiterate as their parishioners, and the bishops and theologians
of the Church discussed problems of symbolism as of chief
interest: such as the sign of the cross, whether it is to be made
by two fingers or by three; the wearing of long untrimmed
beards and the prohibition of trimming them since this would
mean, they argued, mutilating the image of God, whom man
was to represent, and who, in the ikons, was always painted
with a full beard like their own. To the reading of prayers
was attached particular magic power. It was supposed that
there were certain prayers which, when read often enough,
would possess man of God, and salvation would surely
be attained by the number pronounced during a lifetime.
These same prayers when read for the soul of the departed
had a similar effect. Because of this the number of professional
prayer-makers, i.e. monks, was rapidly increasing and
resulted in the abuse of the monasteries and their huge accumu-
lation of wealth.
(C
رد
39
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CENTRALIZATION OF STATE AND CHURCH AUTHORITY
At the end of the 15th century the Princes and Metro-
politans of Moscow undertook the work of centralizing the
power of the State and the Church. This was done mostly
by conquest of the weaker princes. In Moscow at the time
reigned the shrewd John III surnamed " Kalita," which means
money-pouch," so-called for his frugality and parsimony.
He was backed by Metropolitan Jonah, whose ambition it was
to make the Russian Church independent of Byzantium and
elevate Moscow to the position of a third and final Rome.
He began to propagate the idea of the Apostasy of the Byzantine
Church from the orthodox faith, and explained the fall of
Constantinople as the consequence of its impiety and heresy.
In a pastoral letter to his bishops, he made the accusation:
"You know yourselves, my children, what the Royal City
(Constantinople) had suffered from the siege of the Bulgarians
and the Persians, who for seven years held it as in a net; yet,
it stood as long as the Greeks maintained their piety. But
when they had lost their faith, you know what they had to suffer
and how they were captured and killed; what became of their
十
​souls, God alone knows." The conclusion was plain. Russia
had nothing more to expect from the Greek Church, which
had lost its birthright. The State must take the welfare of
the Russian Church into its own hands. More than this, it
must become the guardian of the orthodox faith for the world.
Constantinople, the second Rome, had fallen, but there was
Moscow with her "most pious" princes; she was chosen to
be the third Rome, that should last till the coming of the Lord.
And her Princes were to be the "true Christian Emperors"
and the guardians of the cross.
<<
John III liked the idea and resolutely undertook to make
himself "the all-pious" Emperor of Orthodox Christendom.
To facilitate his ambitions, he arranged for his marriage with
Princess Sophia of Constantinople (1467) and commenced to
build his great Cathedral in Moscow, which was to replace the
desecrated Cathedral of Saint Sophia of Constantinople.
40
CHURCH AND STATE
/
Whilst John," the money-pouch," was successfully freeing
the Russian Church from the Byzantine domination he con-
quered, with equal success, one after the other of the northern
principalities. He did not destroy their sanctuaries or their
sacred ikons, but collected them in Moscow and placed them
in his new Cathedral of the Assumption which became the
central pantheon of Russia. In this manner he brought the
ikon of the Virgin from the Vladimir Cathedral, the ikon of
the Saviour from the conquered Novgorod, the ikon of the
Virgin from Pskov and a similar one from Smolensk. These
local shrines, which were once the glory of feudal princes,
were now to add to the splendour and power of the Moscow
metropolis. At the same time John sought to attract to his
court the wisest of the clergy and gladly listened to their
philosophizing upon the coming of the third Rome-Holy
Moscow. A very interesting example of this is left to us in a
letter of the learned monk Philotheus to John III. He says:
"The Church of ancient Rome was destroyed in consequence
of the heresy of Apollinarius and the Constantinopolitan Church
of the second Rome was cut to pieces by the axes of Hagar's
posterity. But this Holy Apostolic Church of the third Rome
(Moscow)-to wit, of the autocratic power-shines more
brightly than the sun of the whole universe. . . . Two
Romes have fallen; the third stands upright, and there is no
fourth to come; thou art the only Tsar of the Christians in the
entire world." Under these circumstances the domination
of the Church by the State was successfully carried on by the
Muscovite princes. What was commenced by John and his
faithful ecclesiastics was completed by the Tsars who followed
him.
John IV the Terrible continued the policy of gathering
Russia about Moscow and driving away the Tartars. He also
emphasized the independence of the Russian Church from
Byzantium. It was under his reign that the myth of the
preaching of St. Andrew, the Apostle, on the banks of the
Dnieper was circulated and, of course, readily believed. Why
do you refer us to the Greeks?" answered the Tsar to the
CC
+
D
4I
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Papal envoy Possevin, who wanted the Russian Church to
follow the Greeks in regard to the Council of Florence. "The
Greeks are no Gospel to us; we believe not in the Greeks, but
in Christ. We received the Christian faith at the beginning of
the Christian Church, when Andrew, the brother of the
Apostle Peter, came to this country on his way to Rome.
Therefore we received the Christian faith at the same time as
you in Italy.”
> 1
In this manner the direct Apostolic origin of Russian
Christianity was theoretically established and the claim of the
Tsars as the true and only Emperors of Orthodox Christianity
strengthened. To complete the independence of the Russian
Church and give proof of its orthodoxy, the ecclesiastics felt
the need of real, canonized, Russian saints, since until that
time the saints and martyrs venerated by the Church were all
foreign, mostly Greeks, which appeared as if the Russian
Church itself was barren of holy witnesses for the Christian
faith. To overcome this difficulty, the Russian bishops began
to inquire about Russian saints venerated by local communities,
and what great deeds of piety they had wrought. In the year
1547 a general Council was called at Moscow and the bishops
reported on their researches, which yielded twenty-two saints.
These the Council canonized. The search for saints was
continued in the following year, and in 1549 the Council met
again and canonized seventeen more Those prelates who dared
to oppose the Moscow hierarchy in its efforts to elevate Moscow
to the rank of the third Rome were anathematized by the Coun-
cil. This opposition, the first known to the Church, came from
the south-east. On the lower Volga was a monastic settlement
1 There is no shadow of historical evidence in this myth of Andrew
visiting Russia. But it is true that in the South there were scattered
Christian communities and isolated Christians long before Russia officially
accepted the Christian faith from the Greeks.
"
2 The Greek Church held that there could be only one Christian Emperor.
In 1393 the Greek Patriarch wrote to Basil I, prince of Moscow: It is
impossible for Christians to have a Church without a Tsar, for the State
and the Church are in close union and cannot be separated.
The
Apostle Peter said ' Fear God, honour the Tsar.' He did not say 'Tsars,'
but' Tsar,' in order that none should consider the Tsars of different people,
showing by this that there is but one Tsar in the world."
•
42
CHURCH AND STATE
founded by Nil Soroky, a man of deep spiritual insight and
learning. He attracted an able following and for half a
century opposed the imperialistic tendencies of the Moscow
nationalist-ecclesiastics, until he and his followers were finally
suppressed by the Moscow Councils.
The Volga monks opposed too close a union between Church
and State, and demanded that each be independent of the
other. The pastors of the Church, they said, should not
fear the temporal power, but should stand for what is right in
the Kingdom of the Spirit; the ruler of the State should be no
judge in spiritual affairs; religion is a matter of individual
conscience, and the State should not persecute anyone for his
religious opinions.
One thing still was lacking in the Russian Church. It had
no Patriarch of its own and was compelled to recognize the
Patriarch of Constantinople. To find one was no easy matter,
for it needed the consent of the Byzantine Patriarch. Boris
Godounov, the shrewd pretender to the Russian throne, finally
succeeded in obtaining the consent of the Greek Patriarch
Jeremiah, who in 1589 had come to Moscow to collect alms
for the impoverished Byzantine Church. The Moscow
hierarch, Job, was consecrated First Patriarch of Russia and
thus the dream of Russian ecclesiastics for independence and
dignity was attained. Simultaneously with this achievement
was created a situation which inevitably led to the decline of the
Russian Church.
There were now in Russia dual powers: the Patriarch and
the Tsar. Thus, as the Patriarchs began to assert their
+
spiritual sovereignity, rivalling the Tsars in the splendour of
their court, it soon became evident that a conflict was inevitable.
During the troubled times which followed the extinction of
the Rurik dynasty, when all kinds of pretenders reigned in
Moscow, order was restored by the strong hand of the Patriarch
Philaret, who placed his youthful son, Michael Romanov, on
the throne, but in the practical sense reigned himself as long
as he lived. Under Alexis, the second of the Romanovs,
Nikon was made Patriarch and was unquestionably the ablest
.....
43
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
!
of Russia's ten Patriarchs. Historians frequently called him
the Thomas à Becket of Russian Orthodoxy. He was the
first to clash with the Tsar and the nobility, who feared
this mighty man as a super-autocrat. That there was good
reason for this fear is apparent. Nikon was conscious of the
dignity of his office and his power. Once, when irritated by
the insubordination of the Tsar's powerful boyars, he said:
Co Know ye not that it is not we who receive the sublime sacer-
dotal authority from Tsars or Emperors, but on the contrary
those who govern are anointed to rule. By the same token
it is clear that priesthood is a far greater thing than royalty."
This was dangerous doctrine. The timid Tsar feared the
Patriarch, whom he had loved in his youth. But he did not
hinder his boyars, who plotted Nikon's downfall and finally
succeeded. Nikon's defeat irrevocably established the
supremacy of the State over the Church and prepared the way
for abolishing the Patriarchate altogether. This was accom-
plished by Peter the Great a few decades later.
Nikon was the last of the influential Patriarchs. He is fre-
quently thought of as the reformer of the Russian Church.
It is true that he made many changes in the outward form of
the orthodox cult. This, as we shall see later on, aroused the
protests of the conservative zealots and paved the way to a
schism which alienated a large portion of the most devout
members of the Church and irreparably destroyed the unity
on which it had justly prided itself.
THE CHURCH AND THE INSTITUTION OF SERFDOM
The 17th century is called, in Russian Church History, the
Epoch of the Russian Patriarchy. It could equally be called
the Epoch of the Triumph of Serfdom in Russia. During
this century the centralized power of the Moscow Tsars, backed
by the nobility and the upper hierarchy, steadily oppressed the
free peasants and forced them into servitude, robbing them of
their possessions and their lands. By this time the Patriarch,
the bishops, and the monasteries owned about one million
serfs, roughly eight per cent. of the population. These they
44
CHURCH AND STATE
exploited as did the boyars and princes and, of course, it was
to their mutual interest to maintain the dignity of the Church
and of the Throne, both of which blessed and protected the
institution of serfdom.
Thus the Church, depending for protection of its property
upon the Tsar, became his willing tool. At this time it was
already an established prerogative of the crown to select the
candidates for the Episcopacy, the Patriarchal throne, and for
every other important ecclesiastical position. The Tsar began
to be likened to God's plenipotentiary on earth and this doctrine,
advanced by the Church, maintained itself till the final fall
of the autocratic regime in 1917. Naturally the double yoke
of Tsar and Patriarch, oppressing the serfs and the lower
clergy, who themselves were kept in much the same con-
dition of servitude as the peasants, could not but generate
great discontent and protest.
The first manifestation of mass protest against these evils
in the Church started at the end of the 14th and continued
throughout the 15th and the 16th centuries. It first appeared
in the so-called Strigolnik movement, named after the trade of
its founder, Karp, who was a clothmaker, "stregat " meaning
to shear the woollen cloth; probably, also, it had its first
adherents amongst the clothmakers. The Strigolnik move-
ment spread from Pskov to Twer, Novgorod and Moscow,
and was considered quite a dangerous heresy, chiefly directed
against the feudal abuses within the Church. It was pre-
dominantly a lay movement and penetrated the trade guilds.
Agitation was carried on against the upper hierarchy which was
abusing its power in ordaining priests for money, these orders
being frequently purchased by unworthy men. These first
Russian protestants took recourse to the Bible and found its
texts sufficient support against the whole system of the hierarchy
in the Church. They pointed out that the Apostle Paul en-
couraged laymen to teach and to preach and condemned
drunkenness and the love of money. Since their priests, they
argued, are drunkards who eat and drink with unworthy men
and take gold and silver by taxing the living and the dead, they
A
t
45
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
are but wolves in sheep's clothing, and there is no need for
them at all. These laymen took over the Church services
and even administered the sacraments. They preached against
the cult of the dead and prohibited prayers for the departed.
Some of the extremists among the Strigolniks rejected the
Church altogether as not necessary to salvation. Here in a
very crude form we have all the chief arguments advanced
ever since by Russian sectarians against the Church.
Still the traditional faith in the Church and its cult was very
strong and there were relatively few laymen who were able
to read the Bible and possess one. Whilst everything remained
much the same and the priests were not too exorbitant in their
demands, the people, although greatly dissatisfied with the
clergy, tolerated the existing conditions.
A new occasion for a mass movement of dissent from the
Church was presented by the so-called reforms of Patriarch
Nikon, which called for considerable changes in the ritual and
texts of the service book. As we know, during the period of
feudal decentralization, many local cults had developed which
deviated considerably from the Byzantine ritual. Nikon
wished to revise the old books and create an improved uniform
service in all the churches. The chief objection of the masses.
and of the village clergy to these reforms was as regards the
changes in the traditional sign of the cross, which had hitherto
been made by the first two fingers and which Nikon demanded
to be made by folding the thumb and the first two fingers,
thus symbolising the Holy Trinity. A further grievance was
due to changing the Slavic spelling of the name of Jesus from
<<
>>
CC
Isus to Iīsus." This additional “ī" seemed an outrage
to the believers, robbing the name of " Isus " of its old magic
spell. These and other innovations were resented not only
by the laity but equally by the semi-illiterate village clergy to
whom the demands of the Patriarch seemed beyond the
possibility of fulfilment. They had learned the old texts of
the ritual by heart and now the new reforms demanded from
them a knowledge of reading which went beyond their capaci-
ties. They also resented the ever-increasing taxations of the
46
CHURCH AND STATE
Church by the Episcopacy and their progressive degradation
to servitude. This, together with the general protest of the
impoverished peasants and the revolting townsfolk, started
that mass dissenting movement from the patriarchal Church
which in history is generally known as the Old Believers schism.
Simultaneously it was a mass movement to escape the unbear-
able conditions of serfdom and expressed itself in an exodus
of thousands of peasants from their old habitations to the un-
occupied frontiers, to the wilds of Siberia, and to the Southern
steppes.
The outstanding leader of this schism was the Moscow
Arch-Priest Avvakum, an uncompromising zealot and martyr
for the old faith. He enjoyed considerable popularity also
among some of the Moscow boyars who were in opposition to
Nikon and who sought to overthrow the power of the Patriarch
and persuade the Tsar Alexis I to reinstate the old customs of
their faith. They actually succeeded in accelerating Nikon's
downfall, but they were not able to stop the reform measures
which by this time had gained considerable support among the
upper classes and the city clergy. The Council of 1666-1667,
called to settle the schism, condemned the dissenters, together
with Avvakum and with many others, who were driven into
exile.
The Solovetsk Monastery on the White Sea Islands was one
of the strongholds of the old faith. The monks revolted
against Nikon's reforms and destroyed the new service books,
resisting with armed force the Tsar's orders to accept them.
The Solovetsk monks particularly disliked Nikon because he
robbed their monastery of the remains of the martyred Metro-
politan Philip of Moscow, who had been murdered by order
of John the Terrible for daring to reprimand the despot for
his evil deeds. Under the Romanovs, this Philip was canonized
as a saint and martyr, and many pilgrims from all over Russia
went to Solovetsk to worship at his sarcophagus. The
Solovetsk revolt was crushed and the instigators executed.
The year 1666, during which the Council of the Church con-
demning the dissenters had assembled, was considered a
47
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
mystical number, a sure sign of the coming of Anti-Christ and
the approach of the end of the world. The ideology of the
Anti-Christ developed during the siege of the Solovetsk monas-
tery, and the writings of Avvakum are full of most vehement
denunciations of the Patriarch and Tsar as the ambassadors of
Anti-Christ. For many years this preacher of righteousness
was kept in an underground prison, and finally burned in 1681
for his continuous attack upon the new faith and the Tsar.
Some of Avvakum's sermons were preserved and found wide.
circulation among the people; their apocalyptic revolutionary
doctrine was very dangerous to the existing order and called
forth severe persecution of the Old Believers.
Avvakum taught that there was an alliance of the State and
the Church against the people. The servant of Satan is not
only Nikon but the Tsar who gave Nikon the liberty and was
one with him in corrupting the old faith. Nikon and the
Tsar are the two horns of the apocalyptic beast; the Tsar and
the Patriarch drink the blood of the Holy Witnesses of Jesus.
and are drunk with it. The Tsar and Nikon and all other
authorities have bowed to Anti-Christ and follow him. This
teaching was later developed by Avvakum's pupils. The
Anti-Christ was defined as the Satanic Trinity of the serpent,
the beast and the false prophet: the serpent is Satan, the beast
is the cunning Tsar, and the false prophet is the Patriarch.
Avvakum and his pupils urged the faithful to flee from Anti-
Christ and his servants, and burn themselves alive rather than
surrender. As a result a mass exodus to the wilderness com-
menced. The discontented peasants and artisans left their
homesteads and fled from the pursuing authorities. When
captured they tried to prevent it by setting alight the houses
into which they had fled. This was called the baptism by fire
and was considered as the supreme stage of piety. During
this epidemic of self-burning, not less than 9,000 fanatics
perished in the latter part of the 17th century alone, and there
were repeated new outbursts throughout the 18th century.
48
CHURCH AND STATE
BUREAUCRATIC STATE CONTROL OF THE CHURCH
Peter I was determined to modernize Russia. He recognized
in the Patriarchate not only a dangerous rival to the absolutism
of the throne, but also the greatest obstacle to his modernizing
reforms. With the aid of several ecclesiastics, who lent them-
selves as willing tools to his wild schemes, he abolished the
Patriarchate, and in 1720 brought the Church under the com-
plete control of the State. In place of the Patriarchate he
organized a governing College of Ecclesiastics, under the
guidance of a layman appointed by himself. This institution
was later called the Holy Synod and was patterned upon the
models of Protestant State Churches. The purpose of this
reform was to subject the Church to the interest of the State
and use it to strengthen centralized autocratic sovereignity.
Peter had little interest in purely spiritual matters, and there-
fore neither he nor his successors ever meddled with the doc-
trines or ritual of the Church. In fact, the Holy Synod had
no authority to decree doctrines, but was simply the governing
body of the Church, and in this capacity controlled by the State.
The future history of the Church proved that it was made
a very efficient tool to prolong the despotism of the Russian
Tsars long after autocracy had not only ceased to be a necessity
but had become the greatest hindrance to progress. That the
State control over the Church hampered to a great extent its
spiritual development will subsequently be shown. Peter's X
ecclesiastical coup has been the principal cause of the spiritual
decline of the Russian Church. To understand this, we must
fully understand the organization and functions of the Holy
Synod.
The Holy Synod was composed of all classes of the clergy,
all appointed by the Emperor, but not for the same term.
There were two kinds of members, active and assistant, the
former permanent and the latter consulting and temporary.
The number of members was also unlimited and could be
enlarged or decreased at the will of the Emperor. The
Metropolitans of Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev were considered
I
▼

49
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
3
permanent members. The same status was provided for the
Exarch of Georgia.¹ The Metropolitan of Petersburg was
honoured with the title of the "first member," and as a rule,
with the presidency. The other active members were five or
six Archbishops, Bishops and Archimandrites, and were
appointed for a specific term. Finally, there were several
members of the white (married) clergy, one of whom usually
acted as confessor to the Emperor.
The assistant members of the Holy Synod, who were mostly
bishops and influential priests, were consulted only when
needed. The general executive of the Holy Synod was the
High Procurator, representing the Emperor. Peter described
the functions of the High Procurator as "the eye of the Tsar,'
and his duty was to see that the affairs of the Church were
carried on in conformity with the Imperial decrees. He held
the rank of a Minister of State, and was represented in the State
Cabinet, with responsibility to none except the Emperor.
Laymen were appointed to this high position, and Peter, as
well as other Tsars, preferred military men of firm character
who could control the clergy by military discipline. Thus it
happened that under Nicholas I a spurred and sabred officer,
Count Protassov, occupied the post of High Procurator and
presided over the shepherds of the Church.
The power and range of functions of the High Procurator
were extraordinary. Nothing could be done in the affairs of
the Church without his consent; no act of the Synod was
valid without his signature; he exercised his special power of
veto if any act of the Synod, in his opinion, did not conform
to the laws of the State.
""

The affairs which came within the jurisdiction of the Holy
Synod were of several categories, such as those pertaining to
censorship of religious books and periodicals, the administra-
tion of justice in cases of clerical misconduct and heresy, and
the like. These duties were disposed of principally by the
1 The Church of Georgia is much older than the Russian Church. Its
head is called Exarch. When Georgia was incorporated into the Russian
Empire, the Georgian Church was supervised by the Holy Synod, yet
maintained relative independence.
50
CHURCH AND STATE
ecclesiastical members of the Synod. Matters pertaining to
education, finance, and so forth were attended to by the Pro-
curator and his large staff of assistants and clerks. The affairs
of the Church were centralized to such a degree that no Bishop
could travel beyond the boundaries of his diocese without
first getting permission from the chancellery of the Holy Synod.
Some ten to fifteen thousand cases had to be disposed of
annually, and each case had to pass numerous stages of the
bureaucratic machinery.
In the provinces, branches of the Holy Synod were organized,
called the "Diocesan Consistories," which were patterned
upon the Holy Synod and were to assist the Bishop of the
diocese. They were presided over by lay appointees of the
High Procurator of the Holy Synod, and occupied themselves
principally with matters of clerical discipline and cases per-
taining to marriage and divorce, with the Holy Synod open as
the higher court of appeal.
The fact that the Emperor appointed all bishops on nomina-
tions made by the Synod, and at his will bestowed the dignities
of Archbishop and Metropolitan, who in turn were called into
membership of the Holy Synod, make it apparent that the
governing hierarchy and the Holy Synod lent themselves as
willing tools to the interests of the autocracy. The State was
not slow to use the clergy for its advantage, often at the expense
of the welfare of the nation and the Church, and the unity
which the system promised to produce was only external.
The more spiritually minded ecclesiastics resented this servi-
tude to the State, and the schism which commenced as a protest
against the innovations of Patriarch Nikon in the 17th century
widened on the new issue of State control. Peter was branded
Anti-Christ, and the number of adherents to the schismatics
grew in leaps and bounds and continually drained the Church
of its best spiritual resources. This state of affairs was bound
to accelerate the decline of the national Orthodox Church.
The iron despotism of Nicholas I roused the Russian in-
tellectual class to take up the fight against autocracy which,
in spite of all repressive measures, continued until the old
51
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
I
regime was vanquished in the successful proletarian revolution
of 1917. The Russian autocracy, struggling for its existence,
enlisted the hierarchy of the Church and the Holy Synod to
fight its battles. This led to the darkest period in the history
of the Church; its unholy alliance with the State undermined
its influence upon the people, and prepared the ground for
a mass atheist propaganda.
The man who led the Church during this worst reactionary
period was the High Procurator of the Holy Synod, K. P.
Pobyedonostzev, who died in 1907. He was an able ad-
ministrator and considerably erudite; he was loyal to the
crown and the autocracy, and loved the State Church; he
enjoyed the complete confidence of the Imperial family and
was entrusted with the education of the Tsars Alexander III
and Nicholas II.
Pobjedonostzev, in his continuous efforts to uphold the
existing order, was particularly severe upon the sectarians, the
revolutionists, and the Jews, whom he considered enemies of
the Church and the autocratic State. He inspired repressive
legislation and organized his "missionary departments,"
which were principally used as secret service agencies of the
Holy Synod. The ordinary clergy was enlisted in this wide-
spread persecution. The priests were requested to co-operate
with the secret service of the Tsar and inform the police of any
revolutionary propaganda carried on in their parishes. As
a result of their information, more than 10,000 school teachers
were imprisoned or sent into exile.
Believing that ignorance was the best safeguard against
revolutionary propaganda, Pobyedonostzev suppressed the
zemstvo (public) schools and made great efforts to organize
a parochial school system under the supervision of the parish
priests. By rigid censorship he tried to control also the think-
ing of the more educated classes. The higher clergy, in
general, followed his leadership, and became zealous advocates
of his reactionary policies. Some went so far as to abuse the
most sacred institution of the Church, the confessional, for
spying purposes, and the blood of many innocent victims may
K
52
CHURCH AND STATE
be charged to this heinous espionage. It is true that such
abuses were not frequent, and that there were not a few even
among the higher clergy who protested against this prostitution
of the Church to the interest of autocratic despotism, but they
were quickly silenced by the almighty Holy Synod. Such
men were Father Tikhovinsky and Gregory Petrov, and their
names will go down through history as martyrs and prophets
for righteousness.
The lower clergy, particularly the village priests, who had
little to gain from official favours and who depended largely
upon the goodwill of their parishioners, generally showed
passive resistance to the efforts of the State to abuse their
office for political purposes. By tradition and habit they had
no interest in politics and generally ignored the political
efforts of the Holy Synod and the high clergy. It is true that
in the elections of 1912 their participation as electioneers for
the government parties had increased. Yet, even then, many
participated not out of conviction but because of pressure
from above.
The crowning shame of the Church was the unspeakable
Rasputin scandal at the Court of the late Tsar, which humiliated
the Church and dragged it to the lowest depth. Nicholas and
his consort, Alexandra, were by nature superstitious and their
perpetual fear for their lives and their throne made them
susceptible to occultism. Some mystical personalities were
always kept at Court, who, by their prophecies and spiritualistic
messages, guided the family affairs of the late Tsar. For a
while the renowned charlatan-spiritualist Philippe controlled
the situation. Then Hiliodor, of Tzaritzin, was for a while
the favoured " saint," but was soon replaced by his rival,
Gregory Rasputin, mockingly called "Grishka." Rasputin
was a licentious, ignorant, and drunken peasant, who came to
power because of his forceful and brutal personality and
animal magnetism, which lured hysterical women into his net.
He was brought to Moscow by a rich woman who had met
the "holy man " on one of his pilgrimages in Siberia. Later
he was introduced to Court on the occasion of the illness of the
✓
▼
53
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ľ
young heir, for whose health and life the Empress continually
worried. Somehow Rasputin succeeded in arresting the fre-
quent hemorrhage from which the Tsarevitch suffered and
which the physicians were unable to prevent. This assured
the Empress of his supernatural" power. Rasputin made
her believe that not only the life of the boy but also the security
of the Empire depended on him. She clung to the impostor
until his tragic end, when he was brutally murdered with
the aid of some members of the Imperial family. Rasputin
was shrewd enough to exploit his position as spiritual "
adviser of the Empress. No favour which he asked for him-
self or his friends was refused him. Office-seekers in the State
and Church therefore sought his aid by flattering him and
begging his blessing. Those who dared oppose him were
instantly removed or discharged at his will. It is even be-
lieved that the transfer of the Grand Duke Nicholas, the
Generalissimo of the Russian Army, to the Caucasus was at
Rasputin's suggestion.
((
<<
The reputation of the Church suffered greatly from its
tolerance of Rasputin. Members of the Holy Synod did not
dare to oppose him for fear of their positions; and when
Samarin, the highly respected High Procurator of the Holy
Synod, was not friendly enough to Rasputin's favourites, he
was dismissed. Through Rasputin's influence unworthy men
were made Bishops and even elevated to the rank of Metro-
politan. Thus Bishop Makarius, who was accused of having
set fire to the Tomsk Theatre in 1905, while a popular meeting
was being held, causing the loss of many lives, was made
Metropolitan through the influence of the all-powerful Rasputin.
All Russia was indignant at the dictatorship of the "Holy
Devil," as his rival Hiliodor called him, and when finally he
was murdered there was general satisfaction excepting on the
part of the Court camarilla, the Empress and Emperor, who
greatly mourned their "saint." The position of the Church,
already weakened by its long servitude under State control,
was greatly shattered by Rasputin's unholy dictatorship.
When the Revolution broke out the best elements of the Church
54
CHURCH AND STATE
welcomed the change, but the higher clergy which was
accustomed to leaning upon the mighty arm of the State was
of different opinion. It feared for its power and generally
protected the counter-revolutionists, who promised to re-
establish their former favoured position.
Thus, by virtue of historical circumstances, the Church
became a mighty national institution and its development was
parallel with the growth of centralized government in Russia.
From its very beginning the hierarchy of the Church was
closely associated with the secular power, and finally, under
Peter I it was definitely degraded to a tool of the State. Since
the Church was prostituted to autocratic despotism, the ill
repute of the old regime was attributed to the Church as well
as to the temporal power. The alliance of Church and
State proved a failure in Russia as it has in other nations.
Now, freed from its old bondage, the Orthodox Church has
received a new lease on life. Has it any vitality left to prove
its right to existence? Future history will prove this. For
the present it has been rapidly losing its influence on the
masses and has not shown any definite signs of rejuvenation.
55
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
CHAPTER IV
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
WHERE no channels exist for the legitimate expression of
grievances in the affairs of State and Church, dissenting
movements and schisms naturally arise. Russia, less than any
other European nation, had such legitimate channels and for
that reason nonconformity and the development of a great
variety of sects was a common phenomenon in Tsarist Russia.
Nonconformity in Russia had two main branches, one
developing from the Old Believers movement and the other
forming under the influence of German Evangelical immigrants
from the West. As we have shown in the preceding chapter,
the Old Believers found some of their adherents amongst
the Moscow nobility but chiefly amongst the town traders
and artisans, and to a still larger extent amongst the oppressed
peasants. The boyar Old Believers soon reconciled them-
selves to the established Church; their social position did not
favour associating with dissenters from amongst the common
people. Nonconformity in Russia flourished, therefore,
amongst the middle and lower classes; in this respect it did
not differ from the nonconformist position in the West and it
had also the same social and economic effects. The higher
moral standard of the nonconformists, their mutual help and
solidarity, made them prosperous and they soon became the
leading merchants, manufacturers, and bankers of Russia.
Whilst the well-to-do Old Believers were much more willing
to compromise, the dissenters from amongst the poor artisans
and serfs were following more extreme tendencies by develop-
ing a great variety of sects. These avoided every contact with
"Anti-Christ ; no true dissenter would allow himself to be
counted in the census, nor accept a passport stamped with
>>
56
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
the "seal of Anti-Christ"; they refused to pay taxes, and
when oppressed by the authorities, migrated to remote parts
of the country to escape their reach. Thus a movement,
with every surface indication of black reaction, developed oddly
enough into religious, social and political radicalism, border-
ing on philosophical anarchy. It is no exaggeration to say
that here were the dim beginnings of the revolutionary move-
ment in Russia, which after centuries of struggle destroyed
that hated reign of the Anti-Christ-the autocratic State.
DIFFERENTIATION OF OLD BELIEVERS
Only one of the bishops, Paul of Kolomna, was excom-
municated with the Old Believers. He was imprisoned and
died in captivity without chance of consecrating a successor
to perpetuate the Apostolic succession of the orthodox hier-
archy. By this tragic incident the Old Believers were left
without an Episcopate, and consequently without a priesthood
able to consecrate and administer the sacraments. What was
to be done? Some of the Old Believers contended that
Christianity is impossible without a priesthood, and suggested,
in order to perpetuate the Old Faith, that they call priests from
the State Church: "For having followed Nikon's heresy,
they argued, "has not forfeited the apostolic power, the
succession, the right of consecrating bishops and ordaining
priests by the imposition of hands. Their ordinations being
valid, all we have to do in order to have a clergy is to bring
back to us, and to the ancient rites, the priests of the official
Church." The more radical faction argued differently:
"Not so," they said, “by giving up the ancient books, by
anathematizing the ancient traditions, the Nikonians have
forfeited all rights to the Apostolic succession. The official
clergy is no longer a Church, it is Satan's synagogue. All
communion with the ministers of hell is sin, consecration at
the hands of these apostate bishops, pollution. By sanctioning
the anathemas hurled by the Russian prelates against the
ancient rites, the Eastern Patriarchs have become participators
in their heresy. With the fall of the Episcopate, orthodoxy
""
E
57
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
has perished. There is no longer an apostolic succession, a
lawful priesthood."
Upon this issue the Old Believers split; the one party,
holding to the hierarchy, was called Popovtzy (Priestly), the
other Bespopovtsy (Priestless). The Popovtzy decided to have
priests by any possible method, from the official Church; by
means of bribes, or by harbouring fugitive priests, they actually
succeeded, although with great difficulty, in obtaining enough
priests to continue the Church services and the sacraments,
until in the middle of the last century they were greatly re-
lieved by securing an independent priesthood. In their
ignorance the Old Believers believed that the Orthodox Church
of the Near East had remained true to the Old Faith, and
therefore searched for a bishop in the ranks of the Serbian and
Greek prelates, after great effort securing the services of the
former Bishop of Bosnia, a Greek, Ambrose by name, who for
some reason had been deposed from his office by the Patriarch
of Constantinople. They established and richly endowed
a monastery in Bielo-Krinitza, in the former Austria near the
Russian frontier, which became the seat of their bishop and
from which centre their Church was administered. In this
manner the "priestly " faction of the Old Believers was able
to maintain itself without deviation from its traditions and
beliefs.
The Old Believers, who were puritanic in morals, became
very prosperous and established many richly endowed
monasteries, convents, schools, and orphanages. They have
been particularly active since the beginning of this century;
and when after the 1905 revolution the old restrictions against
their building churches, publishing literature, and openly
agitating for their ideas were removed, they flourished greatly.
The strength of the Old Believers rested largely in that, unlike
the State Church, their work was almost entirely carried on by
the laity. Their priesthood existed only to administer the
sacraments and render such services as the canons forbade to
the laity. Their great wealth, particularly of the Moscow
following, permitted them to educate their children_well, and
58
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
at the beginning of this century there was a young generation
of Old Believers who presented an unusual blend of ancient
piety with modern liberal ideas and high cultural standards.
Some of the noblest creations of Russian art, such as the Mos-
cow Art Theatre, were founded and financed by the cultured
following of this sect. In politics and social reform they united
with the liberals and gave not a few able fighters to the Revolu-
tion.
Related to the priestly Old Believers, and as a connecting
link between them and the State Orthodox Church, was the
movement of the Edinovertsy or “United Faith.”
It dates back to the year 1800, when under the tolerant reign
of Alexander I, a group of Moscow Old Believers appealed to
the State Church to permit them to have churches in Moscow
with a bishop and priests provided by the State Church. They
were willing to accept the priests without the usual anti-
Nikonite anathemas so long as they consented to conduct the
service according to the old cult.
The Government recognized in this compromising proposal
an opportunity to drive a wedge into the ranks of the Old
Believers, and therefore agreed upon the compromise, supplied
priests, but did not keep the promise to provide a special
bishop. This was only done by the Sobor of 1918, over a
hundred years after the original agreement.
There were relatively few outside Moscow who voluntarily
joined the Edinovertsy, so the Government tried to force
membership in the new church. Under Nicholas I, who
persecuted those Old Believers who refused to enter the
Edinovertsy Church, they were exiled; their churches were
turned over to priests of the State Church, who began to func-
tion as Edinovertsy priests, that is, according to the old rites.
This was a hard blow to the Old Believers. Nevertheless,
many would not submit and they continued their services in
secret places and with fugitive priests.
The "Priestless" (Bezpopovtsy) faction deviated much
further from the Mother Church and split into numerous
sects, some following very radical tendencies. Their slogan
59
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
was "Flee the world, no compromise with Anti-Christ."
Having repudiated the priesthood, they inaugurated a lay
leadership of elders who conducted Church services as far as
the traditions of the Church permitted. This consisted in
the reading and expounding of the Scriptures and in baptizing
the converts, which functions had always been recognized as
admissible to the male laity of the Greek Orthodox Church.
The Bezpopovtsy went further and permitted women to con-
duct the services. Baptism was generally maintained as a
sacrament, although there was divergence of opinion as to its
mode. Some adhered to the Greek Orthodox form of three-
fold immersion of infants, but refrained from the unction with
holy chrism because unable to consecrate it; others required
immersion of adults at night in a running stream; others,
again, baptized themselves with their own hands. The re-
maining sacraments ¹ were either abandoned altogether or
interpreted spiritually. Thus certain sects confessed to an
ikon in the presence of an elder who acted as adviser and spoke
these words: "May thy sins be forgiven thee."
The rejection of the priesthood and the sacraments prepared
the way for all kinds of radical ideas, particularly in regard to
marriage. Some repudiated it altogether and demanded
absolute celibacy. Others permitted concubinage as a means
of protecting the weakness of the flesh; others again argued
that marriage is not at all a sacrament, but a civil union for the
propagation of the race, which is to be entered upon with the
consent and blessing of the parents and kept sacred by solemn
oath of the man and the woman. The lay marriage regulations
of the Old Believers did not lead to the immorality expected
by many of their critics. The lack of legal constraint to make
marriage indissoluble was offset by custom and the patriarchal
form of family life which largely survived among the Old
Believers. Amongst those who demanded absolute celibacy,
reversion into licentiousness occurred frequently and in turn
1 The Greek Orthodox Church recognized seven sacraments: Baptism,
Chrism (also applied to baptized infants in place of Confirmation), the
Eucharist, Penance, Orders, Honourable Marriage, and Unction of the
Sick and Dying.
60
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
reacted into fanatical asceticism, which finally culminated in the
radical sect of the Castrators or Eunuchs.
The Priestless were much more antagonistic to the established
order and the State. From its ranks movements arose to
flee from the world and the reign of Anti-Christ." The
extreme faction was led by a certain Theodosius (1706), whose
call was: "Save yourself by flight into the wilderness, and if
you are sought for by the authorities, burn yourself, or perish
by starvation, and you will gain the crown of martyrdom.”
The idea of redemption by suicide and " fiery baptism" took
hold upon large masses of extremists. They interpreted
literally the Bible text : "The Kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force." To save their
children from the accursed reign of Anti-Christ, these fanatics
killed them, and whole families and communities volunteered
to sacrifice themselves unto God as burnt offering. They shut
themselves into barns and houses and then set them afire,
guarding one another from escaping the ordeal. Others fled
to the wilderness and perished of starvation and cold. It is
estimated that 20,000 men, women and children exterminated
themselves in this manner. Many other thousands perished
at the hands of their official enemies.
(6
The Old Believers found their adherents mostly amongst
the North Russians, to whose morbid nature a religion demand-
ing so much sacrifice had a special appeal. Fleeing from their
persecutors the Old Believers pushed farther and farther
north, settling finally in the forest region of the Upper Volga,
the Ural, and along the coasts of the White Sea. Others
migrated to the south-west towards the Polish border, some
crossing the frontier into East Prussia, where they are living in
communities to this day. The more restless went further east
into Siberia, and found also adherents among the Cossacks of
the Don region and the Caucasus. Wherever they settled in
the wilderness, they established villages of a more or less
communistic type, and by hard work and co-operation quickly
prospered. Their accomplishments as pioneers and colonizers
were extraordinary, and to them principally was due the
:
61
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Russianizing of the great area of the North and of Siberia,
which until then had been populated only by widely scattered
Finnish and Tartar tribes.
Catherine II, who prided herself on her religious liberality,
was lenient with them and permitted them to have their settle-
ments even in Moscow. Wealthy Old Believers endowed
cemeteries near Moscow, for they are very particular about
burying their dead in ground specially consecrated for this
purpose, in conformity to their creed. Within the cemetery
walls they built churches and around these sprung up settle-
ments, to which the faithful flocked and which to this day are
the principal centres of their movement. For the Priestly
there is the Rogozhsky Cemetery and for the Priestless the
Preobrazhensky Cemetery, both near Moscow.
EXTREMIST SECTS
About the year 1770, a certain Euphemius rose in protest
against the compromises of the settlers in Moscow. He
denounced city life as Babylon and called upon the faithful to
abandon landed property, which he considered to be the chief
tie that held people down to settled life.
"The land was, is,
and ought to be God's," he declared, "man should use it
collectively, but never own it.”
Under the slogan, "Leave thy father and mother, take up
thy cross, and follow me," the disciples of Euphemius incited
the faithful to flee from the towns and villages and take up
a nomad life. They were called Beguny (Runners) or Straniki
(Wanderers), and no doubt their preaching had much to do
with the spread of Communistic and anarchistic ideas among
the Russian peasants. The convert who entered the community
of" true Christians " and became a wanderer" was initiated
by a ceremony of the "Wanderer's Baptism," which was
performed at night in out-of-the-way places. He destroyed his
passport and received in its place a piece of paper on which was
drawn a cross and some such sentence as : This is the true
passport, endorsed at Jerusalem." The "wanderer" carried
a wooden bowl and spoon and a small ikon. They were sup-
<<
CC
62
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
posed to be celibates, but in case of "weakness of the flesh "
they tolerated illicit relations which, they argued, were better
than marriage," for a married man gives himself up to evil
forever."
As the sect spread it appeared impossible for all its adherents
to take to the road; moreover, since they must have friends
where they could obtain food and shelter, they developed a
second category of " residents," or hospitalers, whose duty was
to assist the "wanderers" with food and protection against
the police who had strict orders from the Government to arrest
the "holy tramps" and those who aided them. The "resi-
dents were considered as novices of the sect and did not
attain perfection until they abandoned their homes and took
the wanderer's staff, which often they did only in old age or
when feeling that their life was coming to an end. The
Government tried its utmost to exterminate this sect, but the
more the “ wanderers were persecuted the more adherents
they gained, as was the case during the oppressive reign of
Nicholas I. Here was an inevitable reaction to the existing
social order with its serfdom, long military service, and bureau-
cratic oppression. The "wanderers " were rustic revolu-
tionists, who slowly undermined the authority of the State
and Church with their philosophy of Anti-Christ and the
Communistic ownership of the land.
Besides the radical "wanderers," many other sects and
groups formed within the Old Believers movement. Thus
there were the Gapers, who believed that God cannot deny to
the faithful the flesh and blood of His Son. At their Holy
Thursday Service they stood with their mouths wide open,
expecting that angels would come and feed them with the Holy
Sacrament for which their souls were hungry.
د.
""
""
The sect called Molchalniki (The Mutes) demanded vows of
silence, but otherwise pursued a life similar to the" wanderers
and was probably only a variation of that sect. Many were
arrested, but in spite of the severest tortures they could not be
forced to speak.
The Nyemoliaki (Non-prayers) was a mystical sect carrying
63
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the spirit of denial to its logical consequences. They rejected
every outward form of worship and ritual and gave to scripture
but an allegorical and rationalistic interpretation. They
regarded everything as "spiritual" and believed they lived in
the age of the Holy Ghost, where worship and understanding
may be carried on only through the Spirit.
""
Like the "Non-prayers were the Denyers, who believed
that since the commencement of the reign of Anti-Christ all
sacred things had been removed to heaven and therefore wor-
ship is possible only in direct communion with the Saviour.
Akin to the mystical sects which developed within the ranks
of the Old Believers was the widely spread spiritualistic sect
of independent origin known as the Hlesty or Christs. They
were first heard of at the end of the 16th century. Unlike the
Old Believers they were from the beginning radically opposed
to the ritualism of the Church, and their whole teaching has
little in common with the doctrines of historical Christianity.
Some students of this sect believe that it has many ideas in com-
mon with early Gnosticism. Hlesty means flagellators; the
name has been attached to them because of their habit of whip-
ping themselves into frenzy at their “spiritual " orgies. They
prefer to call themselves Ludy Bozhye (People of God), or
Khristovtchina (Community of Christ). The Hlesty have no
books so as not to hamper the freedom of inspiration and
The book of life," they say,
revelation.
which we must
learn to read is written within our hearts." According to their
tradition, the true faith was brought down by God Himself
from heaven during the reign of Peter the Great; God had
descended to a Mount in Vladimir, and there took human
form. In his incarnate state He became known as Daniel
Philippovitch, who had said of himself: "I am the God
announced by the prophets, come down on earth the second
time for the salvation of the human race, and there is no God
but me."
(C
CC
Daniel Philippovitch was a soldier in the army, and having
deserted he declared himself the new incarnation of Lord
God Sabaoth." When a hundred years old, says the tradition,
64
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
Daniel begot a son, the Christ, and then re-ascended to heaven.
This son was known by the name of Ivan Suslov, a serf of the
Narishkin family, and he appears to be the principal prophet
of the sect. He selected twelve Apostles and decreed twelve
commandments, which were handed to him by "The Lord
God Sabaoth," i.e. Daniel Philippovitch. Ivan Suslov, the first
Christ, according to the tradition of the Hlesty, was flogged
and persecuted and twice crucified, but rose each time and lived
long on earth until he finally ascended to heaven to reunite with
his father. The Hlesty believed that every man or woman may
aspire to divinity and become either a Christ" or a “Mother
of God." Divination is the result of a holy life, and the sect
has produced already many Christs. The commandments
of the Hlesty form an ascetic code, prohibiting the use of
alcoholic drinks, attendance at feasts and weddings, marriage,
and sexual intercourse; also they forbid stealing and taking
an oath.
(6
Their principal ceremonies are secret rites accompanied by
great excitement and ecstasy. They gather at night in secret
places in white garments. Forming a circle, the participants
begin to sing and revolve, at first in measured time, then slowly
increasing in velocity until they work themselves into frenzy
and exhaustion. The convulsions, screams, and sobbings of
the hysterical men and women are taken for manifestations of
the presence of the Holy Spirit. That these nightly orgies of
emotional excitement end at times in immoral practices is
probable, and mainly upon this suspicion they were suppressed
by the authorities. The lure of the Hlesty practices was
so enticing that they found their way into convents and
monasteries, and even into the drawing-rooms of higher society
and the court. Lifeless orthodoxy among the masses, and the
equally lifeless scepticism in higher circles, made high and low
alike receptive to any such cult. The Hlesty have survived
the Revolution and continue to exist in some communities,
chiefly rural, of the U.S.S.R.
Similar to the Hlesty are the Skakuny (The Jumpers). They
appeared at first in Petersburg, and their origin is traced to
:
65
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
foreign influence. They spread first among the Protestant
Finns, but later also amongst the Russian population. The
Skakuny worked themselves into ecstasy by singing and leap-
ing; they also were accused of sexual licentiousness. Their
custom was to come to their secret meetings in couples, and
when they had reached the point of ecstasy they gave themselves,
to the celebration of the " Love of Christ " in darkened rooms.
The Government investigation of these sects found that there
were tendencies towards both asceticism and sensualism. The
ascetic groups were a variety of Quakers whose services con-
sisted, according to their testimony, "in sacred singing and
reading of the Bible, accompanied with salutes of brotherly
love and endearments of Christian charity; also in pious dis-
courses from preachers whom the Spirit moves to stand up
before the meeting; lastly, in prayers with quaking of the
body, bending of the knees, and prostrations with weeping,
groaning, or invocations, according to the feelings called forth
by the preachers' words." Other groups, consisting mostly
of younger people, had little of the mystic flavour and gave
themselves over to sexual licentiousness under cover of a
religious meeting. These sects organized themselves secretly
into lodges which the Hlesty called Korables (Ships). Each
<<
Ship" was presided over by a prophet or a prophetess, and
the whole movement was governed by a Christ."
66
A more recent offshoot of the Hlesty is the sect of the Sholo-
pats, first heard of about 1850. They were pronouncedly
Communistic and held all things in common.
The Pliassuny (Dancers) are also related to the Hlesty,
although outwardly they remained within the Church. There
are many other varieties of the same tendency.
As a reaction to the sensualism of the Hlesty and Skakuny,
must be considered the ascetic sect of self-mutilating eunuchs,
called Skoptsy (Castrators) or " White Doves," as the adherents
of the sect preferred to call themselves. They made their
appearance about the year 1770. The founder of the sect was
a member of the Petrograd community of Hlesty, an illiterate
peasant, Selivanov by name. He proclaimed himself God
(
66
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
of Gods and King of Kings," who had come to gather the
faithful and with their aid and under their tutelage establish the
Kingdom of the Messiah in Russia. Selivanov added to his
divine honours also the honours of the "Tsar of Russia," for
he was considered the reincarnation of Peter III, who came to
claim his throne usurped by Catherine II. The fundamental
doctrine of the Skoptsy was based upon the literal interpre-
tation of a few Bible texts; Matth. xix, 12, being the basis of
their faith and practices: "For there are some eunuchs, who
were so born from their mother's womb; and there are some
eunuchs, who were made eunuchs of men; and there be
eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom
of Heaven's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive
it."
They hold that the carnal union of the first parents of man-
kind was the "original sin." They preach and practice
self-mutilation, believing that by means of a surgical operation
they can attain perfect holiness and purity and become like
angels. Their zeal for converts knows no obstacles. Like
most Russian sectarians, the Skoptsy are millenarians; they
believe that "Christ" will come and the reign of the "White
Doves " will commence when their converts will have reached
the prophetic number of 144,000. They zealously work to
complete this number and spare no effort to reach their goal.
<<
Being continually watched by the police, they organized
secretly, and like the Hlesty call their lodges Korables. The
Petrograd Lodge, which was headed by a Christ," was
entitled the “Royal Ship." Like the Hlesty they clad them-
selves in white gowns and employ the rotary dance to attain
their ecstasy.
Women are admitted to the sect on an equal
basis with men and are very prominent, some of them being
titled "Mothers of God." Their mutilation consists in cut-
ting off the breasts so as to unfit them for nursing children.
The bloody initiations take place in hidden places at night, the
victims being operated on when the ecstacy reaches its highest
pitch. The Skoptsy are generally prosperous and they help
one another in business.
•
67
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Outwardly they appear to conform to the social order.
They marry and sometimes have children before they submit
themselves to the expiating sacrifice. After emasculation they
are, of course, readily recognized by their flabby faces and
effeminate voices. They knew how to keep out of gaol by
bribing the police. They bloodily revenge themselves against
those who dare to betray them. Shortly before the Revolution
there was a movement among them which repudiated physical
mutilations and interpreted the Scriptures spiritually; this
promises to convert the Skoptsy into a community of voluntary
celibates and to make an end of their savage practices. They
are not extinct as yet, but the social conditions which favoured
their appearance have now radically changed.
The 17th century, so prolific in religious movements, called
into life also a number of sects which in their doctrinal ideas
are not unlike those of the Quakers. The Russian Dukhobory
(Wrestlers of the Spirit) is a sect which probably deviated
from the Hlesty movement. Tolstoy became interested in
them when he learned of their doctrines of the Kingdom of
God within man and of their Communistic principles, at which
he had arrived himself in his search for the true religion. The
Dukhobory believe that God is inseparable from man and that
independent of man He does not exist. The Holy Trinity is
memory, reason and will. They deny the supernatural life
and seek to make their paradise on earth. They worship
God in man and their services consist in reverential bowing
and mutual salutations. In the earlier history they also had
their "Mothers of God," and even their present leaders enjoy
much the same respect as the "Christs" of the Hlesty. They
repudiate the authority of Scriptures and believe in the
living book" within the hearts of men. They are vege-
tarians, pacifists, and preferably Communists. Because of
their resistance to the State, they have been severely persecuted.
With the aid of Tolstoy, a considerable number of them
emigrated to Canada, where they live prosperously and
generally maintain the Communistic order.
Just as the Revolution has thrust a rough and sudden hand
<<
68
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
into the ordered affairs of the Orthodox Church, so too has it
crashed bewilderingly into the obscure activities of these many
sects. Within them, also, there is the struggle between the
younger and the older generations. The Old Believers have
their progressive youngsters who would make common cause
with the reformers within the Orthodox Church, while the
elders threaten to join hands with the reactionary elements of
the Tikhon faction. But generally the Old Believers have lost
the impetus which formerly inspired their struggles. Their
old enemy, the former State Church is now as weak as they
are themselves. Moreover, the Old Believers, who in the
cities were supported by rich merchants and manufacturers,
have now lost this support and their former prosperous settle-
ments are now quite desolate. There are few prospects of
their revival, nevertheless no student of modern Russia who
would go behind the scenes can afford to neglect the tremendous
influence wrought by the sects on the life of the people.
THE EVANGELICAL SECTS
The vernacular Russian Bible was first published by the
Holy Synod in the early 19th century, sponsored by Alexander I,
who sympathized with Evangelical pietism and was tolerant
towards the various dissenting sects. The Bible, which was
widely distributed by such organizations as the British and
Foreign Bible Society, made the Evangelical mass movement in
Russia possible, and at present the various Evangelical sects
have no less than five or six million adherents in Russia.
These Evangelicals must be distinguished both in origin and in
spirit from the schismatic mystical or rationalist bodies
previously described.
The oldest of these are the Molokans, "the milk drinkers,"
so called because of their habit of drinking milk on fast days,
a custom prohibited by the Orthodox Church.
Quakers who have visited the Molokans say that in many
respects the beliefs of the Russian Evangelists are similar to
those of their own Society of Friends. The Molokans claim
69
RELIGIÓN AND COMMUNISM
as their spiritual fathers Semenov, first martyr for the Evan-
gelical faith in Russia, who was executed in Tambov in the
16th century, and Dr. Tverentinov of Moscow, who in the
reign of Elizabeth felt the influence of Protestantism from the
West. Dr. Tverentinov's extracts from the Bible served as
a religious text-book. The organizing work for the Molokans,
at the beginning of the last century, was done by Simon Ukleyn,
a peasant who agitated against the orthodox cult and called
upon his followers to "live the life of the spirit" and become
Spiritual Christians." Ukleyn denounced all sacraments
and any formal cult; he recognized the Bible as the source of
apocalyptic hope and accepted it in its allegorical rather than
its literal sense. In respect to the social order of his time he
CC
was almost as intolerant as the Dukhobors. He declared that
all people were equals, that there should be neither rich nor
poor, neither commoners nor aristocrats, neither slaves nor
masters; war, the taking of the oath and military service were
contrary to the will of God and to desert the army was to do
the right thing. In emergency Molokans may submit to the
monarchical rule, but only to such of its decrees as are not
contrary to the Divine law. Ukleyn won his thousands.
Alexander I regarded his teachings with tolerance and, in
response to a petition from the Molokans, permitted them to
settle in remote districts along the Volga and in the Taurien
Province. Later they suffered renewed persecution and many
were exiled to Siberia where their descendants still live in
close communities; some migrated to the United States. A
Molokan community, by reason of its pacifist religious views,
furnished some of the most notable American conscientious
objectors during the World War.
The growth of the Baptist movement in Russia was largely
at the expense of these Molokans. It began with German
pietist colonists, Stundists and German Baptists in the 18th
century. Energetic, well-organized, aflame with prophetic
zeal, the Baptist missionaries were able to take over the ad-
ministration of religious affairs from the hands of the easy-
going Molokans. As a result, you rarely come upon a Molokan
70
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
meeting-house without finding a Baptist chapel in the same
community.
With the restrictive measures against Evangelism removed,
as a result of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the Evangelists
have turned their missionary fire upon the Orthodox Church
itself, much to the alarm of the latter. The way was cleared
by the split within the orthodox fold and, paradoxically enough,
by the anti-religious propaganda of the Communists.
Anti-religious speakers entering a community would find
ready listeners. When they left, more often than not the priests
were driven from the villages and the Orthodox Church build-
ing turned into a club. But sooner or later an itinerant
missionary, Baptist or one of some similar belief, would appear
with his message of salvation, his preaching of the “True
Gospel," and within a few months a community,
apparently safely atheized from the Communist standpoint,
would be shouting the Slavic version of our familiar gospel
hymns.
So effectively did these holy outriders prey upon the ranks
of the orthodox that in 1925 the Synod of the Orthodox
Church called a special conference to discuss the distressing
situation. The conference gave a number of reasons for the
success of the Evangelicals, chief among them the disorganiza-
tion of the Orthodox Church. It set up a Home Mission De-
partment to look into the matter more closely and study the
methods of the Evangelicals. It is significant that one of the
reasons suggested by the Orthodox conference for the accept-
ance of Evangelistic teachings by the masses, was that the
Baptists, Adventists, etc., used "social and political slogans
which are akin to the Communistic ideas, for which they were
formerly prosecuted but which now are looked on with tolerance
by the new regime."
For over a decade the Evangelical movement had progressed
triumphantly with little or no resistance on the part of the
Orthodox Church or the Soviet Government, till it was checked
somewhat by restrictive legislation in 1929. It probably will
continue for some time to grow at the expense of the Orthodox
71
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Church, but not forever, and it must look forward to the train-
ing of the new generation which now is growing up in their
midst. This is recognized by some of the leaders of the
movement, but so far they are little prepared for the task.
The Baptist movement in Russia was unable, however, to
maintain its unity, and it split into two larger bodies. One
of its former leaders, I. S. Prokhanov, a converted Molokan,
felt that the name "Baptist" was foreign and its doctrines and
organization were not so well suited to Russian psychology;
he therefore broke away from the main body and organized an
independent movement now known as the Union of Evangelical
Christians. During the years of unlimited freedom for
religious propaganda (1917-1929) the movement spread very
rapidly and built up an efficient organization with a publishing
department, a training school, and many regional organizations.
The main body of Baptists also improved its organization and
both branches are now about even in numbers. The Molokans,
once numerically strongest, did not come up to the demands of
the time. They had lost their youthful ardour and suffered
also from the lack of organization and leadership.
Besides these main Evangelical sects there are congregations
of Seventh Day Adventists, the New Israel, and other groups.
All these rapidly increased their numbers under the favourable
conditions after the fall of Tsarism. The reasons for favour-
ing the sectarians on the part of the Soviet Government are
quite clear. Under the old regime the sectarians were severely
persecuted; many of them were imprisoned or exiled to remote
places, together with those revolutionists who at present are
governing the country. In exile the Communists learned to
appreciate these revolutionists of the spirit, and when the old
regime collapsed and the Communists came to power they
naturally could not but be sympathetic toward the sectarians
and, in turn, expected their support.
Moreover, some sects had Communistic tendencies and the
Government favoured them for this reason. An early declara-
tion of the Soviet Department of Justice says: "These sects
adapt themselves quite readily to the common civil Soviet
72
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
laws and regulations and organically unite as agricultural
nuclei into the Soviet organizations, in spite of the religious
form which their communistic tendencies, by force of historical
conditions, have adopted. The task of the Soviet organs in
regard to these organizations consists pre-eminently in seeing
that these Communistic organizations, developed and fortified
with the aid of science and superior technic, continue in their
adopted habits and modes of Communistic organization as
industrial agricultural groups. Raised to a superior form,
they will serve as practical examples of the possibility and
advantage of Communism for the toiling population.
Since then the favourable attitude towards the sectarians
has greatly changed. The rapid spread of the Evangelical
movement jeopardized in some places the hegemony of the
Communist Party and Youth Organization. Moreover, the
sectarians were not very enthusiastic and in some places even
hostile to, the rural collectivization schemes of the Govern-
ment. The reasons for this can be easily understood. Most
of them were much more prosperous than the neighbouring
peasants who did not belong to their religious community,
and so, to give up their individual farms and join the collectives
was to the sectarians a material loss. They opposed the
Government's plan of collectivization and, when pressed,
advanced the theory that their religious convictions prohibited
them from sitting in Council with the " ungodly," quoting the
First Psalm as a proof-text. They finally agreed to form col-
lectives consisting only of members of their own religious
organization, but the Government could not permit this and
insisted upon non-sectarian collectives open to all toiling
peasants. On these grounds the sectarians clashed with the
Soviets, and in some places repressive measures were used
against them. These facts and the alarm about their rapid
growth prompted the Government to change its policy of
tolerance towards religious propaganda. In April, 1929, an
Amendment ¹ to the Constitution was adopted, which provides
freedom of religious worship but not freedom of religious
¹ See Appendix II, B and C.
1
>>
F
73
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
propaganda. The Amendment also prohibits special organiza-
tions within the Church for educational and social service
purposes.
During this period of changing policy the organization
centres of the Evangelical sects were closed, their publications
suspended, and their training schools closed. Now their
administrative organs have resumed functioning on a somewhat
modified but greatly centralized basis. They now have
small but powerful administrative boards in the capital and no
regional organizations. The Evangelicals no longer enjoy the
freedom of open-air preaching and extensive travel as they were
used before the change of the Constitution, but in their chapel
services Evangelistic preaching and Baptism of converts con-
tinues and, so far as observation goes, their meetings are very
well attended. There are, at present, some three thousand
registered groups and congregations of Baptists and Evan-
gelical Christians and their sphere of influence continues to
spread throughout the whole country.
One of the problems of the Government in dealing with the
sectarians is the attitude of the latter towards military training
and service in the Red Army. The pacifist sects under the
old regime were treated with little concern and frequently
brutally persecuted. During the civil war the Soviet Govern-
ment had to face the problem of the conscientious objector.
Its legislation is quite definite on the problem. In principle
all citizens are subject to military service, the exemptions can
be made by decision of the People's Court. When trying cases
of conscientious objection the courts pay due attention to the
denominational affiliation of the objector, and only those are
considered entitled to exemption who belong to denomina-
tions which before the World War stood upon a non-resistance
platform. Thus a considerable number of Baptists have been
refused exemptions on the ground that the Baptist Church did
not advise its members to refuse service in the World War and
hence should have no scruples in rendering service to the Red
Army. In recent years the attitude of the Government toward
conscientious objectors has been less and less lenient; there
74
NONCONFORMITY IN RUSSIA
---·
have been cases where members of sects formerly exempt are
now compelled to render military service, even though without
arms. The Government fears that by favouring certain
religious groups it will encourage others who are not tradition-
ally pacifist.
The central problem which the Evangelicals in Russia, as
everywhere else in the world, have now to contend with, is
the adjustment of the old-time religion to the workings of the
machine-age and to the impact of modern natural science.
They have no educational facilities with which to train a
leadership able to cope with the skilled propagandists of the
Soviets, despite the fact of their temporary emotional successes.
It is necessary to remember that in Soviet Russia to-day every
school child of twelve is taught the most advanced doctrines of
evolutionary science. Naturally such teaching is in relentless
opposition to the archaic doctrines of the sectarian theologians.
The Evangelicals have so far ignored this menace. They have
no men who can satisfactorily reconcile the teachings of the
"Simon Pure" Gospel with the scientific demands of the
industrial age. If coming generations of Evangelical Christians
are to continue to flourish, somehow they must work out this
difficult formula. It seems as though they were to pass
through an even more painful readjustment of opinions than is
the apparent fate of their fellow Fundamentalists in Western
countries.
75
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
CHAPTER V
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS
TRADITION
RELIGION in Russia has a long unbroken tradition; so, also,
has atheism. In the past the latter did not speak out so clearly
and so definitely as it now does under Communism. For a long
time it was careful not to call itself atheism and paraded as
enlightment," free thought," Deism, and Humanism.
But essentially all these movements and doctrines were denying
the old gods and replacing them by Reason, Humanity, or the
ideals of the social revolution.
((
(C
While Russian orthodox religion has its sources in the Orient
and in the old pagan traditions of the Slavic tribes, atheism is
entirely an Occidental product and its adepts in Russia were
commonly called Westernites. Russian atheist thought may
be traced to English Deism and French materialism. In
Russia these teachings, due to the social-political peculiarities
of the native scene, were carried to their logical conclusion.
The Russian temper does not stop half-way; it avoids com-
promise and dislikes the method of harmonizing old and
obsolete with newly acquired ideals as, for example, is the
habit of the Anglo-Saxon mind. The Russian is more apt
to destroy the old even before he has given a fair test to the
new; he is temperamentally iconoclastic, though not so im-
pulsive as the Frenchman.
The Bolshevik movement against religion has all the peculi-
arities of the Russian character in spite of the foreign origin
of its philosophy and the international associations in its
organization. It frankly calls itself "Bezbozhnik," i.e.
"Godless," and Communists despise Western half-heartedness
76
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
in its disguise of atheism under "free thought," agnosticism,
humanism, and such descriptions.
The concept of atheism has also its history. Not every
heresy which has been branded as atheism would be considered
such to-day. Thus was Socrates charged with atheism and
condemned to die for denying the old gods; yet we know that
his efforts were directed towards arousing in his people a
conscious reflection upon life and its moral purpose and that
he became the founder of the classic idealist philosophy so
brilliantly developed by his pupil Plato. As an idealist
philosopher he can by no means be considered an atheist, for
atheism, according to Communist theory, means not only the
denial of a personal God or gods in control of the universe,
but it means the rejection of everything supernatural, including
every idealistic philosophy from Socrates to Bergson.
If atheism meant only the denial of gods, then adherence to
such great religions as the Sankya system in Hinduism, and
Buddhism, should be considered atheist, since these religions
emphasize self-discipline and deny a God superior to nature.
But we should hardly call the adherent of any religion an
atheist, even were his metaphysics as materialistic as that of
the Sankya, or as pantheistic as the philosophy of Brahminism
and Buddhism.
FOREIGN SOURCES OF RUSSIAN ATHEISM
Open militant atheism made its appearance first in France
during the second half of the 18th century, heralding the great
French Revolution. It was preceded by the more cautious
English Deism which ruled God out of direct contact with the
universe, of which he was considered to be nothing but the
"first cause." In Deism theological thought followed in the
footsteps of political philosophy. The Deist relation to God is
not unlike the relation of British democracy to its king after the
constitutional limitations of the throne were firmly established
in England during the 17th and 18th centuries. As the king
ceded his prerogatives of direct autocratic rule to Parliament,
thus the Deist thought of God as a creator who permitted his
:
77
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
creation to administer itself by natural law. Deism is also an
attempt to put faith in God upon a scientific basis by discover-
ing in humanity tenets of a so-called natural religion, indepen-
dent of any cult, the necessity of miracles and revelation.
Thomas Hobbes advanced a purely materialist interpretation
of religion, tracing its origin to the primitive fear of nature,
from which arose anthropomorphic conceptions of natural
forces. The worship of the Deity thus created was a part of
the social life of the group, so that in its more highly developed
forms religion became a phase of political life and hence was to
be controlled in the interest of the state. Hobbes' materialistic
interpretation of religion was much harsher than Lord Herbert's
of Cherbury, who is credited with having given Deism its first
systematic formulation, which he expressed in five funda-
mentals the existence of God; the duty of worship; the
need of repentance from sin; rewards and punishments.
Charles Blount, a Deist theologian of the latter part of the
17th century, still further developed the compromising ten-
dencies of English Deism toward the orthodox point of view by
conceding the possibility of miracles. Yet he minimized the
supernatural as an essential element of religion and sought to
give Christianity and its teachings a logical justification as a pro-
duct of social evolution and a universal reaction to natural laws.
The English Deistic movement had considerable influence
on the 18th century French philosophers of enlightenment.
The different social background of pre-revolutionary France
with its powerful feudal Church made French Deism a weapon.
against organized religion instead of an apologetic system to
meet the demands of Newtonian physics and modern science
generally, as was the case in England.
The greatest interpreter of English Deism in France was
Voltaire (1694-1778), the recognized patriarch of bourgeois
free thought. His influence went far beyond the boundaries
of his own country. He found access into Prussia where
Frederick II permitted his court to be contaminated with Vol-
tairian ideas, and as we shall observe later, Voltairianism became
a regular cult among the upper classes in Russia.
78
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
The French revolutionaries honoured Voltaire as the leader
of progressive thought in his century. They transferred his
remains to the Pantheon and upon his tombstone engraved the
words: "He fought against atheists and fanatics; he advanced
tolerance; he declared the rights of man in the face of slavery
and feudalism; he prepared us for liberty." While this
emphasized that Voltaire fought atheism it would have been
more true to say that he prepared the way for it. History
knows hardly another big mind who poured so much sarcasm,
so much destructive criticism, upon organized religion and the
hypocrisy of the clergy," the pen in his hands was the sword
of Mohammed of the West." Joseph de Maistre, one of the
able critics of the revolutionary period of France, blames Vol-
taire with poisoning the mind of the French people with
sacrilegious ideas. Never," he says, was the weapon of
derision directed against truth with such shamelessness and
success. Before him blasphemy found its limitations in the
disgust of the people and was but killing the blasphemer
himself. From the lips of this most vicious of men it became
infectious, even charming." Thus, if Voltaire was opposed
to open atheism and defended the necessity of a "first cause,"
this was due not only to the Newtonian and Lockian philoso-
phies, which he uniquely interpreted, but also because he
feared removing the restraints that the idea of God had upon
untutored minds.
66
(C
G
Voltaire took God for granted as a convenient though un-
knowable hypothesis and moral necessity. He says: "It
would be almost folly to deny the eternal geometer. But
where is the eternal geometer? In one place or everywhere,
without occupying space? I know nothing. Has he created
everything out of his own substance? I don't know. Is he
immense without quantity and quality? I don't know. All
I do know is that it is necessary to bow before him and be just.”
While granting this much he actually retreated to the Spinozian
position of identifying God with nature. According to this
theory the world runs its course by inner necessity of which
man is but an eternally determined agent. In his Philosophic
79
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
F
Dictionary he calls free will an invention of theologians. He
says: "People are essentially machines, moving in such a way
as is preordained by the unchangeable laws and by the iron
chains of necessary cause and effect."
In Voltaire's voluminous writings throughout a long and
active life one may find quite a variety of ideas ranging between
pragmatic Theism and a vague Pantheism. A child of his age
and representative of the interests of the Third Estate, whose
ideologist he was, he fought the feudal Roman Catholic
Church, calling it the "l'Infâme," yet, at the same time,
seeking to preserve religion as a bridle against the tyranny of
the governing classes and against the anarchy of the mob
which, as a man of wealth, he feared most of all. This explains
his saying: "If there be no God, he should have been
invented.'
Not all of the French philosophers of enlightenment agreed
with Voltaire in recognizing God for reasons of moral control.
Thus Lamettrie (1709-1751), also a favourite of Frederick II
of Prussia, altogether denied the necessity of religion for the
happiness of man. In his famous work, The Man Machine
and in the Natural History of the Soul, Lamettrie followed
Descartes' observation that the animal is a machine and by
analogy he carries it to the logical conclusion that man, being
also an animal, must be equally a machine. Said Lamettrie:
"Precisely this strong analogy compels all scientists and true
judges to acknowledge that the proud and vain creatures, which
differ not so much by the name of man as by their pride, are
essentially but perpendicularly moving animal machines.'
In diagnosing the "soul" to which most theologians ascribe
divine origin and immortality, he concluded that the soul,
i.e. the function of reflective thought, is but a peculiar quality
of matter, of the same nature as electricity, the power of move-
ment, attraction, and so on. The "first cause" of things,
i.e. the "Deist God," if there be such a god, Lamettrie con-
sidered altogether inaccessible to knowledge and outside the
realm of positive science which alone can give trustworthy
information. Atheism, he argued, could contribute to the
80
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
happiness of man: "If atheism was a general phenomenon,
then all the growths of religion would be destroyed and
eradicated. There would no longer be theological wars, the
soldiers of religion would disappear-those terrible soldiers!
Nature, now infested with holy poison, would reclaim its rights
and purity." Lamettrie placed his trust in natural morality
which he opposed to religious taboos. He was much bolder
than Voltaire and as a result was persecuted by the clergy and
was compelled to flee in fear of his life; finding refuge at the
court of Frederick II, he remained there till his death.
In the constellation of brilliant minds of pre-revolutionary
France, Denis Diderot (1733–1784) holds a leading position,
and his influence on Russian thought is particularly significant.
He was the editor-in-chief of the famous French Encyclopedia
and gave his life and talents to this huge undertaking. The son
of an artisan it is said of him that "he bore the 18th century
upon his shoulders as the Atlas of antiquity bore the world."
He is also considered to be the first herald of the French
Revolution. While many of his able contemporaries, like
Voltaire, lived for their own intellectual satisfaction, Diderot
denied himself for the sake of a big common cause-the
Encyclopedia, which became the intellectual battering ram of
the French Revolution. By its steady persistent strokes of
criticism and its advancement of positive knowledge it broke
down the Bastille of medieval feudalism and ecclesiastical
tyranny. Diderot's fortunes were closely knit with Russia.
Catherine II, in the prime of liberalism, lent him her powerful
support, and when the Encyclopedia was prohibited in France
she proposed the transference of its publication to Russia and
endowed Diderot with a high pension so as to permit him to
continue the work as its editor. The wrath of the Church
against the Encyclopedia had its good reasons. Directly or
by implication the articles of the Encyclopedia aimed at the
teachings of the Church and its institutions. Many of these
articles were written by Diderot and many more were inspired
and edited by him. It is difficult to find the limitations of
Diderot's mind. It was truly encyclopedic in range. In his
81
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
thinking he felt the defects of mechanistic materialism and in
his Conversations with D'Alembert he pointed toward the
dialectic solution of the problem of materialism which was
actually undertaken by the Marxian school a century later.
Diderot, trained by Jesuits in the fundamentals of the
Christian dogma, ended as an atheist, but not a militant,
enthusiastic atheist, for he feared the masses were not prepared
for it."The majority of the nation," he said, "will always
remain ignorant, infested by fear, and hence superstitious;
atheism will remain the teaching of a small school, but will
never be the accepted doctrine of a large number of citizens,
nor will it become the heritage of a low-cultured people. Faith
in the existence of God or its old roots will always remain, and
if free growth be permitted to these roots, no one can say what
monstrous sprouts will issue from them." This is not the
opinion of Communist atheists who broadcast to the masses
their atheistic message without the fear that it will unbridle
their morale.
Amongst the French atheists who still have their influence on
Communist thought was Baron P. A. d'Holbach (1723–1789),
close friend and, in a way, a disciple of Diderot. From a
Voltairian Deist, Holbach, with the aid of Diderot, thought his
way through to outright atheism which he propagated with
great enthusiasm, erudition and literary skill. His principal
work, Système de la Nature (1770), may be considered the
matured product of French materialist thought. It has been
called "The Gospel of Materialism " and " The Red Cap of
Philosophy." In this epoch-making work, which roused the
animosity and fear of the Roman Church, is collected and
systematized the whole argument of the 18th century based
on the materialist hypothesis of the universe. Its criticism
extends not only against feudal religion and the Church, but
equally against the whole system of the old régime. Morley
characterized Holbach's work as a collection of all the explo-
sives which were scattered by critics throughout the century,
united into a monstrous machine of revolt and destruction. It
is generally agreed that there is hardly another book which had
82
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
so great a revolutionary effect upon the minds of the people
and its influence has lasted till our own days. Lenin suggested
its translation into Russian for use as a weapon of anti-religious
propaganda in the Soviet Union.
The book has two parts. It first establishes the position
of materialism on the principle of eternal uncreated substance
of the universe as a mechanism of matter in motion, and the
second part is devoted to an exposition of the atheist ideas of
the author and the critique of contemporary religious philo-
sophical teachings. In Holbach's Système man is a part of
nature, though more highly organized. There is no God,
no immortal soul and hence no divine right of kings and rulers.
Nature must provide the remedy against all evil which error
and fraud have created and which is exploited by tyrants and
the clergy who keep the masses in fear and superstition. The
book appeals to courage and faith in human reason to establish
life on a rational basis of social utility and service. This is
Holbach's message which in his later works he popularized so
as to make it accessible to the widest possible public. This
effort to democratize the materialist and atheist philosophy
aroused not only the fear and enmity of ecclesiastical and State
authorities, it even frightened many philosophers of enlighten-
ment, who thought that the still popular author of the Système
de la Nature had gone too far. Voltaire undertook writing a
criticism of the book, but all this concern only added to its
popularity. Diderot, who closely followed the developing
conflict, wrote in 1771 :
(C
The flames were steadily fanned, the principles of liberty
and independence, once hidden away in the hearts of a few
thinking people, now established themselves and are openly
proclaimed. Each age is characterized by its peculiar spirit.
The spirit of our era is the spirit of freedom. The first attack
upon superstition was greatly turbulent. But as soon as people
dared to attack the foundations of religion, the most terrible
and most venerated of institutions, no stops were possible.
Turning their threatening vision against the majesty of heaven,
inevitably, in a short time, they direct it also upon terrestial
83
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
powers. The cable which holds up and chokes humanity
is braided of these two ropes. One cannot break without also
breaking the other."
Besides Holbach, various others of a particular circle of
friends contributed to the undermining of the old faith and
authority. In their ideals they ranged between Deism,
Pantheism, and open atheism. Their contributions include
the two great books of Helvetius, On the Spirit and On Man;
but none of these works were as bold and as frank as the
writings of Holbach.
This survey of the philosophy of French enlightenment
has been made because of its tremendous influence on the
development of the anti-religious tradition in Russia, an influ-
ence which continues to this day in spite of the fact that its
mechanistic theories of the universe and of religion are no
longer tenable in the light of modern science, which has been
fully recognized by Communist philosophy. Nevertheless,
many of the arguments, particularly those in criticism of the
institutions of religion, and its militant spirit, are appreciated.
by the Communist atheist movement.
THE BEGINNINGS OF RUSSIAN ENLIGHTENMENT
Voltaire's slogan, "Ecrasez l'infâme," directed against the
Church was re-echoed not only in Western Europe, where anti-
quated orthodoxy and ecclesiasticism oppressed the masses
and fettered free thought, it was heard also in far-off Russia and,
for a while, flourished at the Court of Catherine II. But
already, during the reign of Peter I, there had been some active
minds and free spirits who felt and embraced the influence of
the West.
The religious traditions of Russia were not suited to vigorous
intellectual activity, and the ecclesiastical reforms introduced
by Peter I reduced the Church altogether to a department of
State with the express purpose of keeping the masses in servile
obedience to the governing class. Peter himself was no
particular devotee of orthodox Christianity; his unruly
character and unrestrained passions frequently ended in
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
drunken orgies in which were masqueraded religious ceremonies
with himself as the "princely Pope" and his officers as his
"clerical retinue.' This hilarious company "celebrated
holy mass," burning tobacco in place of incense and carrying,
as the "holy cross," long smoking pipes tied together; the
Eucharist was celebrated by the dispensing of liquor, and the
"holy gospels" were represented by a cask of vodka. Such
blasphemous behaviour on the part of the Tsar increased the
belief of his pious subjects that he was the "Anti-Christ,”
and it added zeal to the Old Believers movement which spread
rapidly during his reign.
ور
Disregarding popular protest, Peter I was determined to
modernize Russia. Generally he favoured religious toleration
and sympathized with Western rationalized Protestantism.
At the same time he was quite ignorant of philosophical and
theological questions and he let himself be guided by his
advisers, frequently in most contradictory ways. A striking
example of this ignorance was his attitude toward Huygens'
book on astronomy and physics, the first scientific work ever
translated into the Russian language. It was recommended
to the Tsar for publication by General Jacob Bruce, in charge
of Peter's artillery school and actual translator of this book.
The Tsar ordered a certain Abramov, one of his trusted sup-
porters in charge of the State printing establishment, to have
1,200 copies of the book printed. Later this Abramov, a
former participator in Peter's blasphemous orgies, becoming
somewhat conscience-stricken, drew the attention of the Tsar
to the heretical contents of the book, recommending that it
should be burned, together with its translator. Peter with-
drew his order for the printing of the book, but graciously
pardoned the translator for his heretical interests.
>
In spite of the Tsar's frequent changeability on questions of
religion, his dislike of the old traditions made possible the
development of free thought in Russia. To leadership in the
Church he attracted such enlightened men as Theophan Pro-
kopovitch, a Ukrainian, trained in a Jesuit College in Rome, but
for some reason abandoning Roman Catholicism for the service
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
of Peter who entrusted him with carrying through his ecclesi-
astical reforms and schemes of modernisation. Nominally
Prokopovitch seems to have been loyal to the Orthodox
Church. His criticism was directed against the Roman
Church, its superstitions, and persecution of modern scientific
thought. In the controversy over the publication of Huygens'
astronomy he took Bruce's part: "If the pupils of Copernicus
and scientists who defend the movement of the earth can
present as proofs of their opinion reliable physical and mathe-
matical data, then the text of Holy Scripture in which the
movement of the sun is mentioned cannot be taken as a refuta-
tion, and the text must be understood not in the literal but in
the allegorical sense." In one of his Latin poems, he de-
nounces the Roman Inquisition over Galileo :
Why, oh infamous Pope, do you torture the industrious Ser-
vant of nature ?
Oh, cruel tyrant! Why deserves the sage such persecution?
Pope, thou art raging! He does not touch thy worlds.
He does not invade with evil designs thy sacred premises,
Where the flaming Styx purges the souls of the dead,
Where abide the gods and goddesses of thy invention.
His earth is genuine and thine is false;
His stars are creations of God, and thine are fraud.
(C
But," says the Pope," our duty is to see that
Similar names (of different meaning),
Should not tempt the common people."
Oh, barbarian stupidity, abysmal dregs of a blind world!
Is it for thee to judge the luminous thought of Galileo?
Is it for thee to accuse as criminal a penetrating mind vigilant
as a lynx?
Apparently the vile mole-warp sees better than the lynx.
Much of this criticism hurled as it was against the Roman
Church hit the Russian Orthodox Church equally hard, for
its obscurantism and intellectual backwardness was not less,
but rather greater, than that of the Roman Church, as we have
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
seen in the case of Huygens' book on astronomy. Prokopo-
vitch's criticism must therefore be understood as a disguised
attack upon superstition and reaction in his own Church. This
he proved by his efforts to introduce popular education and the
study of modern philosophy. He was well read in the works
of Francis Bacon, Descartes and in all that was considered
advanced thinking in his time. His library contained 30,000
volumes and was undoubtedly a great contribution to the cul-
tural advancement of his people. We may justly consider
Prokopovitch as the pioneer of Russian enlightenment.
Another outstanding personality of this period was Vassily
Tatischev (1686–1750), a Russian nobleman with some Western
education and profound critical abilities. He was well-versed
in the philosophy of Hobbes, Locke, and Pierre Bayle. His
chief work, The History of Russia from the Earliest Times, was
considered too radical and could be published only some time
after his death by the gracious permission of Catherine II.
Tatischev must be considered also as the first Russian Biblical
critic. He rejected Solomon's Song of Songs as a religious
book, considering it simply a love song. Peter, who valued
Tatischev's learning, could not agree with his criticism of
religion and when his limited knowledge failed him in argument,
to convince the obstinate Tatischev, he "beat him with his
own royal fists" (so reports the chronicler)—a frequent habit
of Peter's in argument with his statesmen and generals.
Tatischev's history shows that the clergy played no laudable
part in the history of the Russian people. It did nothing for
their education and, says Tatischev, "to accumulate great
income and power the clergy found it profitable to keep the
people in darkest ignorance and superstition." Tatischev
sympathized with the Deists and held "natural law" and
<<
reason " to be sufficient to direct man in his behaviour. Thus
morality depends not on religion but is the product of enlighten-
ment and of the understanding of natural law.
In every
transgression of the laws of nature God has placed its own
punishment." Sin is not that which contradicts the decrees
of the Church but that which is harmful to humanity! This
66
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
was advanced thinking for the Russia of the early 18th century.
Tatischev was as yet not a confessed atheist but he was an open
sceptic and prepared the ground for the "Golden Age" of
Russian free thought which flourished under Catherine II.
Before describing this "Golden Age" we have yet to men-
tion a further contemporary of Prokopovitch and Tatischev,
Antioch Kantemir (1708-1744), who gained the reputation of
being wise, honest and kind, was one of the first students of
the newly-organized Petersburg Academy of Science and was
chosen for diplomatic service, representing his country in
London and Paris. These contacts with the West, together
with his natural abilities, made him very critical of the Church
and particularly of its higher clergy. He satirized them in
his verse, which had little poetic value, but was full of shrewd
observation and exposure of the intellectual backwardness and
moral degradation of the servants of the Church.
Under the influence of English Deism and French Ration-
alism he turned from theology to philosophy. The Holy
Scriptures, he argued, are no proof of scientific truth, and
revelation has no authority over reason. Kantemir made some
of the first translations of the French philosophers of enlighten-
ment, particularly Fontenelle and Montesquieu, and corres-
ponded with Voltaire. The reaction which set in after the
death of Peter I, in 1726, was not favourable to free thought,
and Kantemir had great difficulty in publishing his works.
His early death prevented him from fully unfolding his
abilities.
Prokopovitch, Tatischev and Kantemir, the pioneers of
Russian enlightenment, were all Westerners in their education
and sympathies. They fully realized the horrible backward-
ness of their people, particularly of their Church, and their
aim was to reform their country upon West European lines.
While favouring education, they were not strong enough
morally to proclaim against their country's greatest evil, that
feudal servitude under which groaned millions of Russian
peasants, nor did they dare to attack the autocracy of the
Russian throne. They were enlightened but still loyal mem-
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
bers of their class, the feudal nobility. As yet there was no
strong bourgeoisie in Russia and no proletariat to exert pressure
on them, and there could be none, so long as the peasants were
tied to the soil, since from the peasant class was to come
necessary free labour for capitalistic development. Prokopo-
vitch, Tatischev and Kantemir must therefore be taken as mild
reformers and not as revolutionists, yet they were the first to
shake the foundations of Russian orthodoxy which itself was
the foundation of the autocratic power of the Tsar and of the
feudal aristocracy. In this respect these men must be con-
sidered the early forerunners of the great Russian Revolution
of two centuries later. It must always be remembered that the
weakening of ecclesiastical authority and religious faith is the
beginning of revolution.
THE RUSSIAN VOLTAIRIANS
The process of Westernizing the Russian nobility which
began during Peter's reign was continued and flourished under
Catherine II. She considered herself an enlightened autocrat,
rivalling Frederick II of Prussia and Joseph I of Austria in
making her Court a radiant centre of intellectual life, where
the artist and philosopher replaced the court jesters of an earlier
age. France not only supplied the fashions and follies of
European courts; at this time she was equally rich in ideas
and her philosophers were welcome guests at the courts of
enlightened autocrats. Frederick II induced Voltaire and
Lamettrie to settle in Potsdam; Catherine II prided herself
in inducing Denis Diderot to her court, and in her steady
correspondence with Voltaire, D'Alembert and Grimm, who
at the time was considered the travelling salesman of modern
French philosophy at the court of Europe, finally settling at
Catherine's court to end his days.
The popularity of Voltaire under Catherine's protection
took the form of a regular movement among the educated
Russians of the time. His writings were widely read and not
only in the original, for during the later 18th and the beginning
of the 19th centuries one hundred and forty editions in all of
G
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
his various works were published in Russian translation. The
importance of this number becomes still more evident when we
learn that during the same period a total of only eight thousand
titles was published in the country. In addition to Voltaire,
Montesquieu, Rousseau, Helvetius, and the French Encyclo-
pedists generally, were widely studied.
French enlightenment had not the same effect upon its many
adepts. To the majority it meant simply freedom from the
old religious traditions and produced a widespread disregard
of the Church and a general laxity of respect for taboos and
customs. This alarmed many of the more serious and con-
servative-minded Russian statesmen and hierarchs. Prince
Shcherbatov (1733-1790), a contemporary of Catherine,
described the disintegration of the older moral traditions in a
book entitled On the Depravity of Morals in Russia. He
complained that the situation had reached a point where
"faith in Divine Law has disappeared from the heart and the
divine mysteries (sacraments) are held in contempt." Shcher-
batov blamed Peter I who, while striving to purge the people's
faith of its many superstitions, went too far in his zeal. He
compared Peter to an inexperienced gardener who applied to
a weak tree the same pruning as to a strong one. Whilst in
order to enlighten the people, it was very useful to remove
superstition, in Russia such pruning had damaged the funda-
mentals of the faith. "Superstitions had decreased, but faith
also had diminished; the slavish fear of Hell had disappeared,
but so also had vanished love for God and for His holy law;
and morals, for the lack of other enlightenment and uncorrected
by faith, had lost their supports and turned into vice.”1
What was commenced by Peter was brought to its logical
conclusion by Catherine. By her measures, complained
Shcherbatov, she entirely destroyed the faith, "that eternal
support of conscience and virtue." He accused her of having
abandoned "the rock of God's law" and built her politics.
and her personal morals on the shifting sands of modern
philosophy.
¹ Shcherbatov, On the Depravity of Morals in Russia, p. 28.
G
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
The moral depravity at Catherine's Court, as a result of the
badly understood French enlightenment, may be seen from
the complaints and invectives of one of the priests of the court
chapel who had the moral courage to say in a sermon: "The
Christian dogma on which depends eternal salvation has been
turned into fables and into naught; the solicitor of our salva-
tion, the vigilant Christian helper, the shelter and shield (i.e.
the Holy Virgin) is not called upon for aid; the holy saints of
God are not respected; no regard is paid to the holy ikons;
the sign of the Cross, before which even Devils tremble, is
despised; the traditions of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers
are rejected; good deeds, for which there is eternal reward,
are swept away; meat is during the holy fasts devoured, and
of the mortification of the flesh no one wishes to hear; prayer
for the dead is derided, themselves children and heirs of Hell,
they believe it not.”
Whilst the majority described in these priestly invectives
unquestionably understood the new philosophy as a license to
live each according to his desire, it would be wrong to denounce
the Voltairian movement of Catherine's day as wholesale
licentiousness and Godlessness. Neither Catherine nor her
court was in theory atheistic. In her youth Catherine was
brought up a Protestant, but when she married the fool-hearted
Peter III, to comply with the traditions of the Russian
Church, she nominally accepted Greek Orthodoxy. Eager
for knowledge, she sincerely wished to be an enlightened
monarch. Of this she assured Voltaire and other philosophers
with whom she corresponded and who flattered her as the hope
of the new age. Unquestionably, she did much to lighten
the burdens of Russian womanhood and free it from its age-
long Asiatic seclusion. She organized the first schools for
women in Russia and built homes for unmarried mothers and
maternity hospitals.
In 1767 she attempted to carry out some drastic reforms in
the Church. She outlined her ideas in a memorandum
placed before the Holy Synod. Her recommendations were:
to give toleration and to permit open divine service to all
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
dissenters; to shorten the length of the fasting seasons; to
purge the Church of superstition and of fraudulent miracles;
to stop the visitation of houses by ikons; to cut down the
number of Church feast days; to simplify the church cere-
monies and to introduce, instead of the long vigils, short ser-
vices with prayer and exortations; to permit bishops to marry ;
to introduce a simpler respectable dress for the clergy; to
make divorce easier; to permit marriage between distant
relatives and between persons of different faith; to abolish
prayer for the dead; and other similar reforms. These much-
needed reforms were ignored by the Synod, which gave her to
understand that any attack upon the traditions of the Church
would produce another schism and jeopardize the security of
her throne. Her " Grand Instructions," which she prepared
as a general guide for a reconstitution of the country, had the
same fate. They reflected the principles contained in Montes-
quieu's Spirit of the Laws, and other advanced ideas which she
had learned from her French philosopher friends. These
"Grand Instructions" she later banned when frightened by
the rumours of the French Revolution. She began to realize
the danger to her autocratic power of free ideas, and we see
her enlightened liberalism rapidly fade into darkest reaction,
with a corresponding development of piety in which she
loved to pose as " Holy Catherine.'
The French philosophers, now banned, she turned her
attention to the Masonic Order, which was also suppressed.
This could hardly be otherwise, for the chief evil of Russia,
the fate of the peasants, was not alleviated during her long
reign, but on the contrary worsened. By this time half the
peasants were under serfdom, a condition which did not differ
much from slavery and against which the Cossack leader,
Pugatchev, led his revolt. Catherine's brilliant court and the
feudal nobility lived on the blood and sweat of the millions of
enslaved peasants, and whilst the illiteracy and religious super-
stition of these peasants kept them in ignorance of the bourgeois
enlightenment which inspired the French Revolution, neverthe-
less some of these ideas began slowly to penetrate into ever
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
widening circles. Catherine made frantic efforts to undo the
work of her own life. The young people, whom she once
educated to scepticism and disrespect of the old traditions,
she now tried to turn back to the obscure discarded faith.
This proved impossible; there were already many apart from
the nobility who held to the new ideas. While still relatively
small in number, one may nevertheless speak of an intelli-
gentsia developing in Russia. This new class claimed the
right to independent thought and took the new revolutionary
ideas seriously. There were also not a few amongst the higher
nobility who had become confirmed atheists and some of
them formed the nucleus of the Decembrist movement of
a later date, which started the first organized revolt against the
Russian autocracy. Thus we see that during the reign of
Catherine a serious anti-religious movement made its start in
Russia. It took a firm hold upon the newly-forming intel-
lectual class and never left it despite every effort to eradicate
it on the part of Catherine and her successors.
THE MASONIC REACTION
The reaction to French enlightenment and atheism showed
itself in the spread of the Masonic gospel and of similar mystic
cults to which the upper classes turned in preference to their
own traditional faith. The Masonic movement in Russia had
several sources: one trend came from Germany, another from
England and a third from Sweden. The first Masonic lodges
were established in Petersburg in the middle of the 18th
century and were patronized chiefly by Catherine's officers of
the guard, who took it as a new form of entertainment, attracted
to it by the gorgeous ceremonies of initiation which at that
time usually ended in wild orgies. A contemporary initiate
characterized this first period of Russian Masonry as a play
in which the service of Minerva was transformed into a celebra-
tion of Bacchus." The Voltairian Deistic philosophy worked
well in conjunction with the Masonic ideas which, however,
were not taken seriously.
<<
The French Revolution resulted in serious changes in the
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Russian Masonic movement. The initiative was taken by a
certain Elagin who, in 1750, as a young man joined the Free-
masons but, disappointed by its vulgarities, drifted into French
free thought and atheism, from which he finally recoiled when
frightened by the French Revolution. Elagin met a distin-
guished English gentleman travelling in Russia, who revealed
to him the tenets of British Masonry, which he interpreted to
Elagin as a pious sacred science which did not share the ideas
of the Godless French Encyclopedists even though many of
the latter were members of Masonic lodges. Elagin learned
that there were different trends in Masonry and he sought
contact with the " great London Lodge " into which he was
finally initiated and rose to "Provincial Grand Master of
Russia." Elagin became an enthusiastic advocate of English
Masonry in Russia and sought to adapt the new Creed to the
peculiarities of the Greek Orthodox faith.
This conservative tendency of Russian Masonry still further
increased under the influence of another Voltairian renegade,
I. V. Lopukhin (1756-1816), a man of considerable erudition
and literary ability. In his youth he translated some of Hol-
bach's and Diderot's works, but later turned against their
atheist teachings and sought solace in the mystic Masonic cult
of the " Rose and the Cross," known in Russia after its German
name the "Rosenkreuzer." Lopukhin became its fanatic
interpreter and managed to unite it to the mysticism of the
Greek Church. This former Voltairian was now an uncom-
promising enemy of the French Revolution, which he con-
sidered the result of the godless philosophy of the Encyclo-
pedists. He appealed to his brother Masons: "As far as
possible to counteract the wild and destructive system of pre-
tended liberty and equality and seek to destroy it by every
available means." He defended the system of Russian
peasant servitude as being the best for the people and only
asked the landlords to be humane masters and to be kind to
their serfs. He himself set a fine example of humanitarianism
and was ready to suffer persecution for his Masonic convictions.
Catherine II mistrusting the secrecies of the Order, decided
J
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
to make an end of Russian Masonry. On the whole she was
mistaken in her suspicions, for the nobility, which made up
the membership of the Lodges, was true to its class instincts
and in time of crisis turned from French Revolutionary
philosophy to the otherworldly mysticism of the "Rose and
the Cross."
Another humanitarian Mason was Nikolai Novikov, a close
collaborator of Lopukhin in the "Rose and the Cross." He
was active as journalist, publisher of popular literature and
organizer of schools and philanthropic agencies for the poor.
His religious mysticism separated him from French atheistic
enlightenment and like other leaders of Russian Masonry he
remained loyal to his class and to the autocratic regime. But
this did not save him from imprisonment when Catherine
commenced her drive against the Masonry.
While on the whole the Russian Masonic movement was
politically reactionary, there were individual Masons and a
few Lodges which followed the French tradition, similar to
the Lodge of the "Nine Sisters," founded in Paris by the
atheist, Laland, and joined by such free and revolutionary
minds as Franklin, Helvetius, Diderot, Voltaire, D'Alembert,
Condorcet, and a number of others who became active republi-
cans during the French Revolution. There was also the
influence of the German progressive Masonic lodges of the
Illuminates," founded by the former Jesuit professor,
Adam Weisshaupt of Anglestat, Bavaria, and the restless
Baron Adolf von Kniggen, a close and enthusiastic associate of
Weisshaupt. These lodges were promoting French enlighten-
ment in Germany; their activities became known in Russia
and their influence was felt by some of the more progressive
and freer minds among the Masons.
(C
A. N. RADISCHEV, FIRST MARTYR OF REVOLUTIONARY
THOUGHT
C
An outstanding personality and revolutionary thinker in
Russia at this period was Alexander Nikolaevitch Radischev
(1749-1802), whose political and philosophic martyrdom and
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
tragic end by suicide left a lasting impression upon the pro-
gressive intellectuals of later generations.
Of noble origin, Radischev was trained in Catherine's school
of pages in St. Petersburg. At the age of seventeen he was
honoured for his abilities and diligence and was sent, together
with a dozen other worthy Russian young noblemen, to the
University of Leipzig, which at that time had the reputation
of being one of Germany's first institutions of learning,
established by the brilliancy of the philosopher Leibnitz.
French enlightenment was equally felt in Leipzig University
circles and the young Russians had the opportunity of learning
something of German profundity and French brilliancy.
At that time Catherine II was in the full flow of her liberal
enthusiasms as patron of the French Encyclopedist philoso-
phers. Young Radischev had enthusiastic faith in her serious
intention of reconstituting Russia upon modern principles and
making the Empire a constitutionally governed state. He
studied Montesquieu and Mabli, whose Thoughts on Greek
History and on the Causes of the Welfare and Misfortunes of the
Greeks he translated. The study of this work helped him
to the conclusion that autocracy is a most unfavourable state
of human nature. He also studied Rousseau, who shaped his
political theories, whilst from Helvetius he acquired ideas of
naturalist ethics independent of supernatural revelation. His
religious ideas passed through many vicissitudes. He wavered
between Voltairian Deism and Orthodox mysticism according
to the changing fortunes of his own life. He never became a
real philosophic atheist; philosophic atheists, at the time,
were rare even in France.
On his return to Russia in 1771, Radischev was gradually
disillusioned as to the sincerity of his Empress with regard to
reconstituting Russia upon modern lines. He realized that in
Catherine the patron of philosophy differed radically from the
ruler of the people. This blighted hope concerning the future
of his country is reflected in his work. The events of the
American Revolution inspired him to write an ode to " Free-
dom," considered the most revolutionary poetic pronouncement
96
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
!
of the 18th century, not only of Russia but of all Western civiliza-
tion. In this ode he attacks religion equally with autocratic
government as an implement of oppression:
"It was, and is, and ever will be
The source of cruel shameless servitude."
The culmination of Radischev's revolt was his famous anony-
mously published book, A Journey from Petersburg to Moscow,
appearing in the summer of 1790 when Catherine's reaction
to the revolutionary developments in France was at its height.
This book has been characterized as the Encyclopedia of the
feelings and opinions of advanced Russian thought at the close
of the 18th century. It describes the fearful backwardness,
poverty and depression existent in Russia, unreservedly con-
demning feudal serfdom and the autocracy of the Russian
throne. It advocates, though still in cautious terms, a demo-
cratic, republican social order. Its effect was tremendous;
the friends of Russian freedom rallied to it as to a declara-
tion of independence," and it aroused the bitter wrath of all
reactionaries, most of all of Catherine II. She personally
undertook the prosecution of the author, ordering his immediate
arrest. Her former contacts with French progressive thought
made it easy for her to discover the real purpose of the book.
Already after its first perusal, she wrote:
(C
CC
The purpose of this book is seen upon every page; its
author is filled and infected with the French error; he seeks
and detects everything to minimize respect for the State
and authorities, to rouse the people to indignation against
chiefs and principalities." This was the first point of the
indictment; the next was a charge of heresy :
"The author is an absolute Deist and (the corresponding
pages of the book) are incompatible with the Orthodox Eastern
teaching."
Catherine justly suspected Radischev of sympathy with the
French Revolution and of advocating a similar revolt in Russia.
She turned him over to the courts on the above indicated
charges and the court, after a long and trying solitary confine-
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ment, pronounced the death sentence over him. This cruel
decision broke the nerve of the bold thinker and in pleading
mercy before the Empress he recanted his political and
religious heresies. Seeing his spirit broken, Catherine
graciously" commuted the death sentence to ten years of
Siberian exile in the Ilimen Prison. After her death in 1797,
Radischev's lot was somewhat eased; he was permitted to
return to his family estate but not allowed to live at the capital.
But with the temporary wave of liberalism, which marked the
ascent of the new Emperor, Alexander I, Radischev regained
his civil rights and took an active part in designing a project
for the reconstitution of the Russian state, which reforms it
was hoped Alexander I would grant. Among other reforms
Radischev proposed complete liberty of conscience, religious
toleration and the separation of the Church from the State.
These noble hopes of a better day for Russia were too pre-
mature. The reactionary elements, who observed the revival
of enthusiasm in Radischev, intimidated him, threatening to
renew his Siberian exile. This was too much for his strained
nerves and in 1802 he ended his unfortunate life by suicide.
"Posterity will avenge me," were his last written words.
Radischev, like many who came after him, fell victim to the
despotism of his time, which could not bear the force of ideas
and could resist it only by brute violence. Yet Radischev did
not suffer in vain. His martyrdom inspired others to continue
the struggle, nor was he the only revolutionist of his day. It
is known that Russians even of the high nobility, like the
two brothers Galitzen, who were living in Paris at the time
when the French Revolution broke out, enthusiastically
participated in the Storming of the Bastille. Another young
Russian count, T. A. Stroganov, went so far as to reject his
title and to join the Republican Jacobine Club of the " Friends
of the Law." It is also known that P. P. Dubrovsky, secretary
of the Russian Embassy in Paris, tried to organize a printing
shop on the premises of the Embassy for the purpose of pro-
ducing a Russian translation of the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and the Citizen. All these facts frightened the Russian
(C
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
autocrats who, blessed and aided by the Church, suppressed
the revolting spirits. Under the short reign of Emperor Paul
I, who succeeded his much-hated mother, Catherine II, frantic
efforts were made to erase every trace of liberal thought. Paul
went so far as to prohibit printing such words as "society
and "citizen" because these, he explained, were republican
expressions which should have no place in the Russian
language.
>>
Under such conditions, revolting minds in Russia, still
impotent to attack enthroned autocracy on earth, turned
against the autocracy of heaven by whose authority the ter-
restial despots pretended to rule. Later the same process
was observed in Germany. Karl Marx expressed it in his
famous words: "The critique of heaven was thus transformed
into a critique of the earth, the critique of religion into a
critique of law, the critique of theology into the critique of
politics.” 1
In spite of the brute despotism of Emperor Paul I, there were
some courageous men who continued to attack heavenly auto-
cracies under the guise of literature. One of these was the
young poet, I. T. Pnin (1773-1805). He continued the Radis-
chev tradition with his friend, A. F. Bestuzhev, whose sons
became leaders in the Decembrist Movement. In 1798 Pnin
and Bestuzhev began to edit and publish the St. Petersburg
Journal. In spite of rigid censorship, the editors managed to
carry on articles on nature, education," and the like, whose
gospel was to preach the nobility of mankind. Pnin is the
author of the ode to "Man," a poem of revolt against the
"Autocrat of Heaven," and against the idea of man as the
"human worm." Crying out against this unworthy self-
effacement, we read in Pnin's ode:
<<
"C
99.66
Away vile thought! Thou art kin
To wretched souls of slaves
Whose darkened minds were never lit
By thoughts with noble strains."
'K. Marx and F. Engels Works, Vol. I, p. 366 (Russ. Ed.).
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Man is the product of nature, this Pnin knows, but he is
also its master, for by the power of his mind he can make
order of its chaos. Pnin stakes his faith in man's intellect, his
sense of justice, his solidarity, and he looks forward to the time
when justice will:
Unite all people
Children of one nature.
ין
(C
In harmony with the idealism of his time he believes in
abstract “justice," to which he dedicates the ode from which
the above two lines were quoted. The ode bears the epigraph
from the French arch-heretic Holbach : Justice is the
foundation of all social virtues." Pnin claims the right to
think his own thought and he tries to impress this upon his
censors in a fable about the "Riding Horse" whose master,
fearing the horse's shyness, blindfolds it and as a result both
fall into a pit filled with water. The moral of the fable is
given in the closing verses :
Oh, rulers of beast or men!
Note from this experiment
The folly of pretence
Of shutting out the light
Needed by the sight;
Like beast so man,
When deprived of vision,
Is difficult of supervision.
This might have been taken as a warning by the ecclesiastical
and temporal rulers of the Russian people, but no regime, it
is said, yields its power unless forced to do so by threat of
revolution. Of this, Russia is a classic example. Like the
foolish equestrian in the fable, Church and Throne tried to
blindfold its people. This fomented revolt. The seed of
the French enlightenment fell upon a fertile soil in Russia.
In this chapter it has been shown how, under these conditions,
there developed a small but resolute intellectual class, which
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THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS TRADITION
took a critical attitude first toward ecclesiastical authority and
dogma, developing an anti-religious tradition, and later towards
the temporal powers. We shall now follow the vicissitudes of
this tradition in the unfolding drama of the Russian revolu-
tionary movement.
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
!
CHAPTER VI
RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY
MOVEMENT
THE 19th century will go down in history as the age of bourgeois
revolutions and the triumph of Capitalism. The modern
French Revolutionary ideas which Catherine for a while
permitted to flourish at her court could never be again eradicated
in Russia. The ripples of free thought, first observed in the
narrow circles of the court, began to widen and deepen, pene-
trating into ever increasing sections of the population and
finally rising in the mighty wave of the Proletarian Revolution
which finally swept away the throne and broke the power of
the Church in Russia. We shall now sketch this process in
relation to the institution of organized religion.
THE DECEMBRIST MOVEMENT
The first stage of the revolutionary movement of the 19th
century in Russia is associated with the so-called Decembrist
uprising in 1825 on the occasion of the ascent of Nicholas I
to the throne. Its purpose was to overthrow autocracy and
compel the Tsar to grant Russia a liberal constitution. The
leaders of this movement were military men from the upper
ranks of the nobility; true liberals following the tradition of
English and French free thought. Some of them had partici-
pated in the campaigns against Napoleon and had had oppor-
tunity of seeing for themselves what Western Europe was like.
The defeat of Napoleon and the "Holy Alliance" of the
monarchs of Russia, Prussia and Austria, vowing to preserve
the institutions of autocracy and orthodoxy, signalized the
beginning of dark reaction against liberalism in every form.
It was particularly felt in Russia, where the old traditions of
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
}
feudalism and serfdom were still intact. The development of
capitalist forms of production were for these reasons retarded
in Russia, although the time for them was ripening. The
Decembrist uprising signalized the general discontent which
was felt by various classes in Russia.
The Voltairian tradition of the 18th century was naturally
unable to flourish in an atmosphere created by the "Holy
Alliance." The history of Russian higher education at this
period records many heresy trials and the dismissal of many
professors for failing to teach their science in the "spirit of the
word of God." Geology was barred as incompatible with the
teachings of the Bible and strict censorship was exercised over
the instruction of philosophy, so that none of the ideas of the
French enlightenment might reach the students.
In this atmosphere of reaction and terrorism against inde-
pendent thinking the young Russian intellectual class was cur-
tailed in its development. This resulted in producing most
grotesque forms of servile submission on the part of the
weaklings and a most radical protest on the part of the stouter
spirits against the religious and temporal authorities. This
period has produced some martyrs. Russian revolutionists to
this day honour the name of S. M. Semenov, a priest's son
who became an atheist under the repressive influences of his
training at a theological seminary. At the Moscow University
this young man became a leader amongst the students and a
tireless propagator of modern republican ideas. He also
found his way into one of the Decembrists' secret societies,
and after the debacle of the insurrection was exiled to Siberia.
At that time a large proportion of the students in all higher
schools of learning, in spite of repressive measures, sympathized
with the radicals and eagerly read the prohibited books,
especially the works of the French Encyclopedist philosophers.
Even such aristocratic schools as the Tsar's School of the
Pages, to which were admitted only the sons of the upper
nobility, did not escape the infection of free thought. It is
known that a number of students from the School of Pages
participated in the Decembrist Insurrection and that there
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RELIGIÓN AND COMMUNISM
were secret fraternities studying radical thought in practically
every higher institution of learning. As in the pre-revolu-
tionary periods in France, emancipation from traditional ideas
began with a revolt against religious authority, later embracing
radical political and social doctrines.
The leaders of the Decembrists, the Colonels N. M. Muro-
viev and P. I. Pestel, had quite definite ideas about the place of
the Church in the future political order. They hoped to
accomplish their revolution by means of an insurrection in the
army which they were gradually preparing. Neither of the
leaders favoured the separation of the Church from the State,
nor did they want to deprive the Greek Orthodox Church of
its favoured position as the religion of the State. Personally,
Muroviev was a Deist free thinker, yet like Voltaire he thought
that religion was necessary for the masses and should be put
into the service of the State as an institution of moral control.
Pestel was a Protestant of the Lutheran Confession, "with the
heart of a materialist and a mind which refused to follow it,"
as he characterized himself. Nevertheless he favoured the
Greek Church as the more suited to the character of the
Russian people.
The Decembrist projected constitution for the new State
had this provision in respect of religion: "The people's
Vecha (Parliament) has no power to decree nor to prohibit
any creed or sect. The beliefs, conscience and opinions of the
citizens, as long as these do not result in unlawful action, are
not within the jurisdiction of the people's Vecha. But sects
based on vice and unnatural deeds are prosecuted on the
basis of the Common Law." The project further guaranteed
the hegemony of the Greek Orthodox Church and permitted
no non-religious status; that is, every citizen was to be com-
pelled to register with some Church or sect. Thus we see
that the leading Decembrists were quite conservative in their
views on religion.
We have already observed that the majority of Decembrists
were military men from the upper aristocracy. They were no
democrats and had no trust in the creative abilities of the
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
common man. They were rather paternal and believed that
a State must do for the people what they really should and
could do for themselves. Hence their propaganda was
limited to a very narrow circle of the upper classes. It centred
upon two societies; one in the north, and one in the south.
These societies were known as the "Union of Benevolence,"
in addition to which were a number of Masonic lodges of the
order of the " Illuminators," and others which had contact
with the conspirators. Alexander I was himself a Mason,
and during his reign the Masonic lodges, prohibited by Cather-
ine, were revived and many others founded. Some of these
proved convenient places for plotting the revolutionary coup
against the autocratic regime, and most of the important
Decembrists were members.
While the initiative in this first organized revolutionary
movement was taken by the upper class of the nobility we
observe, even at this time, a tendency towards the promotion
of a wider, democratic, revolutionary movement. Such was
the secret society of the "United Slavs " which had distinctly
democratic aims. It was founded in the south by men who
came from the lower ranks of Russian society, and its constitu-
tion demanded no discrimination against the lower classes.
The leaders were convinced that their revolutionary purpose
could only be achieved if people of all ranks and classes partici-
pated. The founder and leader of the "United Slavs was
Peter Borisov, a young officer with no relation to the nobility.
He was a remarkable character, possessed of courage, a strong
mind, kind heart and devotion to the cause of the common
people. He imbibed the French enlightenment from the
works of Voltaire, Helvetius and Holbach, learning French
for this purpose without the aid of a teacher, being too poor
to engage one. His contemporaries characterized him as "a
man who, unknown to himself, was possessed of the true
spirit of Christianity."
""
The idea of the "United Slavs " came to him through his
friendship with the Polish revolutionist, Julian Lublinsky, who
shared Borisov's plan that Russians and Poles should make a
H
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CC
common cause in the overthrow of autocracy. These men
put their trust in the common people and showed their willing-
ness to fight with arms to gain their liberty. It is unreason-
able," says Borisov," to expect that a man born for the throne
and possessed of the lust of power should voluntarily reject
what he considers to be his right." This Borisov was one of
the few Decembrists who took his religious doubts seriously
and who sought "to be virtuous while denying God," as he
himself put the problem. Therefore he and his brother
Andrew, in recruiting members of the " United Slav Society,
demanded almost a puritanic attitude to life, a trait which
became quite common among later revolutionists of lower
rank in Russia.
در
The Decembrists from the upper classes, with few exceptions,
generally followed the tradition of their social group, with its
moral laxity and superficial attitude towards religion, consider-
ing it an institution still necessary for the mob but no longer
binding to upper society. They did not mind using the
religious convictions of the people for their revolutionary
purpose and clothing their propaganda in religious phraseology
and Bible texts. The use of the catechetical form of agitation
was considered a good approach to the masses and Muraviev,
the leader of the northern society, wrote the Catechism of a
Free Man, in which were questions and answers in religious
terminology with a liberal supply of proof texts. For example,
the question: whence originates freedom? Answer: Every
good thing is from God; having created man in his image
and provided eternal rewards for good deeds, and eternal
damnation for evil works, he endowed man with freedom;
otherwise it would be unjust to reward for the good done under
compulsion or punish for involuntary evil. Stating further
that not all people are free at present, since a minority exploits
the majority, the catechism explains that "Some have
grasped the unjust idea of lording over others, and some have
been willing to accept this mean idea and so resign the natural
rights of man granted him by God." Then follows the
question: Has not God himself established autocracy?
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
(
Which is answered: God in his goodness never created evil.
To the next question: Does it not say, " for there is no power
but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God"-the
answer is given: No evil power can be from God; "Even so
every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. . . . Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
the fire. The same fate shall betake the clergy, who are as
wolves in sheep's clothing, and of these the Lord shall say,
Depart from me, for I have never known ye.'
> ""
We see here how the Bible was used for undermining the
faith of the common people in the authority of the Tsar and
his clergy. The younger brother of the author of the Catechism
for a Free Man, Sergious Muraviev, nicknamed the " Apostle,"
was very active in preparing the insurrection in some southern
regiment. He wrote a similar tract which he called "The
Orthodox Catechism." This "Apostle " was a unique
personality who took his catechism seriously and gave his
revolutionary propaganda a glowing prophetic interpretation.
After the collapse of the movement, when the chief instiga-
tors were executed and the rest exiled to Siberia, the hardships
and loneliness of the exile made most of the men who formerly
were indifferent or even opposed to religion turn back and seek
its comforts. Thus this first stage of the revolutionary move-
ment must be recorded as one which still preserved contact
with religion and considered the Church a necessary institution
of organized society.
THE NARODNIK MOVEMENT
The lesson of the Decembrist Movement was that no success-
ful social revolution can be made from the top by any small
group if there is no conscious support and vital co-operation
on the part of the masses. These masses in Russia were the
peasants, a good half of whom were still held in serfdom, tied
down to the soil and owned by the nobility. The petty bour-
geoisie of artisans and traders was relatively small in numbers,
unintelligent and unorganized. The heavy industries and
manufacture were but in their infancy. The first railway
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
connecting Moscow and Petersburg was just being built and
the long regime of Nicholas I was the most despotic and
reactionary of 19th century Russia.
Under these conditions no organized revolutionary activity
was possible. The dynamic forces of society were driven to
a cloistered existence and there they were thinking over their
problems, turning to philosophy for aid.
At this period, the second quarter of the 19th century, there
developed two currents of thought stimulating the minds of
intelligent Russians: one, the German idealist philosophy of
Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, the other, the French Utopian.
Socialism of Saint Simon and Fourier. These two currents of
thought were revaluated and synthesised by Russians to satisfy
their national consciousness and needs, and the product became
generally known as the Narodnik or Populist social philosophy.
There were two distinct trends in the movement, one orienta-
ting toward the west, and seeking to reform Russia along
West-European lines by means of industrialization, education
and the abolition or limitation of autocracy. These thinkers
were known as the Westernists. The other trend, also pur-
suing the study of German idealist philosophy and French
Utopian Socialism, did not believe that Russia must neces-
sarily follow Western Europe, but that it could develop in-
digenously by improving its traditional national institutions of
autocracy, religious orthodoxy and the peasant land commune
which, it was thought, could be made the basis of a socialized
economic order. This latter trend of thought was known as
Slavophilism. From its ranks came a line of religious thinkers.
and philosophers who made strenuous efforts to revive the
orthodox religious heritage and elevate the dignity of the
Church. The outstanding leader of this school of thought
was the poet-philosopher, A. S. Khomyakov.
C
GE
The ideology of the Westernists, on the contrary, was in
opposition to orthodoxy and autocracy and continued the
anti-religious tradition under French influence. The out-
standing thinkers in the camp of the Westernists of this period.
were V. Belinsky, A. Herzen, M. Bakunin, and M. Petro-
A
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
shevsky. All began as orthodox Hegelians and gradually
moved leftwards, simultaneously becoming more and more
hostile to the Church, as we shall see from the subsequent
analysis of the views of these exceptional men.
V. G. Belinsky (1810-1848) is considered the Father of the
revolutionary Narodnik philosophy. He came of a family of
village priests and has no connection with the nobility. Ex-
pelled from the university for radical thought, he fought his
way to leadership of Russia's newly-developing militant in-
tellectual class, whose beloved idol he became. Unsurpassed
as literary critic and publicist, a master of the Russian language,
he is still read by Russian youth. Suspected and feared by
the Tsar's secret police, he escaped imprisonment and exile to
Siberia-the lot of Russia's intellectual leaders-only by his
early death, at the age of 38. Belinsky is so typically a 19th-
century Russian intellectual that we must make a closer
analysis of the vicissitudes of his mind. Circumstances
compelled these men to limit themselves to thinking, for it
was quite impossible under the oppressive conditions of the
time to do more than that.
Belinsky began to think independently very early. Accord-
ing to his own confession, made in a letter to his friend Bakunin,
a still greater rebel than himself, he writes: "I suffer from a
horrid education. I reasoned at the time when one is only
supposed to feel; I was an atheist and a blasphemer, not having
been as yet religious; I composed before I was able to write
between the lines of a copybook; I dreamed and fancied when
others were learning their vocabularies." This is quite
characteristic not only of Belinsky but of the whole impatient
Russian intellectual youth of that period, who "like fools
rushed in where angels feared to tread." In his youth we find
Belinsky passionately embracing every new Western idea
which penetrated the fissures of the intellectual cordon sanitaire
established by the Tsar's censorship.
When expelled from the university in 1832, Belinsky con-
tinued his contact with modern thought in the circle of the
noble Russian humanist, S. Stankevitch, a rare personality
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
who enthused eager Russian youth to independent thinking
and directed their minds and wills towards social ideals. The
circle of Stankevitch may properly be considered the cradle
of the Narodnik Movement, which popularized the philosophy
later carried as revolutionary doctrine amongst the masses.
Belinsky in rapid succession embraced the idealistic and
pantheistic philosophies of Schelling, Fichte, and Hegel.
With exceptional literary skill and lucidity he popularized and
reinterpreted their teachings for Russian readers. At this stage
he expressed his philosophy of life in the following glowing
terms:
(C
All of God's infinitely beautiful world is but the breath of
the one eternal idea manifested in innumerable forms as a
magnificent phenomenon of absolute unity and endless multi-
plicity. The flaming emotions of mortals in moments of en-
lightenment can only grasp the immensity of the body of this
soul of the universe, the heart of which are the great suns, its
sinews the milky way, its blood the pure ether. This idea
knows no rest; it lives forever; it creates continually in order
to destroy and destroys in order to create. It incarnates itself in
the glowing sun, in a beautiful planet, in an wandering comet;
it lives and breathes in the ebb and flow of the tides of the
sea, in the fierce hurricane of the desert, in the whisper of the
leaves, in the murmur of the brook, in the roar of the lion, in
the tears of an infant, in the smile of beauty, in the will of man
and the mighty creations of genius. Thus lives the idea.
Here is its wisdom,
its physical light, but where is its love? God created man,
endowed him with reason and feelings to grasp this idea with
his mind and knowledge, to embrace it with warm, vital
sympathy, to share its life in the emotions of infinite creative
love!"
We see it with our own faint eyes.
Then Belinsky appeals to proud and powerful man not to
exalt himself :
"Deny yourself, suppress your egotism, scorn your selfish
'I'; breathe for the happiness of others, sacrifice for the good
of your neighbour, your country and the happiness of man-
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
kind; love truth and goodness not for the sake of reward, but
for the sake of truth and beneficence; suffer under the heavy
cross to accomplish your unity with God, your immortality
which lies in the destruction of your 'I,' in the emotions of
infinite bliss.
Such is the moral life of the eternal idea."
Here we have the thoughts and aspirations of Belinsky, the
idealist. For a decade he preached this gospel of submission
and long-suffering: "Seek God not in temples made by man,
but seek him in your own heart, seek him in your own love."
Such were the admonitions to his readers. Christianity, which
he considered formerly to be contemplation and faith, should
now become a conscious truth, a philosophy. Belinsky dis-
liked the French political enlightenment. He says:
"To the
devil the French; their influence has never brought us any-
thing but evil." And then he appeals to Russian youth,
saying: "Let us be apostles of light, this is our calling; let
us imitate the disciples of Christ, who did not hatch con-
spiracies and did not form either secret or open political
societies to spread the teachings of their divine master."
Now let us look at this "Apostle of light" a decade later.
He still is the same tireless agitator of dynamic ideals, still
carrying upon his heart the welfare of his people and of man-
kind generally, for Belinsky, like a true Russian, was never
narrowly nationalistic. During a decade his ideas have passed
through a dialectic process of negating absolutely that which
he once so enthusiastically affirmed. The idealist had become
a materialist, the fervent believer in God has become an open
atheist. Now we hear him saying: "In me developed some
vile, furious, fanatic love of freedom and independence of
human personality which can exist only in a society based upon
truth and valour. . I now understand the bloody love of
Marat for freedom, his sanguine hate for everything which
wanted to separate itself from brotherhood with mankind.
I am more and more a citizen of the universe! I begin to
love mankind in Marat's way; to make happy the smallest part
of it, I, it seems, could destroy with fire and sword the rest
of it."
•
C
III
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
""
Belinsky is now an uncompromising revolutionist. "The
millenium upon earth is not established by the sweet, en-
thusiastic phrases of the idealistic and noble Gironde (i.e. the
moderate French revolutionist), but by the terrorists, by the
two-edged sword of word and deed, of Robespierre and Saint
Juste. In 1841 he calls himself a socialist "The idea of
socialism," he writes, "became for me the idea of ideas, the
being of beings, the problem of problems, the alpha and omega
of faith and knowledge." This socialism of his is still very senti-
mental and Utopian. It means to him a social order where
there be no rich and no poor, no kings and no subjects, but
where all shall be brothers. In his apocalyptic ecstasy he calls
it the time when "Christ will resign his power to the Father,
and the Father, Reason, will again reign but in a new heaven
and over a new earth." Having declared himself for socialism
he restlessly searches for the ways and means of its realization,
and here he approaches the reasoning of Marx in the solution
of the problem. He begins to understand the class nature of
society and to see that the new heaven and new earth lie
beyond the economic and social stage of capitalism, the stage
which his country was only approaching. "I know," he says,
"that Industry is the source of great evil, but I also know that
it is the source of great good to society. It is the last of evils
in the reign of capital, in its tyranny over labour."
CC
In embracing socialism, Belinsky begins also to revaluate
his cherished religious idea. Here, too, he dialectically negates
that which he formerly affirmed. "For me," he writes at this
period, "there is no way out to the Jenseits, into mysticism,
into all that which is the escape of poorly-endowed natures and
semi-depraved souls." He gave up the faith of his youth
which once sustained his turbulent soul, but we see him
return again and again to this old source of comfort. The
question of immortality particularly disturbed his restless
mind. Somehow he revolts against the idea of annihilation of
personality which he lauded as the superb product of nature.
The study of Feuerbach's Wesen des Christentums corroborated
his growing belief in the anthropomorphic nature of religion.

>>
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
Simultaneously he studied Comte's positive philosophy which
deepened his materialist convictions in spite of Comte's Neo-
Christianity. He says: "It is necessary to free science from
the phantoms of transcendentalism and theology, to show the
limitations of reason, in which its activity is fertile, to sever it
forever from everything fantastic and mystical; such will be
the new philosophy, but this Comte will not do." In this
he looked forward to dialectical materialism which at that
time just received its first formulation by the genius of Marx
and Engels.
Belinsky's dialectic negation of religion has been vividly
expressed in his famous controversial letter to Gogol, in
which he censures the great writer for his renegade attitude
towards religion. Gogol, the bitter critic of Russian feudal
society, turned at this time back to that religion, the escape from
which Belinsky was just celebrating. His letter, written in
1847, is his last word and testament on the question of the
Church and religion. It contains not a few prophetic state-
ments as we shall presently see. Gogol at the eve of his life
came to the conclusion that Russia's salvation lay in mystic
pietism and in fidelity to the Greek Orthodox Church. Gogol,
like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky later, believed the Russian people
to be profoundly religious, to whom a rationalist civilisation
would prove a dagger to the soul, and this reactionary opinion
made Belinsky rage, turning upon Gogol all his revolutionary
wrath :
CC
In your opinion, the Russian people are the most religious
in the world. This is a lie! The basis of religiousness is
pietism, reverence, fear of God. But the Russian pronounces
the name of God while scratching his .. Look closer and
you will see that it is by nature a profoundly atheist people.
It is still possessed of many superstitions, but there is no trace
of religiousness. Superstitions pass away with the achieve-
ments of civilization, but religiousness frequently accommo-
dates itself thereto : France is a good example. Here are
still many good Catholics among enlightened and educated
people, and many who have severed from Christianity still
•
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
believe in some kind of God. The Russian is not so. Mystic
exaltation is not a part of his nature; for this he possesses
too much common sense, clearness and definiteness of mind,
and in this is perhaps the immensity of his future historic
destiny. . . . Religiousness appears among us only in the
Nonconformist sects which are so different in spirit from the
mass of the people and so insignificant in number."
These words give food for thought. Perhaps the present
mass movement towards atheism among the Russian people is
the fulfilment of Belinsky's prophecy. In any case, his own
personality, with its extreme change from mystic religion to
revolting atheism, is quite symbolic of the intellectualist move-
ment which he inaugurated. We must now introduce some of
his brilliant contemporaries and pupils who will even more
corroborate our hypothesis that it was the abnormal conditions.
of Russia's development, with its overhanging heritage of
sterile orthodoxy, despotic autocracy and feudal servitude,
which produced such rebellious reactions as were witnessed
in Belinsky and in his generation of intellectuals.
A. I. Herzen (1812-1870) belongs to this constellation of
brilliant revolutionary thinkers and teachers of the Russian
people. As son of a rich and easy-going Russian nobleman he
received a liberal education. A French Jacobin immigrant
was one of his tutors and from him he first learned the meaning
of the French Revolution. He began early to read the French
philosophers of enlightenment. His father apparently sympa-
thized with free thought for he advised his son not to take
religion too seriously. By nature Herzen was profoundly
sensitive and serious in all that he did and therefore his break
with religion had its dramatic side.
The events of the Decembrist uprising deeply stirred him.
He writes: "The stories told about the insurrection, the trial,
the horrors in Moscow greatly shocked me. A new world
appeared before me which gripped my whole moral being.
I don't know how this came about but, understanding little
and very vaguely what it all meant, I felt that I am not on the
side from which the cartridges were fired and victory proclaimed.
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
I could not be on the side of prisons and chains. The execu-
tion of Pestel and his comrades completely awakened my soul
from its childish sleep." How deep these impressions were
may be seen from another reference, which he makes thirty
years later, to these Decembrist events: "The victory of
Nicholas over the Decembrists was celebrated in Moscow,
after the executions, by a solemn religious service in the centre
of the Kremlin. In the service participated all the Tsar's
family, the Senate, the ministers of State and the Guards.
Cannons were fired from the Kremlin walls. A boy of four-
teen, I was present at this divine service, and there, before the
altar stained by the bloody prayers, I swore to revenge those
executed men and give myself to fight this throne, this altar,
these guns. I did not revenge; the guards and the throne,
the altar and the guns, all are still there, but after thirty years
I stand under the same banner, which I have never deserted."
Thus we see Herzen become a revolutionist while yet in his
early teens. His hatred of the bloody Russian throne and its
altars deepened as he grew older. At the age of sixteen we
see him, with his equally ardent playmate and life-long comrade
in the struggle, Nicholas Ogarev, swear a solemn oath to
sacrifice their lives in the struggle for liberty. This solemn
act took place on the occasion of a walk through the woods on
the Sparrow Mountains, overlooking Moscow, where these
noble boys in the sight of the city, symbolizing their country,
could not but think of its woes, and swore to sacrifice them-
selves for its liberty. Such was the youthful Herzen.
Entering the Moscow University he soon became the leader
of the revolutionary students. From France at that time began
to penetrate the Utopian writings of Saint Simon and these
Herzen and his friends embraced as their new gospel and
became its ardent advocates.
Saint Simon was the author of the Outline of the Science of
Man and of The New Christianity. In his analysis he came to
the conclusion that it is impossible to equalize men who by
nature are most differently endowed. Therefore society
should be so organized as to give opportunity to all for develop-
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ing their abilities, an opportunity quite impossible under
conditions as they existed in modern civilization. Saint Simon
proposed to reform the existing social order by abolishing
hereditary political power and wealth, placing the government
in the hands of the wise and talented. There should be three
chambers: one of inventors, one of examination, and one for
executive purposes. In the first two the sovereignity should
be held by positivist philosophers, scientists, engineers and
artists, to the exclusion of the clergy which it was feared might
corrupt the sciences. The land, capital and the implements of
production should be owned the State. Reward for toil should
be differentiated with a view to stimulating initiative and pro-
duction. Since people are not equal by nature the tie of
solidarity between them must be a socialized religion, which
would stimulate service and help to overcome the existing
differences. Saint Simon was thoroughly convinced that
religion was the only means of inspiring leadership and
guaranteeing justice and honesty. In Christianity he believed
are those ethical and human values which could awaken the
nobler impulses in man and make him socially-minded. This
was the message of his New Christianity, completed shortly
before his death in 1825. His parting words were:
It was
thought that religion must disappear because Catholicism had
become enfeebled. This is a mistake: Religion cannot dis-
appear out of the world, it will only be transformed. . . . Do
not forget this . . . and remember that to do great things
one must be inspired."
(C
(6
Saint Simon's appeal suited the temper of Herzen and his
group. It removed many obstacles in the appreciation of
religion, for which Herzen had constant longings, and it gave
him a goal for which to struggle. Characterizing this new
outlook opened to him by Saint Simon, Herzen wrote : On
the one hand it meant the liberation of woman, her enlistment
into the common task, placing her faith in her own hands,
uniting with her as with an equal. On the other it meant the
justification of the flesh. Magnificient words embracing a
whole world of new relations between people, a world of
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
health, of spirituality, of beauty, a naturally moral world and
therefore morally pure." Many mocked over the liberation
of women, over the recognition of the rights of the flesh,
attaching to these words a filthy and low meaning. This was
due to the monastically depraved imagination, the fear of the
flesh and the fear of women. Good people understand,”
said Herzen," that the purifying baptism of the flesh is a
retreat of Christianity; the religion of life came to replace the
religion of death, the religion of beauty came to replace the
religion of flagellation, of emaciation from fasting and prayer.
The crucified flesh was resurrected and no longer ashamed of
itself; man attained a harmonious unity, he guessed that he
was a unified being and not a mechanical composition, like a
pendulum made of two different metals each resisting one
another; the enemy thus clinging to him disappeared.
(C
>>
Herzen became an enthusiastic neo-Christian socialist and
republican, preaching against all violence and degradation.
As a result, shortly after his graduation from the University,
he was arrested and exiled to the town of Vyatka in a remote
north-eastern province. The religious experience, which the
contact with Saint Simon had given him, now deepened under
the influence of isolation and loneliness. He gained the
friendship of an exiled Evangelical mystic, the famous architect,
A. L. Whitberg, designer of the original Cathedral of Christ
the Saviour in Moscow. Influenced by this exceptional man,
Herzen experienced his "second birth" into the life of the
spirit. At this stage we find him reading the gospels, the
works of Swedenborg and other mystical writers. His love
for the gospels never left him, even when, devoting himself
to revolutionary propaganda, he parted company with mystic
religion. The religious experiences of this period are reflected
in two unfinished dramatic plays written by Herzen in blank
verse; their subject is the conflict of two worlds. The first
play shows decaying Rome in conflict with the regenerating
power of Apostolic Christianity. Licinius, a rich young
Patrician, realizes the decadence of his people and of the
Roman nation; he abhors his class with its conflicts and slave-
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
exploitation; he dies but is brought to life by the regenerating
power of the Christian gospel. The other drama handles the
same theme, but in the period of the industrial revolution in
England; it is called “William Penn " and tells the story of
the regenerating power of the Quaker gospel in conflict with
decaying feudalism. There is much of useful autobiographic
value in these works of Herzen. He felt himself, like his
heroes Licinius and William Penn, a preacher of the new
regenerating gospel of Socialism. Herzen prophesied that it
would be Russia that would realize his vision of Socialism,
should Western Europe fail to do so. Driven into foreign
exile by the persecutions of the Tsar, Herzen continued to
preach his socialist gospel from abroad through two papers,
The Northern Star and the Bell, which he published in London
and which were smuggled into Russia in large numbers.
Through these media Herzen hoped to cast the light of the
social gospel into the darkness of his country and awaken his
slumbering countrymen.
Under the influence of Feuerbach's famous Wesen des
Christentums, the works of the German materialists, Moleschet
and Buechner, the Comtian positivist philosophy and the Dar-
winian evolutionary doctrines, he rapidly outgrew his early
pietistic mysticism. He became a severe critic of the Church
and a confessed atheist, in this respect following Belinsky and
other contemporary Russian revolutionists. Disappointed
with the revolutions in the west and the inconsistency of
bourgeois revolutionaries, who supported with one hand what
they broke with the other-" because," says Herzen, “they
are sorry for this feeble world, bewail and weep over it while the
world of the future slips through their fingers, fearing the
logical consequences, while others cannot understand it.
Almost all of them still stand on that shore where are the
palaces, the churches, the courts." Herzen hated these
institutions and sent out the cry to Russian intellectuals:
"To the people! To the people! "
The Church, at this time in servile obedience to the Tsarist
regime, sought every possible means of diverting the attention
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
of the masses from the revolutionary propaganda that aimed
at their emancipation. Herzen attacked their treasonous
behaviour to the people: "We cannot be silent witnesses,"
he writes, "seeing the dumb, down-trodden clergy sprinkle
holy water over the institution of chattel slavery, over the
militarized settlements and over every kind of execution,
blessing for two and a half centuries compulsory marriage
and burying, without protest, serfs who have been whipped
to death by their masters." To maintain the superstition of
the ignorant the Church announced new discoveries of miracu-
lous "uncorrupted saints." Herzen, outraged by the fraud,
asked why this idolatry and hypocrisy, since none believed in
the miraculous powers of the newly-made saints, neither the
Tsar, nor his ministers, neither the clergy nor the monks.
Thus not for these was all this staged; for whom, then, asked
Herzen, and answered:
(C
The peasant with his childlike soul will believe in miracles.
The poor, robbed by the nobility, cheated by the officials,
deceived by the emancipation act, exhausted from endless
labour, from inescapable poverty, the peasant will believe.
He is too crushed, too unhappy not to be superstitious. Not
knowing where to lay his head at heavy moments when human
needs ask for rest and for hope; surrounded by a pack of
ferocious enemies, he will come to drop a hot tear to the dumb
sarcophagous, to the dumb body of the saint, and by this
relic, by this sarcophagous, he will be deceived, he will be
comforted so as not to fall into other comforts. And you, the
spoilers, who have robbed the unfortunate of his very shirt,
you are not ashamed to use these means! You want to make
him a spiritual beggar, spiritually blind, pushing him into the
darkness of superstition. What servants of darkness you are,
what enemies of the people!"
This protest against the Church as an implement of deceit
illustrates best of all the position the honest revolutionary was
inevitably compelled to take towards organized religion. Had
he lived before the age of positive science, he would have become
a religious reformer like George Fox and William Penn, whom
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
he once made the heroes of his revolutionary drama. But no
banner of revolt had been raised in Europe in the name of
religion since the French Revolution. Organized religion
was in the exclusive control of the governing classes and in
conflict with modern science and therefore could not become
the vehicle of the new revolutionary message to the
masses.
M. A. Bakunin (1814-1876), a friend of Herzen and Belinsky,
was in many respects the most dynamic personality in the
gallery of Russian revolutionists at this period. He wrote a
great deal on the question of religion in relation to revolution
and his views have deeply ingrained themselves in the anti-
religious tradition of the Russian revolutionary movement.
Bakunin is therefore of exceptional interest for our special
purpose.
Born of an old, wealthy, aristocratic family, Bakunin en-
joyed a happy youth under the influence of an enlightened
father whom he continued to love and honour long after their
ways had parted. Bakunin was trained as an officer of artillery
and graduated from a military school in Petersburg. Having
no liking for the profession he resigned from the army, devoting
himself to the study of science and music which, as he says
himself, "always awakened in him religious emotions, a faith
in life and a desire to live." Early he came under the influence.
of the same Stankevitch that had inspired Belinsky to his
public mission. The remarkable character of this man
turned Bakunin's heart to the serious problems of life. "It
was impossible," writes Bakunin, "to live near him and not
feel oneself in a certain sense better and ennobled. In his
presence a low and trivial thought and base instinct seemed
impossible. Under his influence the most ordinary people
became significant." In the circle of Stankevitch, Bakunin
pursued the study of history and of German idealist philosophy,
particularly Schelling and later Fichte and Hegel. These
awakened in Bakunin the agitator propagandist. He began
to spread his newly-acquired philosophy with such skill and
ardour and persuasion that soon a group of young people
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
gathered about him who regarded him as their teacher, and
even the brilliant Belinsky for a time fell under his spell.
The study of Fichte's Anweisung zum seligen Leben gripped
Bakunin's sensitive soul. He was now about twenty-two years
of
age and readily responded to Fichte's appeal to the heroic,
to service, sacrifice and love. In a letter to his sister, he writes
under date of February, 1836: "I finally reached this goal, I
recognized the emptiness of these desires, I became conscious
that outside the spiritual world there is no true life, that it
cannot have another goal. This path may not be an easy one,
but it is worthy of man! . . . And so for the world I am an
insignificant creation, a zero, a teacher of mathematics, but for
myself, for my friends who understand me, I became much
more significant than before. I killed the petty egotism of
self-preservation, I shook off its prejudices, I am a man!
This religious experience left its lasting impression upon
Bakunin's character. His biographer, J. Steklov, though
himself an atheist, recognizes this. He says: One must
concede that this religious passion was not without influence
upon his further development, although it passed over into its
very opposite, becoming a militant atheism. In any case the
interest which Bakunin always revealed in questions of religion,
even when he made it his aim energetically to combat it,
probably had its roots in this period of his Moscow life."
,,
<<
To satisfy his craving for spiritual truth and freedom,
Bakunin decided to go to the Berlin University where Hegel
and his great contemporaries had taught. This was in 1839,
at the time when the despotism of Nicholas I was strangling
every free idea in Russia and widespread discontent prevailed
among the oppressed peasants and shackled intellectuals.
Bakunin's seismographic soul registered all this social unrest
and he left his country to find a weapon by which to combat
the evils of which he was becoming increasingly conscious.
In Berlin at this time the revolutionary wing of the young
Hegelians, of whom Ludwig Feuerbach was the moving spirit,
was shaping itself, and Bakunin joined them with great en-
thusiasm. He surprised his teachers and fellow-students by
j
I
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the daring of his mind and his courage in drawing the most
revolutionary consequences out of the philosophic premises of
Feuerbach's teaching. Writing of this transition, he says:
"I sought God in Man, in his freedom, and now I seek God
in revolution. I am blessed, if I shall be able even in part to
contribute to the emancipation of the Slavs, the emancipation
of my country; blessed am I if I shall be able to die for the
freedom of the Poles and the Russians." 1
Under the influence of the 1848 Revolution, Bakunin deve-
loped into a militant anarchist. His theory of society calls for
the negation of all authority and on this ground he comes into
conflict with the idea of God as the source of all authority.
From this premise developes his atheist doctrine: "The
Church and the State, these two are my bêtes noires." Not
that he spared any other institution which was controlled by or
served the interests of the State. Thus he denounces the
prostitution of science and learning: Doctrinally learned
vice is perhaps more dangerous than anything else. It
penetrates, as gradual poison, every thought and emotion, the
will, the heart and the mind of man, creating and authorizing,
in the name of the false as well as boasting word civilization,'
a theory of the most outrageous exploitation of the people."
((
Religion is collective insanity, so much the more powerful
because it is traditional and has penetrated into all the pores.
of the personal and social life of the people.” 2 Bakunin
frequently criticizes Voltaire's epigram: "If there were no
God, He should be invented," which he inverts: "If there is
a God, He should be destroyed." He traces man's progress
to his spirit of revolt. This he finds in the meaning of the
Biblical myth of the "Fall of Man" in the Garden of Eden.
It was his desire to assert himself, to free himself from the
damnation of real or imagined Gods or powers of nature, by
which revolt man escaped the animal realm and became man.
"By an act of disobedience and knowledge, i.e. by revolt and
<<
¹ From a letter to the Pole, Iliodor Storchevsky, written about 1848.
2 This and most of the following quotations are from Bakunin's God
and the State, 1918, Russian edition.
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
by thought, he began his independent human history and his
human development." If in spite of this man became possessed
of the spirit of submission to deity, it was because of the burden
of nature and its forces which he felt impotent to control. Then,
when class stratification began, Religion was made the imple-
ment of control and of enforcing submission to the governing
classes. To rid mankind of God it is necessary to free him of
the factors which created God. Religion is the product of
impotence against nature and against the organized despotic
powers of society. "There is but one remedy, the social
revolution."
Man has become a slave of God; hence, a slave of the Church
and of the State, since the State is sanctified by Religion.
"If God exists, then Man is a slave," concludes Bakunin.
“But man can and must be free; then God does not exist.
There is no escape from this dilemma, hence it is necessary to
choose." Bakunin makes his choice and devotes himself to
demonstrating in what way religion lowers and degrades the
people; how it belittles the mind, which should be a mighty
implement of power for their freedom; how it stimulates
cowardice, the chief cause of slavery; how it depraves human
toil, making it an attribute and a source of slavery; how it
kills human pride and dignity by declaring submissiveness and
meekness as virtues; finally, how it strangles the feeling of
brotherhood by the cruel sacrifice of animals and man.
Bakunin opposes the efforts of idealist philosophy to ennoble
God by attributing as divine all that which is worthy in man.
To do this, he says, "is to agree without protest that mankind
by itself is unable to create this, i.e. left to itself human nature
is poor, unjust, low and ugly." For this very reason, religion
is incompatible with true morality. Bakunin rejects God
and places his trust in nature and man, nature's superb product.
This he declares to be materialism and explains himself thus:
(C
We call material everything that exists and takes place in the
actual world, within man as well as without him; we call
ideal exclusively the mental activity of man; but since the
brain is but a purely material organization, its function is
r
123
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
equally material as the action of all objects together. It
appears therefore that what we call matter or the material
world does not exclude, but on the contrary includes, the ideal."
It is interesting to note how Bakunin explains his meta-
morphosis from extreme idealism to equally extreme material-
ism and atheism. He reverts to the Hegelian dialectic logic
and says:
Since the basis or the starting point of the material-
ist school is material, its negation must by all means be ideal.
Departing from the essence of the real world or from that which
in the abstract is called matter, materialism logically arrives
at actual idealization, i.e. in respect to man, at a complete and
final emancipation of society. Inversely, since the basis and
starting point of the idealist school is the ideal, by force of the
same cause, this teaching inevitably arrives at social materialism,
the establishment of crude despotism and mean, unjust ex-
ploitation in the form of the Church and the State . . . in a
word, in life you will always find idealists practically realizing
the lowest of material aims, whereas the materialist you will
find pursuing and realizing the most ideal aims and thoughts."
Bakunin concludes: "Everywhere religious and philosophic
idealism (in which the latter is but a more or less free inter-
pretation of the former) serves in our day as the banner of
material exploitation; whereas, on the contrary, the banner of
theoretic materialism, the red flag of economic equality and
social justice is raised by the practical idealism of the exploited
masses, dying from hunger but striving to realize the greatest
freedom and the human rights of each in the brotherhood of
all people on the earth. Who are then the real idealists?
Idealists not in the abstract but in life, not in heaven but on
earth? And who are the materialists?" Bakunin put the
cardinal question to the problem of Religion and Revolution
and he has given a clear answer. His arguments against
religion and the idealist philosophy have ever since been incor-
porated in the revolutionary anti-religious tradition and there
is little that can be added to his line of thought. Bakunin, the
arch-rebel and anarchist revolutionist, may equally be con-
sidered the major prophet of Russian militant atheism.
<<
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
A CONSPIRACY OF IDEAS
The first half of the 19th century in Russia terminated in
a widely-spread "conspiracy of ideas." This expression was
used by one of the members of the prosecuting committee to
which was referred the case of the Petrashevtsy, so-called after
N. V. Petrashevsky the leader of a group for the propagation
of radical ideas.
The revolutionary year 1848, that shook the thrones of the
kings and princes of Western Europe, frightened Nicholas I
and he undertook a search for the existence of any possible
conspiracy in Russia. As a result, in 1849, took place the
famous trial of the "Circle of Petrashevsky," charged with the
propagation of radical ideas destined to overthrow the existing
order in Russia. Sixty-three persons were tried and twenty-
one of these were sentenced to death, clemency being granted
to them by the Tsar a few moments before execution, when
already they had passed through the ordeal of the expectation
of death. The condemned men were driven to Siberian exile,
among them also the famous novelist, F. Dostoievsky. In this
manner Nicholas hoped to break the power of ideas in Russia.
Petrashevsky, like Stankevitch who inspired Belinsky and
Bakunin, gathered friends and visitors into his house to discuss
social philosophy and religion. The" Circle of Petrashevsky
was exceedingly democratic and in this lies its chief significance.
A generation before, when the Decembrists plotted the over-
throw of autocracy, they only admitted into their circles men
of high rank amongst the nobility. Not so in the circle of
Petrashevsky. Of the sixty-three persons arrested there was
not one representative of the upper society; they were teachers,
writers, petty officials, students, a few landlords and even
shopkeepers, in short a class of people who in the days of the
Decembrists were considered quite unfit to occupy themselves
with revolutionary ideas. In all it is estimated that the circle
of Petrashevsky, through the years of its existence, must have
brought some two thousand persons under its influence.
N. V. Petrashevsky (1821–1866), the son of a physician and
""
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
grandson of a priest, was a graduate of the Faculty of Juris-
prudence at the St. Petersburg University. Since 1841 and
until his arrest in 1849 he held a position in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, but his chief interest lay in the study and
propagation of advanced ideas. He embraced the teachings
of the French Utopian socialists, Saint Simon and Fourier, and
his house soon became the centre for propagating these and
other radical teachings. Petrashevsky was very eager to
educate his countrymen for the revolutionary changes which
were imminent and inevitable; he seized upon every oppor-
tunity to do so and was able to obviate the rigid censorship
which at the time made circulation of printed matter almost
impossible. Quite unique in this respect was his “Dictionary
of Foreign Words," written by himself and his friends. It
contained articles interpreting the various "isms" and also
biographical notes concerning philosophers. Thus, in the
article on the word naturalism, Petrashevsky interprets the
naturalist philosophy of Feuerbach; in the article on Neo-
Christianity, the teachings of Saint Simon; under the words
obscurantism, oracle, etc., he criticizes the superstitions of
religion; and under the word optimism he advances the
materialistic teachings of the 18th century. In this manner,
in the disguise of a reference book, radical ideas were spread
into ever-widening circles of Russian society. Petrashevsky
did not consider his mission to be political; he had no plans
for a revolutionary coup like that of the Decembrists. He
was above all a propagator of ideas and he believed that when
the time became ripe the leaders would appear and set up the
new social order.
He was, of course, critical of the Church and the institution
of religion generally. This was lamented by F. Dostoievsky
who could not so easily rid himself of his religious convictions,
though this did not save him from the death sentence and the
subsequent Siberian exile. The European revolutionary crisis
of 1848 hastened the doom of the Petrashevsky circle. With it
came to an end the epoch of the conspiracy of ideas which, as
we have shown, persistently and continually existed through-
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RELIGION AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
out the second quarter of the 19th century, producing such
brilliant and devoted personalities as Belinsky, Herzen, Bakunin,
Petrashevsky and many others. In this period the anti-
religious tradition firmly established itself and became more and
more distinctly atheistic. With the crushing of the Petra-
shevsky circle Siberian and foreign exile swallowed up another
generation of revolutionary thinkers, only to give way to a new,
more numerous, more democratic and more widely appreciated
group of intellectuals and political leaders. In the last quarter
of the century the Narodnik movement split into several
definite trends: the bourgeois-liberal, the anarcho-revolu-
tionary and the Marxian movements. All these, while differing
on questions of political and social programmes and tactics,
were nevertheless unanimous in their opposition to autocracy
and orthodoxy, and the anti-religious tradition of the 19th
century became permanently established in Russia.
In following the development of the anti-religious tradition
in Russia we saw, by example of such representative minds
as Belinsky, Herzen and Bakunin, how their revolutionary anti-
religious passion was but the antithesis of their former religious
passion, and how their immense spiritual energies had been
diverted from organized religion into the social channels of an
organized revolutionary movement, inspired by a messianic
and apocalyptic vision of an approaching cataclysm which was
to give birth to a new and better social order. The essentially
spiritual nature of the revolutionary movement is also the clue
to the understanding of its anti-religious passion and of
Communist atheism, as will become more and more evident in
the course of this study.
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CHAPTER VII
INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND
SEEKERS AFTER GOD
(C
THE generation of Russian intellectuals inspired by the teach-
ings of Herzen and Bakunin amongst others, went amongst
the people," preaching the gospel of liberation from the old
traditions, the old religion and the old economic and political
yoke. This movement attracted many young people and
intellectuals who, leaving their homes and studies went
amongst the common people with a gospel of liberation and
found on the part of the masses some occasional enthusiasm,
some curiosity, but on the whole, apathy, ignorance, gross
superstition and, above all, that abject poverty of peasants and
workers in spite of their continuous but inefficient toil. These
facts cast gloom and disappointment upon the youthful
enthusiasts.
What could be done? A mightier force than the verbal
message of revolt seemed necessary to remove those mountains
which pressed heavily upon the peasants. Those few intel-
lectuals who had been abroad and had witnessed the revolu-
tionary effect of industrialization and urbanization, and those
who had studied Marx, favoured the coming of the machine
into Russia, with its consequent proletarianisation of the
peasants, the new class stratification of the village, and the
rapid growth of the city bourgeoisie. Marxism became
popular amongst the more sober-minded Russian intellectuals
and there was considerable response also amongst industrial
workers. Socialism was becoming a mass movement. Those
of the intellectuals who did not grasp the logic of Marxism,
who for sentimental reasons could not rid themselves of the
romantic traditions of the Narodnik movement, became
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
desperate and turned to terrorist action, plotting the assassina-
tion of the Tsar, his hated ministers, and his chiefs of police.
The remnants of the Narodnik movement organized themselves
into groups for political action, such as the "Peoples Liberty
Party," which later developed into the large party of Socialist
Revolutionaries, which was popular among many intellectuals,
certain elements of the petty bourgeoisie and also found
response among a limited number of peasants and workers.
Other intellectuals, whose class interests restrained them
from joining the revolutionary movement, either settled down
to the ordinary routine of life or sought comfort in religion,
philosophy and art. This explains the popularity of such semi-
religious and philosophic cults as advanced by the Tolstoyan
Movement and the development of mystic and spiritual sects.
The intellectualist God-Seekers were tragic figures; dis-
appointed in the revolutionary movement, alienated from
Church Orthodoxy, full of doubts and yet eager for a faith
that might sustain them, they struggled desperately to find some
satisfactory solution to the eternal problem of “the meaning
and purpose of life." The outstanding figures amongst these
God-Seekers were Tolstoy and Dostoievsky. The demand for
a new, intellectually satisfactory religion, increased enormously
after the debacle of the 1905 Revolution. At this period even
a number of distinguished Marxists lost their scientific bearings
and revolutionary hopes and sought escape in religion, finally
reconciling themselves to the Church. Such renegades from
Marxism were Sergius Bulgakov and Nicholas Berdyaev.
Other Marxists and active revolutionists, like Lunacharsky and
Maxim Gorky, sought to reconcile religion with their revolu-
tionary aims; they became "God-builders," that is, they did
not want to return to the old obscure orthodoxy but sought to
create a new socialist religion which would preserve the values
of religion without the necessity of accepting the dogmas of
the Church.
THE CHURCH AND THE INTELLECTUALS
The estrangement from religion, which many of the intel-
129
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
lectuals felt, found no sympathetic response on the part of the
Church. It had no message for the modern age. This was
bewailed by many of the intellectuals. True enough there
was the Slavophil religious tradition with its idealization of the
Church, which appealed to some of the nationalistically-
minded Russians; but its feudal paternalism and its eulogy
of autocracy were repulsive to most intellectuals who sought
a more liberal regime for Russia. Nevertheless the contribu-
tion of the Slavophils to a reinterpretation of the Church must
not be overlooked and we must briefly consider it here.
A. S. Khomyakov (1804–1860) was the leading mind of
Slavophilism and its chief interpreter. He must not of course
be considered a revolutionary nor even a liberal; on the
contrary he wished to make revolution impossible in Russia
by arousing the national consciousness of the Russian people.
A representative of the feudal nobility, he was deeply rooted in
his native soil and his relation to the common people was a kind
of benevolent paternalism. As a student of German idealist
philosophy he was faced with the problem: is Russia a nation
and, if so, what is its individuality, what contribution has she
to make to human values and national ideas? The 18th cen-
tury was a transitional epoch in Russian national life, sym-
bolized in the removal of the capital from Moscow, the removal
of the heart of the nation to Petersburg, an artificial city created
on the outskirts of the nation and setting itself up in imitation
of Western civilization. Only after the defeat of Napoleon did
national consciousness awaken in educated Russians. The
Slavophils made the first effort to formulate the still vague
consciousness by giving it an independent ideology.
Where does Russia belong; to Europe or to Asia; or is it
an independent cultural union? This was a much debated
question in Russia, and Khomyakov and his friends answered
that Russia is the centre of the Slavic world and culture,
destined to gather together the Slavic races, uniting them
about a common language and religion and common social
ideas. Russian thought, they insisted, is essentially religious,
and the contribution of the Slavs will be to demonstrate to the
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
world the nature of true Christianity. A. N. Berdyaev, a
thorough student and contemporary ideologist, following the
Slavophil tradition, thus characterizes this movement:
"Slavophilism brought to conscious ideological expression
the eternal truth of the Orthodox East and the historical order
of the Russian land, uniting these organically. The Russian
land was for the Slavophils the bearer of Christian truth, and
the Christian truth was in the Orthodox Church. Slavo-
philism meant the exposition of Orthodox Christianity as a
special type of culture, as a special religious experience, differ-
ing from Western Catholicism and therefore creating another
life.” 1
The Church was considered a voluntary association of
brotherly love and of free common thought; the true society
which is not political, not authoritative, and yet a unity.
Here says Berdyaev is a peculiar organic democracy, a thirst
for Catholicity, a predominance of the unity of love over a
single authority, a dislike of the State, of formalism, of outward
guarantees, a predominance of inner freedom over the outer
forms, a paternal populism, etc." 2 The Slavophil idealization
of the Orthodox Church was of course a fiction; there never
existed a Church like that anywhere. The best proof is that
when Khomyakov wrote his famous treatise on the Orthodox
Church, the leading hierarchy of his own Church forbade the
publication of Khamyakov's book in Russia. It first appeared
abroad in the French language and was tolerated by the
authorities as good foreign propaganda, but was not to be known
by the Russian people. There was too much emphasis on
freedom, too little recognition of authority in Khomyakov's
teachings. His was essentially an anarchistic doctrine, which
suited perfectly the Slavic temperament of the time but could
not be tolerated by the authorities. It was considered as
dangerous as any French revolutionary doctrine. This will
be clear from the following outline of Khomyakov's ideas.³
The Church is first of all a living organism, a unity of love
2 Ibid., p. 13.
<<
¹ N. Berdyaev, A. S. Khomyakov, 1912, Russian, p. 9.
3 From Vol. II of his collected works (Russian).
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
and truth, a faith impossible to rationalize. There is no head of
the Church, neither spiritual nor secular. Christ is its only
head and none other is recognized. The Church is no authority
as God is no authority, as Christ is no authority, for authority
is something alien. It is not authority but truth and the life
of the Christian, his inner life, which matters. The Church
knows only brotherhood, recognizes no subjects. The unity
of the Church is voluntary; more precisely, unity is freedom
itself expressed in inner agreement. When this inner unity was
rejected, the freedom of the Church was sacrificed to arbitrary
artificial unity by outward means. In matters of faith any
compulsion is false and any coersion to obedience is death.
The mystery of moral freedom in Christ, and the unity of the
Saviour with rational creation, could be worthily revealed only
to free human reason and by the unity of mutual love. The
unity of the Church is nothing but free personal agreement.
Liberty and unity are the two forces to which is entrusted the
mystery of human freedom in Christ. The people heard the
preaching of love as a unity; but they forgot that love is a
divine gift by which the knowledge of unconditioned truth is
warranted to the people. In Scripture we must see not a dead
letter, not an external object, not an ecclesiastical or State
document, but the testimony and the word of the whole Church.
The Scripture is from us and therefore cannot be taken from
The history of the New Testament is our history.
These thoughts all testify to the one cardinal idea of Khom-
yakov's teaching that in the Church there should be no external
compulsion but that everything should be prompted by inner
impulse. The Church is a unity in love and freedom. Such
he imagined was the Russian National Church, as the expression
of the genius of the Russian people. Social relations should
be a correlative to this religious faith; the relation between
master and serf should be regulated by mutual voluntary
recognition. Therefore Khomyakov favoured the election of
landlords by the peasants, and prided himself that the peasants
had chosen his father to be their landlord. The city of God
on Earth was Holy Russia"; its traditions and its culture
us.
66
!
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
were sacred. The Russian people did not want authority,
they wanted only freedom and love. They did not want a
kingdom, they wanted only a Church.
This is pure anarchist doctrine. What the Slavophil social
philosophy recognized was not a dead State mechanism, but
a living social organism; it emphasized the people and ignored
the State. The Slavophils embraced the idea of autocracy,
not because they idolised the State but because they hated
political power and rejected it by turning it over to the Tsar
as a burden they themselves had no wish to bear. Autocracy
was to them an escape from political responsibility. The
Russian people, in the opinion of the Slavophils, refused any
guarantees by law, they had no need for them; State respon-
sibilities are contrary to their natural inclinations. Constitu-
tions, laws, etc., are needed only in conditions where the people
are ruled by conquerors and not where they have chosen their
own ruler, as the Russian people have in electing Michael
Romanov autocrat of all Russia. Political parties, parliaments,
and bureaucracies, all these institutions of government they
considered alien and unnecessary in Russia, which wanted to
live its own life unconcerned of any such responsibility. In
this manner they hoped Russia would become free from
political strife and the economic class struggle and would
demonstrate to the rest of the world what true Christianity
should be.
The Slavophil theocracy proved to be an Utopia. Russia
did not follow and could not follow its precepts. It did not
avoid the political and the class struggles. Rather it intensified
them, since the Tsarist regime made use of the Slavophil
ideology for its own selfish purposes and the Church, which
was idealized as an organism of love and freedom, was degraded
to a department for the policing of the conscience of the people
and keeping them in subjection to an outworn and obscure
economic, political and social system.
Half a century after the death of Khomyakov the Church
was further away from the Slavophil idea than ever before.
The Russian religious modernists who sympathized with
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Khomyakov's idea of the Church as a free organism of love and
truth could see nothing like it in the existing Church. Their
grievances briefly stated were: that the Church had an ascetic
view of life; that it despised the "flesh "as intrinsically evil
and opposed to the spiritual man. It split man in two, and
taught that in order to save the soul the body must be sacrificed.
Sinning," under this theory, meant the abuse of the body in
lustful unrestrained living, and "saving the soul" meant
despising the world and mortifying the flesh." Either way
meant some hurt to the body.
1
One of the able contemporary apologists ¹ of the Russian
orthodox point of view says:
"Asceticism is the foundation of historical Christianity. It
is its principal peculiarity, it is its pillar of truth, and in Russia
it has received a particular emphasis. . . . In asceticism, in
the merging of the body into the mystery of Christ, in this
beautiful sorrow lies the true life of a Christian; besides such
mode of life he desires no other, for his kingdom is not of this
world. Death and the Russian soul are inseparable.
Christianity, particularly contemporary Christianity, is ex-
clusively construed upon the idea of death, and if there were
no death, there would be no Christianity. The Church could
not receive the intellectuals and unite with them, for this would
have meant to betray its eternal traditions, it would have meant
paying tribute to the prince of this world." 2 This frank state-
ment of the position of the Church lifts the curtain upon the
religious tragedy of Russia's intellectual class.
The Russian religious thinkers-who could not accept the
traditional ascetism of the Church, but who craved a religion
of abundant life, a religion of joy and harmony, a religion of the
unity of man-were hopelessly at odds with a Church which
at its best was willing to wink at the flesh and graciously forgive
it, but never sanctify, never harmonize it with the spirit.
A further grievance of the intellectuals was that the Church
discouraged the efforts of the social reformer who wished to
see Christ's Kingdom established on earth. The Russian
¹ Zakrzhevsky's Religion, Russian, 1913.
? The italics are mine.
(6
(C
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
Church regarded the world as hopelessly lost; its message
was to flee the world, save one's soul, and prepare for the
kingdom in heaven. Because of this it frowned on worldly
learning, art and science as anti-Christian and thus deepened
the gulf between the intellectuals and the Christian Church.
What is the meaning and purpose of life? This was
the great issue before thinking Russians. It became the
pivot around which questions of theism and atheism, in-
dividualism and socialism turned. The young men and
women of the universities sought a field of service, of sacrifice,
of self-expression. To a certain extent the successive revolu-
tionary movements in Russia were somewhat analogous to the
religious revival movements in England and America. Young
men and women, often of noble and wealthy families, broke
away from home ties and society privileges and went among the
common people, suffering persecution from State and Church
and the ingratitude of the ignorant and superstitious peasants
whom they sought to benefit.
These revolutionary revivals were regularly condemned by
the Church and crushed by the brute force of the Russian
autocratic regime until it finally destroyed itself during the
World War and the great Revolution.
Each defeat of the revolutionists was followed by spiritual
depression and general disappointment and expressed itself in
all kinds of religious and moral perversion. The more mysti-
cally inclined drifted into extreme religious individualism and
mysticism; others turned cynic, despising the world and their
own spiritual consciousness. These periods of depression
were also characterized by moral decadence and general social
disintegration.¹
The moral decadence of the Russian intellectuals reached
its climax after the failure of the revolution in 1905, following
1 The spiritual loneliness and moral despair after the failure of the 1905
revolution showed itself in the increase of suicides amongst university
students: in 1902 there were 10 cases; in 1904 (the year of revolution),
20 cases; in 1906 (the beginning of reaction) there were 71 cases; in
1907 (the growth of reaction) there were 160 cases; and in 1908 (the
climax of reaction) there were 237 cases.
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the debacle of the Russo-Japanese War. Feeling themselves
impotent to obtain political and economic freedom, Russian
youth rose in revolt against the moral law. The philosophy of
this revolt was given them by Artsybashev in his sensational
novel Sanine, which appeared in 1907. Artsybashev, speaking
through Sanine, ridiculed the struggle for political rights and
advocated individual happiness through unrestrained gratifica-
tion of desire. He considered it superfluous to have any
theory of life, or to be guided by any principle, or to ask about
God, or to have any regrets or twinges of conscience. Drunken-
ness and adultery were nothing to be ashamed of, and there
was no such thing as sin. Love of strong drink and the lust
for women were manly and natural passions, and being natural
could not be wrong. Christianity, he claimed, teaches that
man must live contrary to his natural instincts, and therefore
"Christianity has played an abominable role in history, and
the name of Jesus Christ will for some time yet oppress humanity
like a curse." This immoral anarchism was immediately put
into practice by the intellectual youth. Certain young men
and women were invited into societies for "unrestrained grati-
fication of natural desires," and speakers in the Duma alluded
to this situation as "sanine-morality," which the Government
did not suppress because Sanineism was not politically danger-
Few only remained faithful during these years of trial,
and upon these faithful lay the obligation of becoming the
leaders of a new religious revival which repeated itself with
every new generation.
ous.
In defeat the intellectuals turned to self-analysis, to self-
abnegation and despair, or to the messianic-apocalyptical hope
of a better world to come.
The Church in Russia either stood aside or was openly
hostile to these successive romantic awakenings amongst its
intellectual youth, which was destined to provide the future
leadership of the New Russia. No wonder that when finally
the Revolution succeeded, little sympathy was shown to the
Church by the leaders of the Revolution. During this period
of the prostitution of the Church by the State there were but
paketu.
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INTELLECTUALIST GÖD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
few priests who lifted their voices in warning, and these were
quickly silenced by the all-powerful hierarchy, so the Church
remained deaf to the spiritual need of the age.
Among the few prophetic personalities of the Church it is
no more than just to mention Father Gregory Petrov, a remark-
able man with a clear prophetic vision. He entered the priest-
hood out of conviction, not belonging to the clerical caste,
from which the Russian priesthood was generally recruited.
His parish was in a Petrograd manufacturing district. Moved
with compassion for his poor parishioners he commenced to
preach a social gospel, and the common people and some in-
tellectuals flocked to hear him. He was powerful and fearless
as a speaker and a writer, and his religious tracts and periodicals
were widely read. Some of the courtiers took an interest in
him and called him as instructor to certain members of the
Imperial family. He did his utmost to convice those in power
of the need of thorough reform, but found no response.
Then he returned to the people, but the hierarchy of the
Church had already decided to silence him. He was to be
tried for heresy and disloyalty to the Church. Knowing that
he could expect no justice from the clerical court, he wrote an
open letter to his Archbishop, a remarkable document which
gives in brief the message he had fearlessly proclaimed, a
message which has not lost its significance to the Church even
to this day :
"We have to-day, after nineteen centuries of preaching,"
he wrote, "individual Christians, separate persons, but no
Christianity; there is no Christian legislation; our customs
and morals are no longer Christian; there exists no Christian
government. It is strange to speak of the Christian world.
The mutual relations of the various people are altogether con-
trary to the spirit of the gospel; the most Christian States
maintain millions of men for mass butcheries, sometimes of
their neighbours and sometimes of their own citizens.
<<
To justify these monstrous butcheries the very soul of
the mystified population is sapped away. The same butcheries
are erected into a science. They are the object of the military
K
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
art, the art of killing. In what way are these relations of
Christian people distinct from the relations of the people of
pagan antiquity. .
CC
The ruling regular clergy, with its cold, heartless, bony
fingers, has stifled the Russian Church, killed its creative
spirit, chained the Gospel itself, and sold the Church to the
Government. There is no outrage, no crime, no perfidy of
the State authorities which the monks who rule the Church
would not cover with the mantle of the Church, would not
bless, would not seal with their own hands. What power would
the voice of the Church possess were it raised in genuine
Christian words, it if should speak them to the rulers and to
the people, to revolutionists and to reactionaries, if it should
speak to the whole country! Such words would become the
voice of the eternal Gospel truths addressed to the conscience.
of the country. They would chime above the thunders of
revolution, above the clamour of execution, like the voice of
a church bell above the howling of the tempest.
"In the Church the creative power of truth became withered,
dried and anæmic; separated from life, the thought of the
Church was condemned to turn about in a world of abstract
dogma and theological discussions. . God was reasoned
about without being introduced into life itself. A sort of
special atheism was created, practical atheism. Certainly in
words and thoughts the existence of God was recognized, but
live activity went forward as if it was not so, as if God was only
an abstract word, a sound without meaning."
•
•
The religious tragedy of the Russian intellectual class has
been understood by its best literary geniuses and philosophers:
Gogol, Dostoievsky, Tolstoy, Soloviev, Merezhkovsky, Ber-
dyaev, Rosanov, Alexander Block and many others, who were
deeply religious men. Their literary works tell the story of
their spiritual struggles and of their almost desperate search
for God and for the meaning and purpose of life. They were
called at times the "God-wrestlers and Seekers after God."
Few reconciled themselves to the historical Church. The
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T
►
INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
majority looked either towards a social theocracy which would
follow some world cataclysm, or towards the invisible Church
of a universal Christian civilization.
F. Dostoievsky is without question the most dramatic per-
sonality in this company of God-seekers. He found God by
way of Gethsemane. As previously mentioned he was con-
demned to death for associating with a secret society of liberal
men of letters, and actually lived through the agonies of death,
the sentence being commuted to Siberian exile only a few
moments before execution. He knew how to appreciate the
religion of sorrow, the mystery of the death of Christ, and
the crucifixion of self for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
He knew this aspect of the Russian religion and he loved it.
But he also knew the other side. The struggles of the Russian
soul for the fullness and joy of life were not alien to him. He
himself lived through the fearful conflict of the flesh and the
spirit. He knew the intellectual difficulties of the Russian
student, the aspirations of his mind and the cravings of his
heart. The heroes of his great novels are all God-seekers and
God-wrestlers; they speak his mind, and at the same time
introduce to us the various religious and intellectual types of
the Russian people.
CC
There is Kirilov (hero of the novel, The Possessed), a typical
God-wrestler in revolt against God and the established order
because life is pain and fear and the Christian God is a God of
pain and death. Kirilov cannot accept this and strikes at this
god and this life for the sake of freedom and the life of joy :
Life is pain, life is terror, and man is unhappy," he cries.
"Now all is pain and terror. Now man loves life, because he
loves pain and terror, and so they have done according. Life
is given now for pain and terror, and that's the deception.
Now man is not yet what he will be. There will be a new
man, happy and proud. For whom it will be the same to
live or not to live, he will be the new man. He who will
conquer pain and fear, will himself be a god." Yet Kirilov is
not anti-religious and not a blasphemer, as may appear on the
surface. He says when questioned about prayer: "I worship
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
:
everything. Do you see that spider creeping on the wall? I
look at him and am thankful to him that he creeps." His
religion was something of a homotheism, a deification of man,
of the abundant life. It was a protest against the humiliation.
of sickness and death, rather than be subject to which he kills
himself. Kirilov is not an imaginary nor isolated character
among the Russians; we shall recognize some of his charac-
teristics among such Russian "Neo-Christians " as Merezh-
kovsky, Berdyaev and Rosanov.
Religion to Dostoievsky was a necessity of life, a super-
natural power which gave to life a meaning, in spite of its
contradictions, its sufferings and death. Dostoievsky did not
trust reason, he trusted the heart, and no one could read the
secrets of the human soul so well as he.
In his Brothers Karamazov he portrays the principal
characteristics of his people. The Karamazov family is
symbolic of the moral and religious history of the Russian
people. The father Karamazov is a carnal brutish fellow;
his sons are typical of the Russia previous to the Revolution.
Dmitry the eldest is reckless, passionate, yet repentant at
heart. Ivan, the second son, is thoughtful, sceptical, knows
much but is inactive; he is always asking the eternal question
of the meaning of life, but finds no answer, a typical pre-revolu-
tionary intellectual. He has reasoned himself out of religion
and out of morality, turning the God-man into a man-God.
Dostoievsky shows how this pure intellectualism may become
amoralism among his people. Ivan takes great pleasure in
teaching his atheistic ideas to his valet, Smerdyakov, which
finally lead the latter to crime. Smerdyakov, following the
reasoning of his master, says: Since there is no God and no
immortality, it behoves modern man to take the place . . . and,
if it be in his interest, light-heartedly to leap over the former
moral barriers of the former man-slave; for God there exists
no law! Where God is, he owns the place. Hence where I
I am first. . . . All is permitted. That is the end of it."
And he light-heartedly kills his old master who stood in the
way of his interests.
am,
CC
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
Dostoievsky firmly believed that the Russian people were
unable to live without God, that no reasoning, no sin, no crime,
could crush their religious sentiment. The characters in his
novels who profess atheism are always unhappy creatures, and
either end their lives by suicide or insanity, or repent and are
reconciled to God.
Dmitry, the elder of the brothers Karamazov, when inno-
cently accused of the murder of his father and sentenced to go
in chains to the horrible prisons of Siberia, cries out :
"Oh,
yes, we shall be in chains and there will be no freedom, but
then, in our great sorrow, we shall rise again to joy, without
which man cannot live nor God exist, for God gives joy: it's
His great privilege—a grand one. What should I be
underground there without God? If they drive God
from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground. One
cannot exist in prison without God; it's even more impossible
than out of prison. And then we men underground will sing
from the bowels of the earth a glorious hymn to God, with
Whom is joy. Hail to God and His joy! I love Him !”
The youngest of the brothers, Aloesha, is healthy in body
and in mind. He loves the Church and its sages. He wavers
between the monastic vow and the life of action. Finally he
abandons the gloomy atmosphere of the monastery, his instinct
tells him that the future is not in denying life, but in asserting
it. He leaves, but Dostoievsky does not tell what becomes of
him. With his artistic instinct he sensed that a new era was
opening in the history of Russia, in which the dominant type
will be men like Aloesha, healthy in body and in mind, with an
iron will creating their own destiny by building the kingdom of
God here on earth and not by seeking it in dank cloisters
behind the walls of medieval monasteries. One could continue
the Karamazov story and, without violence to Aloesha's
character, develop him into a representative type of contem-
porary young Russia. Dostoievsky did not and could not do
this, therefore he left Aloesha's story unfinished.
It is futile to ask how Dostoievsky would have reacted to the
social revolution. One thing is certain, that many of the
•
141
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Excent
J. Stalin
things for which he strove the revolution has accomplished.
He sought justice for the down-trodden and insulted people;
the social revolution has established this justice. It broke
down the humiliating class barriers; it abolished the filthy
slums, breeding-ground of crime and poverty; it made toil
honourable and the workers masters of their own destiny.
On the other hand, the revolution exposed the myth of the
Russian people as the "God-bearers" bowing in servile
submission and looking for relief in an unknown beyond, as
Dostoievsky seems to have expected them to do. On the
contrary the people smashed their old gods and revolted against
submission to any master here or beyond.
Dostoievsky's ideal Christian is his Idiot; an epileptic, like
Dostoievsky himself; sweet-tempered, an incarnation of
beauty and holiness. "Just as a mother is happy when she
sees the first smile of her nursling, so God experiences joy every
time when, from the light of heaven, He sees a sinner raise to
Him a fervent prayer." Such language is peculiar to his Idiot.
Folks who came to be amused by him and to scoff at him,
departed in a mood of prayer. His simple life without pride,
deceit, revenge, or ambition, was a wonderful synthesis of
beauty and prayer. Russia is no place now to breed such
saintly idiots. But it does remove the conditions which
necessitated people living a life of deceit and revenge. Dos-
toievsky felt deeply the corruption within the Church, yet he
realized an imperative need for it as a bond of the spiritually-
minded and as a means of saving the State and Society from
disintegration. The Church and the common people were to
Dostoievsky almost synonymous. He believed that they had
the kingdom of God within them and would keep alive an
unsophisticated idea of God. In this also he was largely
mistaken. There are no signs that the Russian masses are so
God-conscious. At least not in this generation, bred in the
struggle of the Revolution.
Dostoievsky abhorred dogmatism and clericalism. He
clung to Christ not because of any categorical imperative or
necessary principle in a system of thought. Christ was to him
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
the giver of life, the great liberator from sin, and the founder
of the Church as a spiritual kingdom. In a letter to a friend
he says:
If somebody should prove to me that Christ is
outside the Truth, if it actually should appear that the Truth
is outside Christ, nevertheless, I should prefer to stay with
Christ rather than with the Truth." No common revolu-
tionary would agree with him, unless he substituted the word
Communism" for the word "Christ."
C
To-day, Dostoievsky is above all the spokesman of that
remnant of the old Russian intellectual class which lives either
in exile in various parts of the world and feel that they are
atoning for the historical sins of their class, or live under the
proletarian dictatorship deprived of their former privileges.
Of these many have accepted the social revolution and see in it
an opportunity for unselfish service to the toiling people.
They do not mourn the loss of their wealth and privileges, and,
like their teacher, Dostoievsky, they have reconciled themselves
to the Revolution through suffering. Many also have returned
to the Church, and to-day the old enmity between the Church
and the non-communist intellectuals has ceased.
THE NEO-CHRISTIANS
The religious tragedy of the intellectual class, which Dostoi-
evsky experienced in his own life and which was reflected in
the lives of the heroes of his great novels, manifested itself at
the beginning of this century in an open religious movement,
which some of its critics labelled the " Neo-Christian
Neo-Christian " move-
ment. It had two distinct trends: (1) individualistic, cul-
minating in religious anarchism, and (2) apologetic, developing
finally into religious socialism.
Merezhkovsky, Berdyaev and Rosanov are the brilliant repre-
sentatives of the individualistic trend. S. Bulgakov was the
sole Christian socialist amongst these intellectualist seekers
after God. A former Marxian professor of political economy,
under pressure of the disillusionments of the 1905 Revolution,
he painfully retraced his way from Marxism to idealism, seeking
to reconcile the aims of socialism with the Christian gospel.
,*
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
At the same time Bulgakov advocated the separation of the
Church from the State and, when this was finally accomplished
through the Bolshevik revolutionary decree, he signified his
welcome of the Church's emancipation by entering its service
as a priest, since when Bulgakov has become more mystical in
his outlook and seems to have abandoned his one-time dream
of a Christian socialist movement in Russia.
1
D. S. Merezhkovsky ¹ is a typical pre-revolutionary Russian
intellectual, a poet and an individualist, abhoring the utili-
tarianism of modern industry, science and art as much as the
commonness and mediocrity of the social democratic movement,
the asceticism and spiritual dullness of the Church, and the
moral and religious nihilism of his own intellectual class. In
utter despair at the spiritual and cultural bankruptcy of modern
civilization he leaps into the unknown and becomes an ardent
seeker after God, a maker of a new religious philosophy.
In telling the story of his spiritual bankruptcy, he says:
"We come to the end of the historical highway; to go further
is impossible, but we know that when history ends then
religion begins. At the edge of an abyss we naturally and
inevitably acquire thoughts of wings, of flight, of a super-
historical way, religion." He is conscious that his search for
God, for a religion, is as yet a part of his egotism, a supreme
desire to save himself from a life of despair and eternal death.
He knows it and fervently prays to God to give him a heart of
love for all mankind. During this period of struggle for a new
life he wrote a number of lyrics, heart-rending prayers all of
them. To quote one stanza :
"I am frightened for I have loved no one all my life;
Is it possible that my heart shall be dead forever?
Give me strength, O Lord, to love my brother ! "
1 To the English reader he is known through his critical character-
study, Tolstoy and Dostoievsky, a book which has received considerable
attention among students of Russian character and literature; other
works in Russian from which I quote are: Revolution and Religion, Not
Peace but the Sword, The Last Saint, The Coming Serf, The Struggle for
Doctrine, About the New Religious Functionings, etc. He now lives abroad,
having been unable to reconcile himself to the Soviet regime.
•
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
In his desperate struggle for a way out of his spiritual dark-
ness he knocks at the door of the Church. In 1902 he initiated
the founding of the Religious and Philosophical Society.
He called upon his fellow intellectuals to be reconciled to the
Church, to come and learn from it. But these efforts failed.
He complained that the Church did not understand them, that
it had no message for them. When the teachers and prelates
of the Church and the God-hungry intellectuals met, they talked
in languages strange to one another. Says Merezhkovsky:
<<
From old habit the Church saw in us, people from the
world, only unbelievers whom they needed to convert. But
we, or at least some of us, believed not less than all these monks
and priests. For us faith was a wonder, to them almost
wearisome; to us a depth of mysticism, to them a positive
standard; to us a holy feast, to them a week-day; to us a holy
vestment which we did not dare to wear, to them an old every-
day robe. The words of the Holy Scriptures, which sound to
us like the thunders of the holy mountain, were to them at best
mechanically learned texts of the catechism, with a meaning
like the rattling of a counting board or hammerings upon a
soundless keyboard. We desired that the face of Christ
should be like the shining sun in its full power, and they were
contented with a tarnished old ikon in which none could
detect real features. They could not understand that
we did not wish the Church to pardon the sinful flesh but
instead to bless and sanctify the body." Thus the historical
Church proved a disappointment to Merezhkovsky's intel-
lectuals. It had no actual contact with real life and seemed
surrounded by a Chinese wall of the past. Its pretended
asceticism, which considered sex at its best as a necessary evil
and not as a revelation of God, was particularly repulsive to the
intellectuals. They knew from experience how degrading an
influence it had upon morality, and so Merezhkovsky set out
to formulate his own religious doctrine. He felt the need of
doctrine, which may seem strange to Western intellectuals, who
are accustomed to a non-dogmatic point of view in religion.
But Merezhkovsky is a Russian intellectual, and as a Russian
•
-
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
intellectual he cannot act unless he is guided by a clearly-
defined principle. He called doctrine a diamond-edged sword.
Present-day Russian Christianity seemed to him something
like a tomb of Christ. He called it a sterile religion. He
abhorred asceticism, which he believed incompatible with the
Christian message. Christ had risen not only in the spirit but
in the body. Hence the ultimate mystery of Christianity is
not the separation of body and soul, but the union of the body
and the soul into sacred harmony. "If the flesh," argues
Merezhkovsky, "is the absolute impurity, a negation of God
and the pure spirit, why then was Christ, the Word, manifested
in the flesh? Why the resurrection of the body? Why the
sacrament of the body and the blood? . . . The Word which
was made flesh and dwelt amongst us is a revelation of the very
essence of God, incarnated in the world, and becoming im-
manent in the world." He believes that the conflict between
the flesh and the spirit, between individualism and socialism,
can be solved through the Christian idea of the Trinity. To
him the Trinity corresponds to three Kingdoms, the Kingdom
of the Father, the Kingdom of the Son (New Testament),
and the Kingdom of the Spirit, which unites these three king-
doms into one. In the Kingdom of the Father, truth was
revealed as the power of God, in the Kingdom of the Son truth
was revealed as love, in the coming Kingdom of the Spirit love
is revealed as liberty. He believes this doctrine of the Trinity
solves the unbelievable metaphysical dualism of flesh and spirit,
of heaven and earth, of the world and God. The opposites
become one through the metaphysical interpretation of the
Trinity. Merezhkovsky looks forward toward an apocalyp-
tical Church, a Church which Christ will gather round himself
at his second coming, which may appear outwardly anarchistic,
inwardly socialistic, but in its synthesis will be the unlimited
liberty of the individual held together in the congregation by
the unlimited ties of love. By the aid of this dogma Merezh-
kovsky hoped to give the intellectuals a metaphysical working
hypothesis for religious action and social expression.
When Merezhkovsky took the thorny path and went forth
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
<<
seeking God," he believed that there existed two truths: a
Christian truth about heaven and a pagan truth about the
earth. The ideal religion of the future, he thought, would
unite these two truths. But before he had gone very far he
began to realize that the hope for unity of Christ and Anti-
christ was a blasphemous lie. "I learned," he says,
"that
both truths, that of heaven and that of earth, have been already
united in Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, in the
same Christ witnessed by Catholic Christendom, that in Him
alone is not only the perfect, but the ever-growing truth, and
that there shall be no other except in Him.” His
voluminous works which, he believes, in spite of their seeming
variety, are but links in one chain and have but one purpose,
he dedicates to that generation of Russians "who will under-
stand that Christianity is not only a thing of the past, but that
it exists now and will exist in the future; that Christ is not only
the truth of the past and the present, but an endlessly growing
truth; that the liberation of Russia and the liberation of the
world cannot be realized except in the name of Christ."
1
N. Berdyaev ¹ is another of the leading " Neo-Christians" of
modern Russia. Like Merezhkovsky he turned to religion
because in life, in the whirlpool of modern civilization, he could
find no sense. Science and the materialistic philosophy which
dominated the minds of the intellectuals at the beginning of
this century could not satisfy the religious cravings of his
sensitive, self-conscious soul. I need religion," he confessed,
"because I want to live eternally, I want to assert my personality
in the common life. I want to identify myself with the world
unrestrained, and not by fatal necessity.
<<
رد
Like Merezhkovsky, he became disappointed in historical
Christianity which, by its ascetic view of life, has disrupted the
harmony of body and spirit, of the individual and society. His
hope is riveted on the second coming of Christ, which, unlike
¹ N. Berdyaev's principal works are: The Philosophy of Liberty, Sub
specie aeternitatis, The Spiritual Crisis of the Intellectual Class, The Meta-
physics of Sex and Love, Christ and the World, The New Medievalism, The
Russian Revolution. He lives abroad and is actively engaged in anti-
Soviet propaganda.
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Merezhkovsky, he understands mystically. The spirit of
Christ, he believes, will establish the harmony of body and
spirit, of the individual and society. It will also emancipate
the creative impulses in man which now are fettered by a false
materialistic determinism and a wrong social order. As much
as the democratization of society he wishes to see the aristocra-
tization of the individual. He says: "I believe that a spiritual
aristocracy is possible in a democratic society, and it will have
little in common with the trend of political and social stan-
dardization. It must be an aristocracy which raises itself
above all class and group morality and will give new impulses
for further progress; without such a class there would be
stagnation and the rule of the herd."
There can be no spiritual aristocracy, however, as long as
the mind of man is fettered by philosophical, ecclesiastical and
moral tradition. Ethical ideals, he contends, must be free
from ecclesiastical social control. The first condition of
spiritual and ethical progress is profound respect for the
spiritual man; it is liberty. The common, everyday morality
must be overcome by a new religious regeneration, which by
its very nature is above every code of morals.
The new religious consciousness is attracted as much by
Calvary as by Olympus. We are drawn," he says, "not only
by the suffering God who died at the cross, but also by the God
Pan, the God of earthly elements, the God of the joys of life,
by the old Goddess Aphrodite, the Goddess of plastic beauty
and earthly love." The new religious consciousness craves
for a synthesis of Olympus and Calvary; it desires the fullness
of life; it wishes to unite the opposing poles of the religion of
suffering and the religion of joy and beauty.
This synthesis Berdyaev hopes to see realized in the messianic
Church, which is to be a free theocracy headed by the returned
Christ. "We seek a Church," he concludes, "which will
embrace the fullness of life, all of the world's experience which
has proved of actual value in history. Outside the walls of
this Church should be left nothing except non-existence.
Inside the Church should be all our values, all that we have
CC
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
gained by suffering in the world, all our love, all our thoughts
and poetry, all our creativeness which so far has been excluded
by the historical Church; all our great men, all our elevating
impulses and visions, and all which heretofore was thought of
as only transcendental."
In this connection, Berdyaev's relation to Communism is of
particular interest. He concedes that in Communism there
are many truths and "only one untruth," which, however,
he thinks "outweighs all the truths and spoils them."1 Now
what are the many truths and what is the one untruth? Ber-
dyaev we must remember was once a Marxist and hence knows
something of the Communist theoretic background, and we
must give him justice in that, for all his dislike of the Bol-
sheviks, he credits them with some very important verities.
He first indicates some negative traits such as the Communist
criticism of the falsehood of bourgeois capitalist civilization with
its profound contradictions, its degenerate pseudo-Christianity,
its miseries, exploitation of weaker nations, wars, etc.
Among its positive truths he emphasizes:
1. That of their new social order the Communists are
making a working society with equal opportunity for the toilers
to participate in cultural life;
2. That the Communists emphasize that man should not
exploit man, nor class exploit class, and "if any man will not
work, neither let him eat ";
3. That the political machinery of the Communists repre-
sents man's real economic needs and interests and therefore is
arranged on a basis of profession and labour;
4. That their political life goes hand in hand with a complete,
consistent philosophy of life: "for politics without a soul,
without some great idea, cannot enliven the souls of men ";
5. That their theory and practice are being united in some
all-embracing, complete type of culture and life;
6. That the elite are serving the social whole;
¹N. Berdyaev, The Russian Revolution, English edition, p. 54, c.f.
PP. 77-79.
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
7. That the Communist organization is a supernational
organization overcoming national selfishness, isolation and war.
Thus Communism has " a complete design for reconstruct-
ing the world's life, in which theory and practice, thought and
will, are at one." In short, it has that which organized
religion and western bourgeois society have so far been unable
to produce.
On the debit side of Bolshevism, Berdyaev records but one
accusation which he considers outweighs all the above indicated
credits . . . it is their rejection of God: "the social collective
which receives divine honours steps into the place of both God
and man.”1 This Berdyaev considers an unpardonable sin
since," in reality Communism is highly spiritual and idealist," 2
but it sacrifices the individual for the group. Worst of all :
"Communists do practise their truth and that fact they can.
always oppose to Christians." This sacrifice of the individual
to "social collectivity," Communism's "new divinity," Ber-
dyaev asserts is a denial of the "living God," and is a sin that
cannot be forgiven. Therefore he rejects Communism.
He proposes to oppose it by an integral renascent Christianity
which would" abandon the support of capitalism and social
injustice." It would seem that he pleads for a Christian Com-
munism; actually he does not. His social ideal is feudal,
medieval, aristocratic, and his plea for the individual in the
name of Christianity is the plea of an æsthete, and aristocrat
abhoring the democracy of Communism. He says: "Christi-
anity is the only basis on which a solution can be found for the
painful conflict between personality and society, which Com-
munism resolves in favour of society, completely crushing
personality. And it is also the only basis on which a solution
can be found for the no less painful conflict between the aristo-
cratic and democratic principles in culture, resolved by Com-
munism in favour of completely overthrowing the aristocratic
principle."
"3
The aristocratic individualism of Berdyaev forces him to
3 Ibid., p. 94.
¹ Ibid., p. 83.
2 Ibid., p. 85.
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
turn against the spiritual and cultural mediocrity of bourgeois
society; in this respect he sympathizes with the proletarian
revolution which has made an end of capitalism. Neverthe-
less he cannot reconcile himself to the Communist ideal which
denies the individual for the good of the group. Erroneously
Berdyaev considers the Communist attitude to the individual
as anti-Christian. Christianity above all means to him the
liberation of the individual. Berdyaev seems to forget the
conditions upon which this emancipation is promised: "Who
shall lose his life shall find it." Self-effacement for the good
of the group is the first step and condition for finding one's
real individuality. The goal, also, of the Communist teaching
is complete freedom of the individual in a classless society, and
to attain this classless society it is first necessary to abandon
individualism It implies losing one's life in the proletarian
class struggle in order to find it anew in the classless Communist
society. This dialectic process is not understood by Berdyaev.
To him a classless society means the denial of individuality and
not its emancipation.
Berdyaev's aristocratic individualism, in the New Testament
sense, is feudal and not Christian. His argument for con-
demning Communism is equally applicable to the teachings of
Jesus concerning the individual and the group. The anti-
Christian position of Communism must be sought therefore
on other grounds and not in its teachings regarding the relation-
ship of the real individual to his group. Berdyaev's personal
tragedy is also that of the elimination of his class as a factor in
modern life; he and his class seek to assert themselves in
escaping to an imaginary concept of the Church, hoping for
a miraculous regeneration of those social relations which in
reality have already lost their basis of existence.
In analyzing the individualistic trend of the " Neo-Christian
Movement among Russian intellectuals, one must mention
also V. V. Rosanov,¹ who in many ways is the most original
""
¹ V. V. Rosanov was a conservative in politics. His principal works
on the religious question are Near the Walls of the Church, The Dark Image,
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
of the modern religious thinkers of Russia. Like Merezh-
kovsky and Berdyaev, he struggled to find a solution to the
conflict of body and spirit, of individual and society. But
unlike them he opposes dogmatism : "Why surrender the
wonderful words of the Gospel to the relatively rotten words
of dogmatism? Dogma is something deadening. Christi-
anity, during the period of the Church fathers' and the con-
struction of creeds, has lost its simplicity, its charm, its affec-
tion, and its power of attraction."
K
Like Merezhkovsky and Berdyaev, Rosanov revolted against
the asceticism of the Church. To him all that is human, all
that appears to be a source of life, is sacred. Religion to him
is a joyful wedlock of God and man. He considers sex the
greatest and perhaps the only existing miracle. It is the great
mystery. And yet, he complains, “historical Christianity is
sexless." In Christ the world was embittered. Into the
joyful life of the flesh Christianity injected the poison of death.
Rosanov believed that the solution of the religious tragedy
of the Russian soul lay in the deification of sex.
"There is
no life outside sex." It may seem superficially that Rosanov
is a materialist and a sensualist; but his materialism is different,
it is mystical. The "flesh" becomes in his mind almost
spiritual, and in this peculiarity lies the force of his appeal.
Although Rosanov was considered by the official clergy as the
most heretical among the "Neo-Christians," he himself, in
spite of his bitter criticism, has alienated himself least from the
Church. In his book, Loneliness, he says: "The Church is
the only poetical, the only profound thing on the earth. My
God, how could I for eleven years continually attack it?
How beautiful it is that in the Church we are all brothers."
That which was felt by Rosanov during the trials of the
revolutionary period has become quite general with the
remnants of his class. They have returned to the Church
therein to spend their last days and to die. This is one aspect
of the tragedy.
In the World of Obscurity and Indecision, The People of the Moonlight,
Loneliness, About the Nondogmatism of Christianity.
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INTELLECTUALIST GOD-WRESTLERS AND SEEKERS AFTER GOD
1
The leaders of religious thought in pre-revolutionary Russia
whom I have mentioned, whatever their deviations from
orthodoxy may have been, expressed a positive and optimistic
view upon religion and life and hoped for a regeneration of
society through the divine power. The approach of others is
altogether pessimistic and negative, but because of their
incurable religiousness they have given their spirit of negation a
religious interpretation in order to save themselves from
inevitable despair.
Interesting in this respect is the religious nihilist, N. M.
Minsky,¹ who was one of the first to revolt against the soulless-
ness of the mechanistic philosophy adhered to by his generation
of intellectuals. The truth he believed he had discovered
was: "If there is any purpose in life, it is to be attained not
in the interests of everyday life but in something deeper and
mysterious, which is to be sought not outside of self but
within oneself.”
Minsky's philosophy is not a product of pure logic, it reflects
the deep spiritual suffering of a sensitive soul and the despair
of helplessness in the face of death. Turning his back on the
utilitarianism and materialism of his age, he retreats into his
own self and becomes an egocentric pessimist. He recognizes
nothing as real but his own unhappy self. He subjects all
existing values to destructive criticism, and rejects art, love,
self-sacrifice, beauty, modern science, in short, all values, both
good and evil. But when he faces the phenomenon of death
he cannot reject it, and it hurts him as a painful and horrible
reality. "Death is not only cruel, but it is unjust and revenge-
ful." In his complaint, in his despair, in his ruthless spirit
of negation, he grasps at the idea of God and constructs a
peculiar religious philosophy which he believes does guarantee
him inner liberty and peace of mind.
The "Neo-Christian " philosophers had considerable influ-
ence among the intellectuals until the Revolution upset their
1 N. M. Minsky expressed his religious ideas in The Religion of the Future ;
In the Light of Conscience and Serenades. All works are in Russian.
L
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dreams. The Bolshevik appeared to them as the incarnation
of Antichrist. Their æsthetic sense of life could not reconcile
itself to the rough and ready ways of a proletarian revolution.
They emigrated to Western Europe and thus shut themselves
off from influencing directly the new generation of proletarian
intellectuals, who hardly know them even by name.
In fact, one can no longer speak of an intellectual class in
Soviet Russia. As a class it was broken up by the Revolution
and a large part of it fled to Western Europe and America,
where it lives like a plant which has been torn from its native
ground. It does not feed on the joys and woes of its people
from which it is severed, and it cannot make the fruit of its
labours available to the people. This exile of the intellectual
class from its native land is the culmination of its tragedy. In
its foreign isolation a whole religious philosophic literature has
grown which reflects the state of mind of the immigrant Russian
intellectual. It is extremely nationalistic and theocratic, it
idealizes the Church as the only institution which survived the
revolutionary cyclone, and it condemns the proletarian revolu-
tion and the Soviet social order as anti-Christian. These
exiled intellectuals live in apocalyptic expectation of the speedy
downfall of the Soviets by divine interference. How long will
they wait? A decade and a half has passed already. A new
generation has grown up which has new ideas and new hopes.
Sooner or later the old intellectuals may return or at least their
literary works will become available to the new generation.
But they will hardly be understood or appreciated. If there
exists the possibility of a new religious revival among the
intellectuals of Soviet Russia it will be inspired by prophets who
will rise from the Soviet ranks, with a message which will
reflect the needs of the new Soviet culture and not that of a
past generation and of an epoch which has been relegated to the
limbo of history.
154
TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
?
CHAPTER VIII
TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
THE life and teachings of Tolstoy present a separate chapter
in the religious history of Russia. For a while they captured
the imagination of certain sections of Russia's intelligenzia,
whose class interests and temperament did not permit
them to make common cause with the revolutionists. Some
of the rationalistic and evangelical sects also felt his influence,
but this was not lasting and soon gave place to the more ortho-
dox evangelical doctrines. Since the Revolution some of his
followers have made strenuous efforts to launch a movement
which would carry out in practice his anarcho-Communist
teachings. Vegetarian societies were established, his popular
religious literature was circulated and there sprang into being
a number of Tolstoyan agricultural communes conducted on
Communistic principles.
The anarchist and pacifist agitation of the Tolstoyans was
at first tolerated by the Soviet Government but, after Lenin's
death and the general change of policy towards religious sects,
the Tolstoyan movement practically ceased to be of importance
in the Soviet Union, and for the present there is hardly any
ground for its revival. On the other hand the Tolstoyan
influence is much more felt in other countries where conditions
are more favourable to the spread of his ideals. Thus
Gandhi has incorporated Tolstoyan ideas in his movement
and some of the pacifist elements in capitalist countries
recognize Tolstoy as the prophet of their cause.
If we turn to the religious teachings of Tolstoy and search
for their origins we find that they are very much a product of
his time and of the personal experiences which went on in him
throughout his conscious life. His chief work was done
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
within the period of 1861-1905, the two important dates which
mark the beginning and the end of an epoch. It began with
the emancipation of serfs and ended with the 1905 Revolution,
which marked the disintegration of the rural gentry and the
advance of the city bourgeoisie with its accompanying trans-
formation of the farmer peasant and former serf into a prole-
tarian. Tolstoy felt deeply this transitional era. By birth,
education and social position, he was of that class which was
destined to go down with his generation. Herein lies his
pessimism, his mystic restlessness, his desire to escape from
the life of his class and merge into the life of the common
people. His presentiments of the approaching cataclysm burst
forth in vehement denunciations of the hypocrisy of the State,
the Church, and the economic and social order of his time, which
was based on the degradation and ruthless exploitation of the
poorest and most helpless of the population in city and country.
In this respect Tolstoy sided with the revolutionists, but he is
unique in the artistic and tragic expression which he gives to
his protest.
(C
Lenin and other revolutionists who could neither share
Tolstoy's mysticism nor agree with him in his tactics of non-
resistance, nevertheless acknowledge Tolstoy's extraordinary
power in exposing and denouncing their common enemy.
Says Lenin: Tolstoy's critique of his contemporary order
differs from the critique of the same order by representatives
of the labour movement in so far as Tolstoy stands on the
ground of the paternalistic, naive peasantry. He transforms
their psychology into his critique and into his teachings. For
this reason Tolstoy's critique has such force of emotion, such
passion, and is so convincing, fresh, sincere and fearless in
getting at the root of things, discovering the real cause of the
sufferings of the masses. His critique actually reflects the
changes which were taking place in the views of millions of
peasants, who only emerged from serfdom into a liberty which
proved to be a new horror of ruin, of death from starvation,
a homeless life among the city outcasts. Tolstoy reflects their
feelings so genuinely that he incorporates into his teachings
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TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
their unaffected simplicity, their estrangement from politics,
their mysticism, their desire to flee the world, their non-
resistance to evil, their helpless imprecations upon capitalism
and the power of money. The protest of millions of peasants
and their despair has merged in Tolstoy's teachings."
TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT
Some critics speak of Tolstoy, the artist and the literary
genius, and some of Tolstoy the religious philosopher and
preacher. However, a closer study of his life shows that from
early manhood he was religious, a dreamer and potentially a
prophet of a new religion. Under the date of March 5, 1855,
we read the following remarkable entry in his diary: "In
conversing of God and of faith, I was led to a great and signi-
ficant idea, for the realization of which I feel capable of devoting
my life. My idea is to found a new religion which would
correspond to the development of mankind, a religion of Christ,
but purged from credulity and mystery, a practical religion with
no promises of future bliss, but which would give bliss on
earth. Its realisation, I understand, can be accomplished
only by the work of generations, striving towards this goal.
One generation will bequeath this idea to the next, and sooner
or later fanaticism or reason will realize this idea. To work
consciously toward uniting people by religion-this is the basic
idea, which, I hope, will captivate me.
In a still earlier diary entry, referring to the year 1851, we
learn something of Tolstoy's religious experience and mystic
nature : "Last night," he writes, "I hardly slept at all;
after writing in the diary, I commenced to pray to God. The
sweet emotion which I experienced in prayer is impossible to
relate. I recited the prayers which I was accustomed to repeat :
The Our Father,' the prayer to the God Mother, to the
Trinity, to the Door of Mercy, to the Protecting Angel, and
then I remained in prayer. If one should define prayer as
supplication or thanksgiving, then I did not pray. I desired
something exulting and good, but what-I could not pro-
nounce, although I clearly realized what I wanted. I wanted
در
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
to unite with the Almighty being, I begged Him to forgive
my sins, but no, I did not pray this, for I felt that since He
has granted me this minute He has forgiven me. I prayed, and
at the same time I felt that there is nothing for me to ask, and
that I must not, and know not how. I thanked Him, but not
with words or thoughts. In the same emotion I expressed
all; supplication and thanksgiving. The feeling of fear
disappeared altogether. None of the great emotions—faith,
hope and love-could I separate from the total experience;
no, what I felt yesterday, what I experienced, was love to God,
sublime love, which unites in itself everything which is good,
and rejects everything which is evil. How I resented viewing
the mean and vain side of life. I could not realize how it
could ever have attracted me. And now, with a purged
heart, I asked God to take me to his bosom. I did not feel
the flesh, I was .. but no, the flesh, the mean side again
came to its own; hardly one hour has passed and consciously
I listened to the voice of evil, to the vain and empty side of life ;
I knew whence came this voice, I knew that it would destroy
my bliss, I struggled, yet yielded. I went to sleep and dreamed
of glory, of women, but I was not guilty, I could not do other-
wise." Gorky, in his reminiscences of Tolstoy, observed
that Tolstoy's mind and talk was continually occupied with
two major subjects-God and women. "I asked God to
take me to his bosom "-" I went to sleep and dreamed of
women." There were never two Tolstoys. The converted
Tolstoy was, psychologically speaking, long before his great
crisis embryonically present, and his conversion was but a link
in the chain of events that brought into the open that which
long was hidden in the secret chambers of his heart.
Every close reader of Tolstoy's works, who knows also a little
of his personal life will agree that, almost without exception,
his novels are nothing but artistically worked out autobio-
graphical sketches, which reflect clearly the development of his
great soul. Already in his first works, Childhood, Boyhood,
Youth, we read of his spiritual struggles and the attempts to
draw up some rules of conduct which would make his young
1
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TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
life godly and rich in meaning. These noble principles, how-
ever, were in constant conflict between his acute conscience,
his keen, critical intellect and his physical passions. In a word,
there seemed, as in Doctor Faust, "two souls within one bosom "
contending with one another; and as Goethe endowed his
famous hero with all his own psychic strength of good and bad
motives, so Tolstoy in a much more realistic manner reflected
these, his own experiences, in the heroes of his novels. Vol-
konsky in Anna Karenina, Olennikoff in The Cossacks, Nikita
in The Powers of Darkness, Pierre Besuchy in War and Peace,
Nekhludoff in Resurrection, and especially Duke Kosatsky in
Father Sergius-these and many others picture vividly the
psychic turmoils and final victory of Tolstoy himself. These
experiences, which for about thirty years he kept under the
literary cloak, became known to the world with the appearance
of his famous Confession. In this declaration Tolstoy opened
his great passion-rent heart. He pictures his lost state by this
parable :
“A wanderer, so goes the story, is surprised in a prairie and
is pursued by a ferocious beast. He seeks refuge in an empty
well which he happens to meet in his flight. But here he
discovers, much to his horror, a fearful dragon which lives
at the bottom of the well, ready to devour any victim that may
enter his habitation. In despair, the unfortunate wanderer
takes hold of a branch which hangs over the opening of the
well, thus hovering between two dangers. But now, with still
increasing terror, he beholds two mice, a black one and a white
one, as they gnaw away the branch on which he is hanging.
It becomes clear to him that he is doomed, that the branch
before long will break and he will become a prey of the dragon.
In this despairing situation he observes some honey dripping
from the leaves of his branch and, for a moment forgetting his
danger, he eagerly licks the sweet drops."
"In such a
manner," says Tolstoy, "I have hung on the branches of my
life tree, knowing of the dragon of death which was waiting
to devour me at any moment. I also licked the sweet honey
of earthly joys, but they satisfied me not, for I was conscious
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
of the white and the black mouse--each day and each night--
which hastened my ruin."
Tolstoy, however, did not so easily yield to despair. He
tells us how he sought for light out of the darkness which
surrounded him. Thus exhausted, and at the very verge of
suicide, he at last found the balm for his sick soul in the child-
like faith of the unsophisticated mass of Russian peasantry.
"I discovered the truth," he writes in his Confession, “which
I later found confirmed by the Gospels, that men loved dark-
ness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved. I came to realize
that in order to understand the purposes of life, it is necessary
that one's life should, first of all, not be aimless and evil, and
then that one should speculate about it to understand its
philosophy."
With this testimony began Tolstoy's religious activity. It
was, however, not a movement in the same sense as those
inaugurated by Luther and Wesley, or Karl Marx and Morris,
who called into existence new sects and political parties. It
was rather an attempt at a reformation in the realm of ethical
thought analogous to that of Rousseau, Fichte and Kant, and
therefore its results were also rather indirect. Tolstoy co-
operated but little with his contemporaries, who tried to solve
the social and economic problems of Russia. On the contrary,
he rather proved to be an opponent of the socialist-revolutionary
movement, whose leaders accused him of pacifying the
revolutionary spirit of the masses with his gospel of non-
resistance.
-
This anti-revolutionary attitude does, however, not exclude
him from the ranks of great reformers. He was working for the
same end as other champions of the people, but he opposed his
revolutionary contemporaries because he could not accept the
methods by which they were trying to attain the commonly-
desired end, the social and economic welfare of the masses.
Tolstoy's principle was that evil can never produce good.
Therefore to obtain good by murder and plunder (the natural
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TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
by-products of revolutions) would mean to make things worse
than they are.
TOLSTOY'S CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE
In keeping aloof from the revolutionary leaders of his day,
Tolstoy sought contact with the pacifist sectarians who influ-
enced him as much as he influenced them.
Most remarkable in this respect is his acquaintance with the
evangelically-minded rustic prophet, Ivan Sutayev, a peasant
from the Government of Tver, who worked during the summer
months in St. Petersburg as a stonecutter, and during the winter
taught himself to read from a New Testament which somehow
got into his possession. Unassisted, he sought for the truth
in the Gospels. Each verse which he deciphered with great
effort carved itself into his mind, and it assumed the impor-
tance of a new revelation which he believed was never con-
ceived by anyone else. At the age of fifty, Sutayev returned
to his native village and began with great ardour to preach the
truth he had learned in the Gospels. He abandoned his
Church, saying that "I have the Church within myself."
With the Gospel in hand, he and his followers proclaimed:
"We are new creatures, regenerate creatures. We lived in
error. Now we know." Being charged by the police with
forming a new sect, he replied: "We form no new sect. We
merely wish to be true Christians-In what, then, consists
true Christianity-In love." Love was the cornerstone of his
religion. It was the fulfilment of all laws, it was the new life
in Christ. Sutayev rejected the traditional asceticism of ortho-
doxy as the beginning of piety. The Gospels taught him that
peace and justice among men will be attained only if men
learn to love one another. When asked: "What is Truth?
he replied: "Truth is love in common life." He repudiated
the Sacraments because the Church traded in them and he
buried his grandson in his garden, saying that "the whole
earth is God's and therefore sacred." He performed the
marriage ceremony of his daughter, entreating the couple to
conform their lives to the Divine Law, and treat all men as
""
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brothers. When charged with failing to recognize lawful
marriage, he replied: "I do not recognize the sort of marriage
which is a lie. If I fight or quarrel with my wife, it is no
marriage, because love is not there."
Sutayev preached: "The Kingdom of God must be
brought here on earth." To realize this individual private
property, which he believed begets envy, theft and hatred,
was to be abolished. Community of goods, he believed,
would destroy egotism and he asked the nobles and the rich
to give back the land to those who tilled it and to whom there-
fore it rightfully belonged. He believed they would do it of
their own accord as soon as the light of the Gospel illuminated
their minds, and a little love touched their hearts. He divided
his own possessions and burned the title to his property. He
refused to pay taxes, and admonished his followers not to
follow the call for military service. When his youngest son,
Ivan, was summoned as recruit, and commanded to take the
oath, he simply replied: "Thou shalt not swear at all." When
he was handed a gun, he refused it, by saying: "It is written :
Thou shalt not kill.'" He was thrown into prison and put
on bread and water, but he took none of it. And, lest he starve
himself to death, he was taken out of prison and sent to a
disciplinary company. On his way he preached to his guard
and convinced him of his error, who repented and became
a convert. Sutayev believed that the Tsar was good, and if
he only knew of the evil deeds of his officials he would reform
Russia. He started for the capital to warn the monarch. In
vain he begged to be admitted, and after persistent efforts he
returned to his village.
C
What a striking similarity to Tolstoy there is in this simple,
unlettered rustic prophet, who taught and practised the same
doctrine which later the literary genius of Tolstoy interpreted
to the world! Tolstoy confessed that he learned much from
these unlettered people. And it strengthened him in his
belief that the simple, but revolutionary teachings of Jesus
were naturally fitted to the unsophisticated masses of common
folk. Like Sutayev, he believed that if only a little of true
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TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS ANARCHISM
Gospel light could penetrate the darkened minds of the learned
and a little love could touch the hearts of the mighty, they would
do willingly what the revolutionists compelled them to do by
force and the Kingdom of God would be established on earth.
Tolstoy did not want to recognize the class nature of society,
neither did he perceive the futility of such individual efforts as
those of Sutayev and of his own followers. None of the
Tolstoyan settlements, neither in Russia nor in other countries,
survived. They were at their best tiny oases which gave weary
wanderers in the wilderness of capitalist civilization an oppor-
tunity to rest a while, but these oases could not transform the
desert. Sooner or later, when the springs of enthusiasm dried
up, they themselves became part of the desert.
PRINCIPLES OF TOLSTOY'S RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY
1. Life, its Meaning and Purpose. Tolstoy raises the eternal
question: what is the meaning of life, what is its purpose?
His answer is that neither exact science nor philosophic specu-
lation gives a satisfactory answer. Only in faith can the mean-
ing and the purpose of life be found. Ever since humanity
existed faith gave the possibility to live. The principal
features of every faith are the same. It attaches infinite mean-
ing to a finite life, a meaning which is not destroyed by suffer-
ings, privations and death. Therefore, religion always existed
and must continue to exist. It is an indispensable condition
of the life of every reasonable man and of reasonable humanity.
2. The Necessity of a Universal Religion. What originated
religion with its belief in the supernatural? Tolstoy rejects
the rationalistic theories of animism, ancestor worship and fear
of the forces of nature, as the origin of religion. Every
religious experience is not the consequence of outworn natural
phenomena, but of an inner condition which has nothing in
common with fear of the incomprehensible forces of nature.
Religion has developed out of man's consciousness of his
insignificance, isolation and sinfulness. Therefore man may
learn from observation and personal experience that religion is
not a veneration of Deities called forth by superstitious fear
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in face of unknown forces of nature, for such veneration is
characteristic of man only at an early period of its development,
whilst religion is something altogether independent of fear
and of the degree of education of man, and cannot be destroyed
by any kind of education, since man's consciousness of his
finality within an infinite world and of his sinfulness, that is
his omissions of duty, has been and will be as long as man will
remain man. The assertion that science will replace religion
is arbitrary and is based upon unjustified faith in the infallibility
of science, which is just like faith in the infallibility of the
Church. Religion, as in the past, will remain the chief dynamic,
the heart of human society; and without it, as without a heart,
there can be no reasonable life.
Whilst there exists a great variety of religious experience and
a multiplicity of form, all religions are the same in their basic
principles. These common principles of all religions are the
true religion and prove to be acceptable to all. To formulate
it in a definition: True religion is a relation to infinite life,
established by human reason and knowledge, and such a relation
binds life to this infinity and guides man in his doings.
The multiplicity of relations of man to the universe or to its
first cause may be reduced to three basic modes: (1) Primitive-
individual, (2) Pagan-social, (3) Christian or divine.
The first and most primitive consists in the desire for
individual preservation and welfare, independent of the
interests of others. The second, pagan relation of man to the
world, is a social one in which individual interests are submitted
to the interest of the group, the family, the clan, the nation,
even of all humanity. The third relation of man to the
universe, which is felt by every older person and into which
humanity is now entering, consists in the recognition that the
significance of life is comprehended not in the attainment of
personal aims or the interest of the group but in serving the
will which created Man and the Universe, and for attaining
man's purpose he aims to do this will. Out of this relationship
to the universe developes the highest known religious teachings,
elements of which are found in all great religions.
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3. The Contradictions of Life and Their Solutions. Life's
instinctive desire for welfare is upset by contradictions,
prompted by Reason, showing that suffering, death and
annihilation is the lot of all men. The one I, that of per-
sonality, dictates life. The other I, Reason, asserts: "life is
impossible." This split, this duality, torments men conscious
of themselves. The escape from this unbearable condition
may be found in the realization that the life of a separate being
is but a temporary limitation, in reality it is a part of the divine
life. This true life is present in every man, as life is present
in the seed and in due time reveals itself. On this earth man
passes through one of innumerable forms of life to do the will
of Him who sent him into this life.
This truth cannot be established by observation of life in
time and space. It will always remain a mystery and the life
which has revealed itself to him in consciousness is subject to
the law of Reason to attain this peculiar good. The emotion
which solves all contradictions in human life and grants him
the highest good is the emotion of love. Reason is that love
to which, for its own good, must be subjected the animal
in man.
Love is therefore the only real activity in man.
It must be always present. Who does not reveal love in the
presence has none, and is still under the control of his animal
individuality. True love is unselfish and directed towards the
welfare of others. It is the very nature of love to embrace
everything that exists. Love demands sacrifice. When man
gives to others not only his time, his strength, but when he gives
up his body, his life, then he really loves and finds his reward.
There is such love and because of it the world remains.
4. God the Supreme Will. God is that which gives life to
all, which exists and which reveals itself in man's desire for
good. Thus God is love. Man learns of God directly through
his consciousness. The Christian teaching states that the
essence of life is not man's separate being but God who is in
his being and becomes conscious in reason and love. Man
says to himself God is the unlimited form of that which I
know in myself as limited: I am something limited, God is
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↑
1
something infinite; I am a being which lives for a period of
years, God lives eternally; I am a being who reasons within
the limits of my understanding, God reasons without limita-
tions; I am a being who at times loves a little, God loves
infinitely. I am part, He is all. I cannot think myself other-
wise than as a part of him.
Man cannot help asking for what purpose has God, the one
spiritual indivisible being, incarnated himself into separate
bodies and man; why has the immortal united with the
mortal? To these questions can be only one answer there
is a Supreme Will whose aims are not known to man. This
Will has put man and all that exists into that position in which
it finds itself. This cause, which for some reason unknown to
man has incarnated itself into separate beings revealing love,
is the same God whom man knows within and without him-
self; God is that towards which I aspire and in this consists my
life. For this reason I cannot understand him, for should I
have understood him there would be nothing to aspire to and
there would be no life. I may approach him, come closer to
him. In this is my life, but approaching does not increase
knowledge.
Some say that God must be understood as person. This is
a great misunderstanding: personality is limitation. Man
knows himself as person only because he comes in contact with
other persons. If man were alone he would not be a personality.
We know God as one being but not in the arithmetic sense but
as one which is All. Having faith in this, the religious man
is conscious of God and has a firm concept of life. To know
God and to live is one and the same thing. God is life. Live
seeking God and there will be no life without God.
5. Self-Perfection. The ultimate purpose of life is hidden
from man, but his proximate aims grow out of his love and
desire of the good for all and consist in overcoming division
and disagreement in the world. The inner growth in love is
the means of contributing to unity and agreement, and in
Christian teaching is called the establishment of the Kingdom
of God. It is within us and without us.
1
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The goal of life has been revealed to us by Christ in the
words: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven."
This goal is reached not by ascetic practices but by a loving
association with other people. Love generates love and
hence awakens God in other men. This means building His
kingdom.
Christ recognizes the existence of the two sides of the paral-
lelogram of the two eternal indestructible forces which compose
the life of man. The force of animal nature and the force of
consciousness of sonship to God. The animal nature is always
equal to itself and is outside the power of man, but the divine
force may develop and free itself from the animal nature
which handicaps it, a man who stands on a lower stage but
moves towards perfection lives more ethically, according to
the teachings of Christ, than a man who stands at a higher
stage of perfection but does not move forward. To follow
His teachings is to move from self to God.
6. Sins, Temptations, Superstitions and How to Overcome
Them. Unity with God is growth of divine consciousness
in man.
This growth is hindered by sin, which consists in the
indulgence of the desires of the flesh, prompted by temptations
themselves false conceptions of good, and by superstition,
which is false teaching justifying sin and temptation.
People who believe in God, the Creator, frequently ask why
has God created man so that he must sin? Such a question
is equivalent to asking why God has created mothers so that
they must suffer in bearing, nursing and rearing their children?
In such suffering and anxiety exists the secret joy of mother-
hood. The same is true of human life: the struggle and
victory over sin, temptation and superstition, therein lies the
meaning and the joy of human life. If there were no darkness
we would not rejoice in the light of the sun. If there were
no sin, man would not know the joy of righteousness. Sin,
temptation and superstition constitute the soil which must
cover the seeds of love in order that they may sprout. The
worst sins are: excess, fornication, idleness, covetousness,
anger.
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Excess results from the false idea that the blessing of life is in
serving the body; the aim should be a simple life so as to
create the fewest handicaps for the spirit. Fornication is the
sin of irrespect for woman, regarding her as an object of
pleasure rather than as the temple of the spirit of God. Idle-
ness is sin against the law of the bodily life, toil, in transgressing
which man also transgresses the spiritual law of love. All
men are brothers, hence equals; therefore it is essential that
none should labour for us, but that each should work and
earn the necessities of his own life. Covetousness consists in
the acquisition of an increasing quantity of worldly goods
and money, needed by other people; the only joy that wealth
can give to man, is the joy in giving it away. Anger is the sin
of ill-feeling, of the lack of love towards others; it provokes
many evils.
The temptations which make it difficult to overcome sin
are pride, inequality, violence, retribution, vanity. Nothing
divides people so much as pride-personal, family, class or
national. This leads to inequality and the temptation to do
many evil things because of the belief that others are inferior
and not equal. Equality is recognition of the equal rights of
all people in the world to make use of the good of the common
life and enjoy equal right to respect as human personalities.
Inequality leads to violence and to retribution, the desire to
compel people to submit to one's own ideas and punish them
for not doing so. Any man who has done wrong is already
punished by his conscience. Nothing so rejoices people as
forgiveness for evil done. Goodness conquers and is itself
unconquerable. Vanity, more than any other temptation,
separates people and obscures their sense of genuine good;
one must learn to live in such a way as to be fearless of the
opinions of others, and to be guided only by the desire to do
the will of God.
The superstitions which justify sin and temptation are those
of the State, the Church and Science. The superstition of the
State consists in the recognition that one is part only of one
nation and an alien to all others, on the basis of which super-
ply
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stition, violence and murder take place. To free oneself from
it man must recognize that he is of the same spiritual essence
as any other man, and no human division can separate him
from that which God has made one. Another superstition is
that of the Church. The concept of the Church as the associa-
tion of the elect, of the best, is not a Christian concept; it is
proud and false; the Church has obscured the inner life of
man and has turned it into darkness. The Christian Church
has taken over and sanctified everything that was in the pagan
world; she accepted and sanctioned divorce, slavery, the law
court, and all the powers that be, wars and executions. The
Church, whilst accepting in theory the teachings of Christ,
actually in practice rejected them. Only in liberating oneself
from the deceit of credulity man can be free from falsehood and
temptation. It is necessary to remember that the only imple-
ment of knowledge is Reason, and all preaching which is
contrary to Reason is fraud and aims at removing the sole
implement of knowledge granted Man by his creator. Man
needs no cults, no artificial means to know and associate with
God, who reveals himself directly to the heart of man without
intermediary. Truth is discovered gradually by those who
seek it and cannot be transmitted by intermediaries who believe
they themselves possess it. There are no infallible teachers
and the search for truth must everywhere be checked by
reason.
The third superstition is science. Its evils consist in pre-
tensions of infallibility. Science to-day has replaced the
Church of two or three hundred years ago. Its magicians are
the professors, its councils and synods are the academies and
universities, which expect that their opinions should be
accepted uncritically as truth. Science clothes itself in a
foreign terminology whose meaning remains a mystery to the
many; but mystery is not an attribute of wisdom, and true
wisdom speaks a language which all can understand. There is
as much fraud in science as in religious beliefs and therefore it
is just as harmful.
The chief evil of false science is that being unable to study
M
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everything, and not knowing without the aid of religion what
it should study, it pursues knowledge which is pleasing to
the men of science who do not live a proper life. One
may know very much, without knowing that which is most
necessary.
What must be done in order that people may live the good
life? First of all, stop doing all the superfluous things with
which most people are now occupied and which, in European
countries, means 99 per cent. of their activities. It is more
important that the people should be good, than that they do
good. Don't strive to shine but strive to be pure; resist evil
thoughts. Before there can be a change of feeling and doing,
there must be a change of thought. As fruits grow out of
seeds, so deeds grow out of thoughts.
Strive to free yourself from the flesh, be humble and truthful.
Prayer can help to attain perfection. It is a test, by the soul,
of past and present deeds. Pray, as Jesus taught you to pray,
Pray always and you will conquer your animal
in secret.
nature.
7. Non-Violent Resistance to Evil. The chief evils among
men result from the use of violence. Disguised as retribution
it is used by some against others. The Christian teaching has
not only shown its injustice but has demonstrated that to
overcome evil it is necessary to suffer it without resistance.
Violence should not be used under any provocation, and in no
case under pretence of retribution. Only good can overcome
evil and not be infected by it.
The law of non-violent resistance to evil is eternal. All
progress in history against evil has been achieved through the
agency of people who suffered evil and did not resist it by force.
To overcome evil we must attack not its consequences, such as
the invasion and loot of nations against their weaker neigh-
bours, but its root-which lies in a false relation of a people
to human authority. If a people recognizes human authority
as higher than the law of God, that people will always remain
in slavery. A people can only be free when it accepts the law
of God to which all other laws must be subjected.
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Any religious person who has accepted the divine law of
non-violent resistance to evil should first cease for himself to act
violently or prepare for violent action; secondly he should not
participate in any kind of violence which is done by other people,
nor participate in any preparation for it; thirdly, he should
nerve approve of violence. Not to do violence means not to lay
hands upon anyone, neither strike nor kill, neither in your own
interests, nor in the interests of society; not to participate in
any kind of violence means, not only rejecting the function of
the chief of police, of governor, judge, guard, tax collector,
tsar, minister, soldier, but also in not applying to courts, nor
appearing as attorney, guard or jury; not to approve of
violence means not to make use of violence for any personal
benefit, neither in speech, writing, nor deed, neither to support
or agree with violence nor anything founded upon violence.
This will probably result in persecution on the part of the
authorities. By suffering this in loving kindness to the perse-
cutors, the persecuted will open their persecutor's eyes and
hasten the eradication of violence in society. It will come
speedily if people who really believe in non-violent resistance
are willing to put their belief into practice whatever the
consequences. Those suffering to the end will be saved.
8. The True Meaning of Life. Efforts at self-denial, humility
and truthfulness, destroy in man the hindrances for uniting
the soul in love with God and other beings. This opens the
way to a permanently good life, in which that which seemed
evil disappears. This world is not a jest, not a vale of misery
and a transition into a bitter, eternal world. The world in
which we now live is one of the eternal worlds. It is beautiful,
and by our own efforts we must make it more beautiful and
more joyful for those who are with us, and for all those who
will live after us. To be happy in this world we have only to
live in accordance with the will of Him who sent us into this
world.
The true reward of life is not in the remote future, it is now
and within us in the perfection of our soul. In this is the
reward and the incentive towards good.
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Death exists only for people who fix their life in time. For
those who understand life as it really is-as an effort to over-
come the hindrances which separate man from God and other
beings, to those there can be no death. Fear of death is the
consciousness of the unsolved contradictions of life. It is
fear not of death but of a wrong life.
My body may be destroyed together with its temporary stage
of consciousness, but that peculiar relation which composes.
my distinct ego cannot be destroyed. It cannot because it is
the only thing which is. If it were not, I could not know my
successive stages of consciousness, and I could not know my
body, my life and the lives of others. Therefore the destruc-
tion of the body and consciousness cannot serve as a sign of
destroying my peculiar relation to the world, which did not
originate in this life. The more my carnal desires give place
to spiritual interests, the less fearful death becomes.
If my
worldly passions be replaced by the one desire to give myself
to God, then there is nothing but life, there is no death. Death
becomes a superstition.
Christ revealed to men that the eternal is not the same as
the future, but that the eternal is within us now, that we
become eternal when we unite with God in the spirit, in
which everything moves and lives. We attain eternity by
love.
It is asked what will happen after death. There can be
but one answer: the body will decay and turn into dust,
this we know for certain. But what will become of that which
we call the soul, we cannot say, because the question, "what
will be?" refers to time, but the soul is independent of time.
The soul was not and will not be. It is. If it were not, nothing
would be. Time cannot be the necessary condition of all
that exists, since we are conscious of ourselves as something
not subject to time. Death is the destruction of those organs
through which we associated with the world. Death is the
destruction of the glass through which we look and it is re-
placed by another. This life is one among a thousand lives
into which we enter by escaping a previous life. And so it
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continues endlessly to the final life, which is the life of
God.1
We have retold briefly the principles of Tolstoy's religious
and ethical teachings. Much can be said in criticism of their
many contradictions, from both the orthodox Christian point
of view and from the point of view of the Communist theory
of religion, and its social aims. Tolstoy's effort to outline a
rational yet religious philosophy of life is unique in its sincerity
and artistic form. While Russian revolutionary thinkers took
a rigidly anti-religious position or became reactionary and
drifted back into orthodoxy, Tolstoy strove to synthesize
revolutionary criticism with religious faith, and while the
Tolstoyan Movement, to propagate his ideas, does not show
much vitality at the moment, it would be premature to say
that Tolstoy is forgotten in Russia. The Revolution has
solved most of the social problems he fought for, such as the
question of land and property, of social equality, of the dignity
of toil, the abolition of classes, and the consequent withering
away of the State. Yet there are other problems still left
unsolved, such as the subtler ethical experiences which
Tolstoy considered particularly important. Finally the last
word has not been said on the meaning of life and death; it is
here that the inquiring mind will turn to Tolstoy to seek an
answer to this eternal question.
1 An excellent outline of Tolstoy's teaching may be found in A.
Bulgakov: Christian Ethics, consisting of a symposium of thoughts from
about 200 of Tolstoy's religious and ethical writings. This symposium
was edited by Tolstoy himself. The outline of Tolstoy's principles, as
presented in this chapter, generally follows that book.
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CHAPTER IX
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
THE Communist theory of religion is a product of the Com-
munist philosophy of life and is generally in line with the anti-
religious tradition of the Russian revolutionary movement.
We have previously shown how the materialist philosophy
of the French Encyclopædists slowly undermined the religious
tradition and faith of the Russian educated people, how it
spread to ever-wider circles and how, finally, atheism became
a tradition of the revolutionary intellectuals. German Hegelian
philosophy merged with the French materialism through the
influence of Feuerbach, who reinterpreted religion anthro-
pologically and prepared the ground for the Marxian develop-
ment of Dialectical Materialism.
Marx's attitude to religion was not emotional. He experi-
enced no tragedy in breaking away from the faith of his fathers;
for, although a grandson of a Jewish Rabbi, he was not reared
in the Hebrew religion. His father, a lawyer by profession,
was a free-thinker, strongly influenced by the French enlighten-
ment, and in breaking away from the faith of his people he
became nominally a Protestant. Karl Marx approached
religion as a philosopher and as a historian. He gave to it a
social-economic interpretation, characterizing it as the " opiate
of the people."
F. Engels, Marx's closest collaborator in creating the
philosophy of Dialectical Materialism, had a much more tragic
experience in breaking with the religion of his family. His
father, a well-to-do manufacturer, was a strict Evangelical
pietist, who did his utmost to make his son follow the traditions
of his sect. Against this the young Engels revolted and, on
joining the revolutionary movement, left his father's house.
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These youthful experiences made Engels much more sensitive
to religious and metaphysical problems than was the case
with Marx.
In Marxian theory religion belongs to those social phenomena
classified by him as ideological superstructures upon the social-
economic basis of a given people. In their German Ideology
Marx and Engels say: "The vague images in the brains of
men are also necessary sublimations of their material life-
processes empirically established and related to material
conditions. In this manner, morals, religion, metaphysics and
other types of ideology, together with their corresponding
forms of consciousness, lose their apparent independence.
They have no history at all, they have no development. They
are only the developments of people in respect to their material
production and their material relations; as these activities
change so change also the products of their thought."
Religion thus is but a by-product of the basic factors of social
life, which are economic. The classes which control the base
are naturally also in control of its by-products, using them to
their advantage. In the process of the class struggle, one
ruling class is overthrown by a newly-rising class, as for
example feudalism was overthrown by the town bourgeoisie
and the proletariat. The struggle for democracy went on in
the form of a struggle of one religious idea against another, as
was the case of Nonconformity against the Established Church
of England. With the development of social science there is
apparently no further need to appeal to a religious ideology.
The conversion of Marx and Engels from Hegelian idealism
•
1 This statement must not be interpreted, as it often is, that religion is
not an active force in society. Engels took quite the contrary position,
as may be seen from his correspondence with Mehring and others:
<<
Because we denied that the different ideological spheres, which play
a part in history, have an independent historical development, we were
supposed therewith to have denied that they have an historical efficacy.
At the basis of this is the ordinary undialectical notion of cause and effect
as fixed, mutually opposed, polar relations, and a complete disregard of
reciprocity. These gentlemen forget, almost intentionally, that an
historical factor, once it has been brought into the world by another,
ultimately economic fact, is able to react upon its surroundings and even
affect its own causes."
(From a letter of Engels to F. Mehring,
July 14th, 1893.)
"1
:

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to Dialectical Materialism, which also determined their position
in regard to religion, took place under the influence of Ludwig
Feuerbach and his famous book, The Essence of Christianity.
In this work Feuerbach showed that the contents and subject
of religion are altogether human, that theology is a perverted
anthropology, and that the mystery of divine essence is a
human essence. Religion, however, is not conscious of its
human content; it considers it rather the opposite and does
not recognize its human origin that Man was not created in
the image of God, but God in the image of Man. The con-
sciousness of God is nothing but the consciousness of human
kind. Man can and must raise himself above the limitations of
his individuality but he cannot raise himself above the laws
and principal characteristics of his kind. Man can think,
imagine, feel and love as an absolute divine being, which means
as a human being.
Religion is Man's first self-consciousness This makes it
sacred; but what religion senses as the first (i.e. God) is
actually the second. Since God is but the objectified essence
of man, that which religion postulates as secondary (i.e. man)
should be recognized as first. Love to man must not be
derivative, it must be primary. Only then will love become
the true, sacred and dependable force. If human essence is
the highest essence of man, then love to man practically must
be the supreme and first law of man. Homo homini deus est,
such is the highest practical basis and the turning point of
world history. Justice, truth, goodness have their sacred
essence in themselves, in their quality. For man there is no
being higher than man. These are the principal ideas of
Feuerbach's theological anthropology. He did not intend it
as a denial of religion. He wished to revaluate it and to raise
it to a higher human synthesis. Feuerbach says: "My book
has a negative tenet, but I beg you to note that it rejects only
the non-human essence of religion and recognizes and asserts
the human.'
Feuerbach was therefore not opposed to religion; on the
contrary he wanted to improve and to humanize it—" Religion,"
176
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
<<
is a solemn revelation of the treasures hidden in
he says,
man's nature. It is a recognition of his inmost thoughts, an
open confession of the mysteries of his love." Feuerbach was
convinced that his interpretation of religion was a progressive
step towards a more profound self-realization. Not all of his
pupils agreed with him. Marx and Engels in developing their
dialectical philosophy saw no future for religion. For them,
it was destined to disappear with human ignorance, misery and
class exploitation. Marx writes: "The omnipotence of God
is nothing but the fantastic reflection of the impotence of people
before nature and the economic social relations created by
themselves. Such religious reflections of the real world
will not disappear until the relations between human beings in
their practical everyday life have assumed the aspect of perfectly
intelligible and reasonable relations as between man and man,
and as between man and nature. The life process of society,
this meaning the material process of production, will not lose
its veil of mystery until it becomes a process carried on by a
free association of producers, under their conscious and pur-
posive control."1 Engels expressed himself similarly in
Anti-Duerig: If man not only expects to control but actually
to master the social process, then disappears the last external
force which until now has been reflected in religion, and with
it will disappear religious reflection, for the simple reason that
there will be nothing to reflect on."
<<

Lenin, who was a thorough student of Feuerbach, Marx and
Engels, takes the position of the latter two, and checks their
point of view against the historic background of Russia, where
he finds the fact corroborated that religion is the worst imple-
ment of class exploitation. With the disappearance of classes
there will remain no reason for the existence of religion. Lenin
was not a theologian; his approach to religion was that of
a sociologist. His efforts were towards awakening the masses
and spurring them on to revolutionary action, and here he
continually came into conflict with the conservative tenets of
religion. "All contemporary religions and churches, all and
¹ Das Kapital, Vol. I.
177
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
I
..
every kind of religious organization, Marxism has always viewed
as organs of bourgeois reaction, serving as a defence of exploita-
tion and the doping of the working class." But whilst an
uncompromisingly enemy of every religion, Lenin understood
that the sources of religion were deeply rooted in social economic
conditions and he was therefore opposed to arguing about it
on a merely intellectual plane. The struggle with religion
must not be limited to abstract ideological preaching.
This struggle must be in concrete practice with the class
movement directed towards removing the social roots of
religion."
Now what are these roots? Lenin sees them in the sociál
degradation of the toiling masses and their seeming impotence
before the blind forces of capitalism. Fear created the
Gods; fear, before the force of capitalism which is blind, for
its actions cannot be foreseen by the mass of the people On
every step the life of the proletariat and that of the petty em-
ployer is threatened and leads to sudden, unexpected ruin, to
calamities which turn them into beggars and prostitutes and
end in death from starvation-these are the roots of con-fen.
temporary religion." Religion feeds on the economic and
social reactions of the mass. Religious beliefs are intensified
by the blind forces of nature which man is impotent to control;
but religion serves chiefly as an opiate in which the slaves of
Capital find 'temporary relief, at the cost, however, of losing
their human worth.
<<
(
Other roots of religion feed on the survivals of former
social and political formations with their obscure ideologies,
customs and traditions, themselves superstructures of past
social-economic formations, and which now interpenetrate
with the new. For example, the treatment of women in
Moslem society, and the great religious festivities of Christmas
and Easter which are rooted in the nature worship of ancient
agricultural people antedating the Christian era. Finally
there are the Epistemological roots of religion. These are
also social because man can think only in association with
actual experience. The splitting of man's consciousness into
178
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
the abstract “idea,” from which originated the idealist philo-
sophy, is closely related to religion.
Lenin thought that the task of destroying religion really
belonged to the bourgeoisie, as the class which carried through
the industrial revolution and began to organize society on the
principles of applied science. Writes Lenin: "The task of
struggling with religion is the task of the revolutionary bour-
geoisie, and in the West this task was accomplished to a con-
siderable degree by bourgeois democracy during the epoch of
its revolutions or its pressure upon feudalism or medievalism.
Both France and Germany have a tradition of a bourgeois war
against religion which commenced long before socialism."
The bourgeoisie, however, lost its anti-religious ardour soon
after it came to power, because it realized the value of organized
religion as a power of control over the unruly masses. It
sought and readily obtained the support of the Church. Even
in France, the classical country of bourgeois militant atheism,
the leaders of the Revolution came to a compromise with the
Roman Catholic Church.
It was impossible for the leaders of the proletarians to do
as the revolutionary bourgeoisie, and therefore it sought to
formulate a new theory of life, giving the masses the assurance
that religion is not necessary and that there can be a philosophy
of life without a God. Such a theory of life will not demoralize
the people but will make them more socially and ethically
minded. To appreciate fully the impossibility of compromise
between the Communist philosophy of life and the religious
tradition, we must give a brief outline of the principles of
Communist philosophy.
COMMUNIST PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 1
A philosophy of life is an attempt to establish man's relation
to the universe in terms of rational concept. It thus follows
that its first task is to arrive at a theory of being or ultimate
reality which philosophers usually call the metaphysical or
¹ For a more exhaustive treatment of this subject, the reader is referred
to my Moscow Dialogues, Chapman & Hall, London, 1933.
179
Epistemology- investigates org.ginature
metnot. a lumith CK nomen
Kms
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ontological problem. Then it must decide whether it can
really trust its experience and its senses; this results in a
theory of knowledge or epistemology. Finally there is the
problem of the aims and modes of life; this includes a theory
of development of the social life and of behaviour. The
philosophy of religion differs from ordinary philosophy in so
far as it takes for its working hypothesis the reality of religious
experience and seeks to establish a reasoned interpretation of
religion and relate it to the rest of experience. The philosophy
of religion differs from the science of religion in so far as the
latter seeks to establish how religion actually functions, whereas
the philosophy of religion has for its chief task to determine
how religion should ideally function. Hence it takes desira-
bility of religion for granted and seeks to discover and justify
the principles for furthering the development of religion and of
life through religion. In this latter sense there can be no
Communist philosophy of religion, for Communists reject the
hypothesis of the desirability of religion; but there can be a
Communist science of religion.
The Communist philosophy of life has developed upon a
system of thought called Dialectical, Historical and Economic
Materialism. The ontological and epistemological problems
are dealt with in the theories of Dialectical Materialism and
the sociological, religious and ethical problems in the theories
of Historical Materialism. Problems of economics are treated
in the theories of Economic Materialism, and the three together,
Dialectical, Historical and Economic Materialisms, are also
called the Marxo-Leninist Philosophy. The Communist
theory of religion grows out of this philosophy.
Dialectical Materialism, as every other philosophy, is
first confronted with the problem of defining its concept of
reality, and the laws of its development. Contrary to popular
ideas the "matter
matter" or reality of Dialectical Materialism has
little in common with the old Mechanistic or Atomistic Materia-
lism. It considers this latter theory to be incompatible with
modern natural science. The old Atomic Materialism with
its indivisible "bricks" of the universe, is rejected by Dia-
180
monist.
themt:
Ultimove
Ne Sui
belich in 9od
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
!
lectical Materialism. Life and mind are qualities which cannot
be reduced to mechanical motion. The old Newtonian ideas
of cause and effect as an unbroken continuity of motion are no
longer tenable. They have been exploded by the modern
theories of relativity, the quantum theory and the modern
theories of heredity, the nature of the psychic life, and so on.
If we turn to the sources of Dialectical Materialism we find
that it has a long genealogy. Already Engels has pointed out
that Dialectical Materialism is a synthesis of French materialist
and Utopian thought and the great philosophies from Spinoza
to Hegel. Dialectical Materialism adheres to the monistic
concept of nature or matter. Spinoza believed that there is
but one substance or nature, which he also called God, which
is real, existing independent of human consciousness and
prior to it. It has many attributes of which two, those of
extension and mind, are known in the experience of man.
These two attributes are not the same but they are in in-
separable unity. Dialectical Materialism also knows but one
substance or nature, which is in constant movement but not
in a mechanical motion. The movement which Dialectical
Materialism emphasizes is one of opposites or of contradictions.
The attribute of mind or spirit was potentially always present
in nature but appeared as consciousness only at the higher
stage of the organization of matter.
Lenin gave much thought to the ontological and epistemo-
logical problems. He drew sharp lines between the subjectivist
or sensationalist philosophies and that of Dialectical Material-
ism. To have subjective knowledge of the world and ignore
the possibility of knowing its objective stimulus was to him
like having thoughts without brain. A materialist, he says, is
one who “takes matter as the prius, regarding consciousness,
reason and sensation as derivatives." Lenin asks whether the
world would not exist independently of humanity and of human
experience. His answer is that the world existed long before
any human experience was possible. Hence reality is inde-
pendent of human consciousness. According to Lenin, matter
is that which, acting upon our sense organs, produces sensations.
-
Pi
181
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
spac
Subphus.
mend
It is some objective reality existing independently of the
human mind and reflected by it.
The recognition of an objective world raises at once the
question as to the reality of such categories as space and time.
Kant, and philosophic idealists generally, accept these only as
forms of human understanding with which the intellect is
endowed. Dialectical Materialism on the other hand, while
recognizing a certain relativity in these concepts, nevertheless
holds that a philosophy which denies the objectivity of space
and time is absurd.
KAR
•KERT
THE LAWS OF DIALECTICS
Dialectics in the philosophic sense means self-movement,
but not ordinary mechanical movement, which is replacement
by outward force. It is movement prompted by an inner
necessity which is the immanent law of existence of matter and
the universe. Lenin defined Dialectics as a theory of know-
ledge, as the method by which the laws of the movement of
the universe can be studied. He says: "Dialectics is a living,
many-sided knowledge, with a continually increasing number
of aspects, with an infinte number of shadings of every sort
and approximations to reality." The Marxo-Leninist theory
of Dialectics begins with Hegel, but unlike Hegel it applies its
categories of thought to the study of a real world and not to an
imaginary absolute spirit which was the object of Hegel's
speculation. In Lenin's words: "It is the recognition of the
mutually exclusive and opposite tendencies in all the pheno-
mena and processes of nature.
of nature." It is universally applicable
to the study of nature, society and the workings of the human
mind. Therefore, Marxo-Leninist theory insists that man
can know the objective world since it is controlled by the same
laws as those operating in the human mind, since the latter is but
a part of the same nature.
The emphasis, in the dialectic process is on self-movement,
in which occurs the interpenetration of opposite forces, ap-
proaching a unity and then again separating. In other words,
in the evolutionary process of self-movement, there is continuity
182
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
and there are spontaneous, periodic breaks. These breaks are
a vital part of the process. They indicate also the beginning
of a new synthesis and the resumption of continuity in the
process of self-movement. Upon this law rests the Communist
theory of revolution. It presupposes class differentiation and
interpenetration of conflicting interests, as for example, those
of the feudal aristocracy and the clergy which clashed with
those of the peasant class and the town bourgeoisie as demon-
strated in the great French Revolution.
In the field of biology the phenomena of mutation, by which
appear sudden organic changes in the evolving species, are
readily explained by the dialectic law of "sudden breaks"
after a slow preparatory stage of minute evolutionary changes.
These same sudden changes occur also in chemical reactions
when interpenetrating elements suddenly break and again
interpenetrate with other elements but in a different synthesis.
The behaviour of the electron and the proton, according to the
quantum theory, is also dialectic; there exists the phenomenon
of continuity with sudden periodic breaks.
Engels who made a thorough study of natural science from
the point of view of dialectics, points out that there are three
principal laws in the dialectic process equally applicable to the
study of nature as to the study of society and the workings of
the human mind. They are: (1) the law of transition of
quantity into quality and inversely; (2) the law of inter-
penetration of opposites; (3) the law of negation of negation.
Marx used these laws as a hypothesis in his study of the develop-
ment of capitalist society. He showed for example how the
quantitative accumulation of capital is followed by qualitative
changes in the economic class stratification, each stage showing
a quality of its own, as for example the difference between the
petty employer and the big capitalist on the one hand, and the
artisan and the big factory worker on the other. The Marxian
theory of class interpenetration and the class struggle is a
brilliant exposition of the nature of the dialectic law. The
unity of theory and practice, the interpenetration of thought
and action, is basic in Communism.
183
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Hin
#
DIALECTICS AND RELIGION
The question naturally arises as to whether the phenomena
of religion are also subject to dialectical development. Hegel
made extensive use of dialectics in his theology and there are
signs of a return to his method which, under pressure of the
crisis in the empiric sciences, promises to have an extensive
revival. In Germany it is sponsored by the Hegelian society
and philosophers like Kroner, who is also the head of the
International Hegelian Union. At the centre of Hegelian
theology stands the idea that God, the Absolute, realizes
himself in an eternal thought process which includes all realities
of time and space. These are essentially phases in the process
of divine self-realization. This idea permits the acceptance of
divine immanence without the sacrifice of man as a finite being.
Hegel, who was concerned in preserving Protestant Orthodoxy,
thought himself able to steer clear of Pantheism. He taught
that man, possessed of conscious power of thought, shares in
this thought process of God and realizes his life in the eternal
absolute God. The Hegelian trilogy of thesis, antithesis and
synthesis, lent itself to a logical interpretation of the Trinity
in the Godhead. The Christian experience of conversion or
regeneration follows accordingly the dialectic process of nega-
tion of the old, of the sinful self, and results in a conscious
rebirth of the spirit to a new higher life. Finally the highest
ethical precept of the Christian life, “who shall lose his life,
shall find it,” was quite in harmony with the law of negation
of negations, conditioning the attainment of a higher synthesis
of the spiritual life. Hegel had hoped to achieve a perfect
religious system which in his opinion corroborated the doctrines
of Orthodox Christianity. These pretensions of orthodoxy
have severally been denied by those religious minds who see
no advantage in a rationalized speculative religion and who
cherish mystic experience as an intuitive knowledge of God.
The Hegelian dialectic interpretation of religion is not shared
by Dialectical Materialists since religion is not considered to
have an independent history; that is to say, it is relegated to


184
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
CC
1
a category of superstructures, which have no independent
existence, but only reflect the social economic base of a given
society. The Communist theory of religion does not take
Deity for granted. In its hypothesis God is but a phantom,
created by the splitting of man's consciousness during the
stage of his rational immaturity; hence religion is destined to
disappear with the growing maturity of the consciousness of
man. A contemporary student of the Communist theory of
religion, V. Ralcevitch, makes the sweeping statement:
Religion from beginning to end, in both its form and content,
must be destroyed." If we begin to inquire what are the
reasons for this unreserved condemnation of religion, the answer
is that" Religion in all its aspects, in its content, in its form and
its social functions, is incompatible with the movement toward
a classless society." It is a dead body taking hold of the
living and dragging them down. Religion is such a danger to
future Communist Society because it is a reactionary social
force. True enough, religion is not the only institution which
Marxo-Leninist theory has sentenced to death and extinction.
Social classes, the State and the institutions of law, all these
are to disappear under Communism, but while the class struggle
and the State as organized violence, with its institutions of law,
are still useful and necessary implements in the transitional
stage from Capitalism to Communism, organized religion is
only a handicap and hence must be destroyed as quickly as
possible.
This is the present position of the Communist Party, and it
has outlined a definite plan for carrying out these intentions.
What this plan is, we shall see in the subsequent chapters.
видеть бо
SOCIALIST GOD-BUILDERS
socce
brause of a speeng
The Party's present uncompromising negation of religion
has not always been shared by some of its distinguished thinkers
and leaders. There was a time when it was thought possible
to re-valuate religion and, while dropping its dogmatic and
sacerdotal aspects, to preserve its emotional value. This
2 Ibid., P. 4.
1 V. Ralcevitch, Marxism and Religion, p. 3, 1929.
N
185
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
opinion was held by the so-called Socialist " God-Builders,
among whom Maxim Gorky and A. V. Lunacharsky, both old
and distinguished members of the Communist Movement,
were outstanding representatives.
Gorky, in opposing the efforts of Russian intellectualists to
find God" came out with the thesis : "Gods are not sought,
they are created; life is not thought out, it is generated."
According to Gorky," God is a complex of ideas, produced by
the tribe, the nation, by humanity, which awakens and organizes
the social emotions, having for its purpose the binding of the
individual to society and the control of his zoological individu-
alism." Replying to a questionnaire of Le Mercure de
France on the relation of Socialism to religion, Gorky stood
by the belief that there is room for religion under Socialism:
<<
The undeniable fact of progress must awaken in man a
religious emotion, i.e. a complex creative feeling of faith in
one's strength, hope in victory, love of life. . . . Socialism
is an emulation of the past and the future in science and
art... a feeling of relation to the past and to the future;
this is religious emotion and it must grow." These remarks
show no trace of a transcendental conception of God but they
definitely advocate the development of religious values out of
the emotional experiences of man.
A. Lunacharsky shared this position with Gorky and devoted
himself to developing a Socialist religion. This " new religion,"
he says, "the religion of humanity, the religion of toil, has no
guarantees, but I suppose that even without God and without
guarantees, which are but masks of the same God, it remains
a religion." This religion without a God, Lunacharsky defines
as" such thinking about the world, such sensing of the world,
as psychologically solves the contrast between the laws of life
and the laws of nature." Lunacharsky keenly felt the contra-
dictions between man's hopes and desires and the implacable
laws of nature, with their inevitable suffering and death.
Religion, he believed, could relate the ideas of life, born out
of man's consciousness, to the hard facts of nature and make
man fitter in the struggle for existence.
<<
رد
186
COMMUNIST THEORY OF RELIGION
Lunacharsky explains his interest in religion by the leanings
of his own character. From childhood on, he showed pro-
found interest in the religious and artistic aspects of life. These
interests ripened into a real life problem after his "glorious
conversion to Marxism," as he characterized this experience
of his youth. For ten years he studied the history and philo-
sophy of religion and the results of his study he embodied in
a two-volume work entitled Socialism and Religion.¹ His
desire to create a new religion exposed him to severe criticism
on the part of Lenin who could not share Gorky's and Luna-
charsky's enthusiasms for religion and saw in it a dangerous
deviation from the Marxian ideals of the Party. In a letter
to Gorky (1913) he voiced his protest in most severe words:
"It is not true that God is a complex of ideals, awakening
and organizing the social emotions. God is (historically
and in life) first of all a complex born of the dull suppression of
man, due to surrounding nature and class oppression, it is an
idea which affirms this suppression and which lulls the class
struggle. . . .
.. The idea of God always dulled and lulled the
social emotions, replacing the vital with the deadening, it has
always been an idea of slavery, the worst, inescapable slavery.
Never has the idea of God bound the individual to society, it
has always tied the oppressed classes to a faith in divine
oppressors.
""
Lunacharsky tried to defend his position by explaining that
not only the word "God" but such words as "ideal,” “mat-
ter," and even" Socialism" have been discredited. He shares
the opinion of Joseph Dietzgen that "words are pure on pure
lips, and social democracy will only win through by saying—
yes, I am a new, mighty religious force, I bear within me a
religion which replaces all others and contains them in a higher
degree."2 This new religion is not a dream.
"No," says
he, "it is a hope, a hope which is better founded than any other
religion." Lunacharsky felt that it is difficult to find a termin-
ology to express religious values in a modern way. He
suggested the term "Socialist culture" to replace the dis-
¹ First published in 1908.
2 Ibid., p. 35.
187
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
:
credited word "religion," and this term he now generally uses.
In his youth, however, the word "religion" awakened in him
deep emotions: "Religion is enthusiasm and without enthusi-
asm people can create nothing great," 1 was his conclusion.
Lenin, who greatly disliked Lunacharsky's emotionalism,
also thought that Lunacharsky exposed himself to abuse on
the part of religious reactionaries, who might use his arguments
not in the advancement of Socialism but in their own reactionary
religious propaganda. In this he was, of course, right.
Lunacharsky has been quoted more often in Russia by those
who argued in favour of religion than any other Communist
writer on the subject. For this reason, Lunacharsky now dis-
avows his great work, Socialism and Religion, in spite of the
fact that it is a very able exposition, from the modernist point
of view, of this most important subject.
After the controversy with the "God-Builders" and the
censure of their ideas by Lenin, there have been so far no other
attempts on the part of Communists to re-valuate religion.
This, however, does not mean that Communists have lost their
ardour, their convictions, and their ethical principles, which
outsiders have frequently characterized, psychologically speak-
ing, as profound ethical religion. Some of its antagonists on
the other hand consider it the very antithesis of Christianity.
Thus Berdyaev, probably the ablest of the Russian counter-
revolutionary philosophers, says: "Communism, both as a
theory and as a practice, is not only a social phenomenon, but
also a spiritual and religious phenomenon. And it is formidable
precisely as a religion. It is as a religion that it opposes Christi-
anity and aims at ousting it. . . . It takes possession of the
whole soul and calls forth enthusiasm and self-sacrifice." 2
While the Communists object to calling their movement a
religion, they do not deny their intentions of taking hold of the
whole soul of man and wresting him from every religious
influence.
¹ Ibid., p. 228.
2 Berdyaev, The Russian Revolution, English edition, pp. 59–60.
S
I
188
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER X
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH
THE REVOLUTION
TOWARD the end of the last century, for the first time in Russia,
enormous strikes occurred, beginning among the St. Petersburg
textile workers and spreading rapidly to other industries and
other cities. The Government was greatly alarmed at these
events. The more far-sighted of the tzarist statesmen realized
that a new era had commenced in the life of the toiling people
of Russia. The chief of the Moscow secret police, Zubatov,
sized up the situation in the following striking statement:
The working class is an aggregate of such power as revolu-
tionists never before possessed as a weapon in their struggle.
Neither in the Decembrist Movement, nor during the period
of "going among the people," nor during the mass uprisings
of students, were such forces available. Its magnitude is
made still greater by the fact that the technique of the country
is in their hands, and that the workers themselves are con-
tinually brought closer together by the very process of produc-
tion. They root, at the bottom, in the peasant class, whose
sons they are. On the top, due to the necessity of obtaining
special knowledge, they come into contact with the intellectual
strata of society. Stirred up by Socialist propaganda and
agitation directed at destroying the existing political and social
order, the working class becomes a serious threat to the existing
order."
What was to be done to counteract the influence of the
revolutionary agitators? Surely it was not enough to gaol
them or exile them. Something more constructive was
wanted. And here the Government thought of the Church
with its enormous army of priests and monks who, they thought,
189
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
could be of great service in diverting the minds of the workers
from the influence of the revolutionists. Under the general
direction of this same chief of the secret police, societies of
mutual aid, and workers' associations for cultural and educa-
tional activities were started, similar to the welfare and social
activities of the industrial Y.M.C.A.s in the United States.
Priests possessing oratorical talent were sent to the factory
districts. The line of agitation they carried through was to
induce the unsophisticated workers to believe that the Tsar
was their friend and supporter; that he would sustain them
against the exploiting capitalists; that he possessed the power
and that therefore the workers should be loyal to him and
trust him.
During the years 1903-4 was produced a popular literature
dealing with the social question, about 100,000 copies of which
were freely distributed amongst the workers and their contents
expounded. These pamphlets were written largely by the
clergy and contained such titles as "Work and Property,"
"The Social-Economic Life and the Gospels," "To Rich
and Poor," "The Supreme Power," Christianity and
Socialism," "The Wrong Way," "The Labour Problem,'
"The Future Social Order," and so on.
CC
""
The line of thought throughout this literature was that:
(1) Socialism is not synonymous with pure Christianity, as this
is wrongly taught by the enemies of the Church; (2) Socialism
is theoretically inconsistent and practically impossible; (3) The
welfare of the workers may be attained without Socialism.
To appeal to the emotional life of the workers, a musical
organization was set up with mass choruses organized of
workers, and orchestras, with special performances.
One of the chief organizers and popular leaders of this anti-
Socialist movement was the Priest Georgy Gapon who worked
under the direction of the St. Petersburg Secret Police and
who provoked the worker masses to march upon the palace of
the Tsar. At the end of 1904 a strike broke out in the great
Putilov Steel and Machine Works, which was joined by 150,000
workers. To avoid revolutionary outbreak Gapon proposed
1
190
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
to present the grievances of the strikers to their much-adver-
tised “friend ” the Tsar, who would surely listen to them and
help them.
Inspired by the agitations of this priest many thousands of the
Putilov workers marched to the residence of the Tsar to present
to him their petition. This was on Sunday, January 9, 1905.
The workers carried sacred gonfalons, crosses, ikons, national
flags, and portraits of the Tsar; they sang religious hymns and
were convinced that the Tsar would hear them. Their
petition began with these words :
<<
We, workers and inhabitants of St. Petersburg, our wives,
children and our helpless old people, have come to you, our
Lord, to seek truth and protection.
"We are impoverished, oppressed, burdened with unbear-
able toil, we are despised and not recognized as people, but are
treated like slaves.
"We have suffered patiently but more and more we are
thrust into the abyss of poverty, injustice and ignorance; we
are strangled by despotism and arbitrariness, and we suffocate.
We can bear it no longer, Lord, our patience has reached
an end.
We have reached that state when death is more welcome
than continuing in these unbearable agonies.
>>
<<
Thereafter the petition states their immediate grievances in
respect to hours of work, wages and conditions needing im-
provement, and is followed by a broader outlined programme
of reforms, which they petition the Tsar to carry through and
solve the nation's most urgent problems. The suggested
measures of reform are listed under three headings. In its
political aspect the programme asks for representative govern-
ment, and then outlines
1. Measures against the poverty of the people;
2. Measures against the ignorance and lack of rights of the
Russian people;
3. Measures against the oppression of Labour by Capital,
191
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Subs
Awa
The petition concludes with the appeal :
"These O Lord, are the chief grievances with which we
come to you; only in their satisfaction can our country be
freed from slavery and poverty, and make progress. Only
then will it be possible for the workers to organize themselves
for the defence of their interests, from new exploitation by
Capitalists and from the robbery and strangling of a bureau-
cratic government.
(C
Swear that you will order that they be carried out. In so
doing you will make Russia happy and glorious and your
name will impress itself upon our hearts and those of our
progeny for ever; if you refuse we shall die here on the square
before your palace. There is nowhere for us to go. There
are but two ways, either to liberty and happiness, or to the
grave. Order either of them, O Lord, we shall obey without
murmur, even if it be the way to death. Let our lives be the
sacrifice for our suffering Russia. We do not regret this
sacrifice, we render it gladly."
The answer of the Tsar is well known. Thousands of dead
and wounded were brought into sacrifice for Russia's dawning
freedom and the myth of the benevolent Tsar was destroyed
for ever in the hearts of the Russian people. How did the
Church react to this hideous crime which it provoked through
its own priests and agents? It did not voice one word of pro-
test against the brutal massacre. It placed all the blame upon
the workers and their revolutionary leaders and praised the
Tsar for his firmness in maintaining the autocratic regime.

On January 16 the Holy Synod circulated a proclamation in
which it censured the strikers and their daring to march to the
palace of the Tsar. In this proclamation we read among
other similar statements such words as these :
<<
In the capital and in other cities of Russia began strikes of
workers and street riots. Russian orthodox people, from time
immemorial stood for their faith, the Tsar and their fatherland,
but now incited by evil-minded persons, enemies of their
fatherland, at home and abroad, they have abandoned their
peaceful occupation and decided as a mob and by force to
192
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
03
obtain their rights, as if trampled down, causing much enmity
and disturbance to peaceful inhabitants, leaving many without
bread and leading others into useless death without repentance,
with bitterness in their hearts and curses on their lips.
((
Our enemies wish to shake the foundation of our orthodox
faith and autocratic power of the Tsars."
The proclamation exhorts to "fear God, honour the Tsar "
(Peter i. 17) and "submit to every power ordained of God"
(Rom. xiii. 1). . "To toil according to God's ordinance
in the sweat of the brow," etc.
This proclamation was read in all the churches and widely
circulated. It was followed by resolutions and telegrams on
the part of assemblies of priests and bishops congratulating
the Tsar on his firmness in resisting every attempt upon his
autocratic sovereignity and assured him of the loyal support
of the clergy.
In this spirit the Church continued to counteract the revolu-
tionary activities of the masses and organized counter-revolu-
tionary forces, known as the "Black Hundred," which were
to crush the revolutionary movements by every possible means.
Bishops published appeals to the faithful to resist the revolu-
tionaries and to remain loyal to the Tsar and the existing social
order. We shall quote from one of these written by Antoninus
Krapovitzky, well known for his counter-revolutionary activities
to this day; he writes:
(C
Brethren do not listen to those lunatics and liars who
assure you that it is possible to have on earth a social order
where there be no poor.
Sinful before God are the poor,
who are full of covetousness and hatred against the rich, and
murmurs against God. . . . We were sent to earth by God
not for happiness.
Do not listen to those who have no
faith in God, drive them from your homes that they may not
corrupt your neighbours and children. . . .
(C
In their proclamations they have spread nothing but
falsehood. God ordered to honour the Tsar (1 Peter ii, 17),
but they incite the people against the Tsar. God ordered in
the tenth Commandment not "to covet your neighbours'
•
193
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
house, his village, his oxen and everything that is his "--but
they incite the burning and robbing of the property of others.
Every printed sheet or book which is given you by a
stranger of a suspicious spirit, show it to the priest and ask
him whether what is written in it is good or evil." 1
Many more such appeals one may find in the official press of
the Church at that period, containing instructions as to how
to organize the Churches to combat all revolutionary propa-
ganda. Among other measures the Holy Synod decreed in
1908 the inclusion in the liturgy of the Church of the following
prayer :
"God of power, Tsar of rulers, Lord over those who are
masters! In Thy hand is the heart of the Tsar, and power on
earth. Thou placest the Tsars upon thrones and sayest of
them: the Tsars rule through Me therefore do not touch
those anointed by Me. Watch mercifully with Thine eye over
our sorrowing country in which disorder and dissension have
multiplied, threatened by intestine wars and resistance to our
Tsar and to the power ordained by him."
These few examples of the methods of the Church to combat
the revolution could be multiplied indefinitely. They leave
no doubt where the leadership and the clergy of the Church
stood in regard to the impending revolution in Russia, which
was gaining in momentum from year to year.
The Orthodox Church at this time presented a very formid-
able force. According to the 1914 report of the Holy Synod
there were on the territory of the former Russian Empire 57,173
churches and 23,593 chapels-with 112,629 priests and deacons
-550 monasteries and 475 convents with 95,259 inmates.
The property and wealth of the Church was enormous. It
owned 7,000,000 desyatins 2 of land and many commercial
enterprises and houses. Its annual income was estimated to
be about 500 million roubles. At the time of the nationalisa-
tion of the banks its deposits were about 8 billion roubles.
This army of over 200,000 clerics, besides millions of armed
forces, stood behind the tsarist regime and yet could not
1 Tserkovnye Vyedomosty, No. 26, for 1905. A desyatin equals 2.7 acres.
²

194
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
prevent its collapse. When in February, 1917, the Tsar
abdicated the Church joined forces with the Kerensky regime
to prevent the Bolsheviks from coming into power, and when
this failed it fought them by every means, understanding very
well that the triumph of Bolshevism meant death to the
Church. In its official organ Tserkovnye Vyedomosty (No. 1,
1919), we read this frank statement :
"No class of society and no social group did prove so un-
compromisingly and persistently an enemy of Bolshevism as
the Church and its clergy."
This attitude the Church maintained even long after the
White armies and the interventionists were defeated and the
Bolsheviks had firmly established the Soviet Government. To
the Communists, therefore, the Church in Russia, or what
there is left of it, is still their most formidable enemy, which
would seize every opportunity to overthrow the Soviet regime
and turn the wheels of progress backward.
The record of the struggle of the Church against the Bol-
sheviks during the last fifteen years is a sad story, but it must be
told, otherwise it will not be possible fully to understand the
uncompromising enmity of Communism to organized religion.
THE 1917-18 COUNCIL OF THE CHURCH AND THE RE-ESTABLISH-
MENT OF THE PATRIACHATE
The mobilization of the forces of the Church to counteract
the Revolution was begun at the Council (the so-called Sobor)
of the Church which opened its sessions on August 16, 1917.
It was preceded by an election of delegates from every part of
the country consisting of 299 laymen and 270 clergymen,
including the upper hierarchy of the Church. The classes
represented among these delegates show where their sym-
pathies lay in respect to the revolutionary events. There were
II princes and counts, 10 generals and army officers, 132
former tsarist officials, 22 big landowners, 69 representatives of
the bourgeois intellectuals, the rest being from the well-to-do
peasants, manufacturers and the petty bourgeoisie, On the
195
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
side of the clergy there were 10 metropolitans, 17 archbishops,
53 bishops, 15 archimandrites, 72 archpriests, etc.
In short the Council represented in a great majority laymen
and clergy who by their social position could have no sympathy
with the Revolution and considered it their task to counteract
it with all the forces at their disposal.
""
The question which forcibly pressed itself upon the Sobor
was to be or not to be in politics." There was a group
which favoured active participation in the elections and the
formation of something like a clerical party. Others feared
that this was a dangerous move to make and favoured remaining
a non-partisan force.
When General Kornilov marched upon Moscow at the end
of August, 1917, in order to establish a military dictatorship, he
sent a message to the Sobor asking for its support. Many
members of the Sobor welcomed his move and urged the Sobor
to side with him. The question was debated in a closed and
secret session. Only the prompt and inglorious failure of the
coup prevented the Sobor from openly joining the General,
and the incident was closed by a resolution of admonition to
unity and brotherly love" and a plea for mercy for the
defeated usurpers.
CC
One of the chief tasks of the Sobor was to devise a new form
of Church government. The old Synod government had
broken down completely, and even the most conservative
elements of the Sobor did not desire its re-establishment. To
remove the odious associations which were attached to the
High Procurator of the Holy Synod, the Provisional Govern-
ment abolished his office altogether and provisionally established
a Ministry of Cult.
The debates on the question of the new Church government
were naturally long and heated. There was one group, led by
Archbishop Antonius (Khrapovitzky) of Kharkov, which stood
for a strongly centralized government and was willing to vest
much power in the office of the Patriarch, reducing the Synod
to his advisory council. Another group was altogether against
a Patriarchal Government and pointed out the danger of auto-
196
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
cracy and centralization of power. This democratic opinion
dominated the situation throughout October, but changed
suddenly with the ascent of the Bolsheviks to power. It was
an old tradition of the Church that when the throne was empty
the Patriarch ruled interim.
Panic overcame the Sobor. They feared disbanding without
accomplishing the purpose for which they had met. The
debate for and against the Patriarchate had lasted for two weeks.
Sixty speakers had expressed themselves on the question, and
fifty more were registered to speak who were not heard. It
was decided to terminate the discussion and proceed to elect
a Patriarch. It was felt that the enemy was within the gates
of the Church and that quick and drastic action was needed.
On November 17, 1917, the Sobor voted in favour of the
resolution which should become the basis of the Constitution
of the Church. This historic document in full is as follows: 1
1. In the Orthodox Church of Russia the supreme power-
legislative, administrative, judicial-belongs to the Territorial
Sobor, which is called together periodically at definite dates
and is constituted of bishops, clerics and laymen.
2. The Patriarchate is reconstituted and the administration
of the Church is headed by the Patriarch.
3. The Patriarch is first among the bishops who are equal to
him.
4. The Patriarch, jointly with the administrative organs of
`the Church, is responsible to the Sobor.
We see that this brief statement was definite as to the power
vested in the Sobor, but it did not state the rights and respon-
sibilities of the Patriarch except that he was to be primus inter
pares among his colleagues in the episcopacy; nor was any
indication given as to the administrative organs of the Church.
In the election the old custom was followed of choosing three
candidates and then deciding by lot which of these three was
to be Patriarch. The majority of the votes were given to
Archbishop Antonius Khrapovitzky of Kharkov, who was the
1 From the Sobor Definitions and Decisions Moscow, 1918.
197
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
main advocate of the patriarchal system of government of the
Church, and who represented the right wing of the Sobor;
next followed Archbishop Arsenius of Novgorod; and, as
the third and apparently the least desirable candidate, Tikhon,
then Metropolitan of Moscow. On November 8, while the
city was still in panic over the fighting which went on for the
possession of the Kremlin and the control of the city, the Sobor
gathered at the Cathedral of the Saviour where the aged ninety-
year-old monk Alexys drew the ballot which created Metro-
politan Tikhon Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Russia.
The election of Tikhon was a disappointment to the right
wingers of the Sobor, particularly to the friends of Antonius
Khrapovitzky, who had hoped to see him on the patriarchal
throne. Not that Metropolitan Tikhon was a liberal; no one
charged him with such heresy! It was thought, however,
that he was not strong enough to cope with the situation, that
the situation needed a ruthless fighter like Antonius. Tikhon
was known as a kindly, not too aggressive, character, easily
swayed by the men about him. The Sobor decided, therefore,
to surround him with" strong "men by organizing a“ Supreme
Church Council" and a " Holy Synod," over which he was to
preside and with whose aid he was to govern the Church.
Having thus organized itself, the Church felt confident of
coping with the problems which the social revolution created.
In spite of all difficulties, it expected to maintain its old privi-
leges and hegemony in the nation. Anyway this was the hope
of the old hierarchy created by the will of the Tsar, which by
this time had the Sobor well under its control. By no means
could it reconcile itself to the idea that, because of its former
unholy alliance with the discredited Tsarist regime, it had lost
the confidence of a large part of the population.
The old leadership of the Church was blind to the fact that
the Church could not escape the logic of the social revolution,
which authoritatively said: "Rights and privileges are
granted for service to the people." This service the Church
had yet to render and could do so only by reconstituting itself
from the bottom up.
"
198
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVÖLUTION
THE COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY OFFENSIVE OF THE CHURCH
The re-establishment of the Patriarchate was a challenge to
the Revolution; it showed the triumph of the right reactionary
wing of the Sobor and the weakness, if not the absence, of a
truly liberal trend in the Church. The Patriarchate was a
challenge to revolutionary public opinion because it meant
monarchy in the Church and would keep the monarchical idea
before the people. The reactionaries, who by this time were
in full control of the Sobor, hoped the Patriarchal throne
would prepare the way for the re-establishment of the Tsarist
throne. The Sobor could not read the signs of the time and
had no faith in the triumph of the social revolution. The
ascent to power of the Bolshevik Communist Party, which
knew what it wanted and fearlessly carried out its revolutionary
programme, intensified the counter-revolutionary aims of the
Sobor which, blind to the actual situation, continued its
work, totally misunderstanding the just claims of the
workers.
There were two outstanding problems which the Revolution
created in regard to the Church. First, there was the question
of the separation of State and Church. Progressive public
opinion demanded separation. The Church opposed it and
presented a project which would free it from the unpleasant
control by the State which it had experienced under the Tsarist
regime and at the same time would safeguard all the privileges
it enjoyed during that regime and even increase them. The
Provisional Government favoured a gradual process of separa-
tion of State and Church, but left the issue to be decided by the
Constitutional Assembly.
The other problem which called for immediate solution under
pressure of public opinion was the separation of the school
from the Church, to which the Sobor was uncompromisingly
opposed. It must be remembered that education was not a
natural function of the Russian Church, which never was a
teaching Church. Rather it had opposed worldly learning,
which it felt did not increase piety. In spite of its indifference
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199
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
and hostility to popular education, however, the Church could
not, in the long run, prevent its spread. Modern life called
for it. Russia could not maintain itself against the Western
nations unless its people were educated. Thus the State under-
took the organization of public schools which, in spite of all
efforts on the part of the Church, were anti-clerical in spirit.
To offset this and regain its authority among the masses, the
Church, particularly after the 1905 Revolution, attempted to
control public education by means of an extensive net of
parochial schools. For this purpose it received abundant
funds from the State. By 1917 there were 37,000 parochial
schools for primary education, with buildings worth 170
million roubles. In addition the Church established many
theological seminaries and several institutions of higher theo-
logical learning, the so-called Spiritual Academies.
The sudden coming into power of the Bolsheviks took the
Sobor by surprise. Unwilling to give up the prerogatives of
the Church without a fight, the Patriarch declared open war
on the new revolutionary government and the new social
order, and was determined to fight it out to the bitter
end.
This was the meaning of the Patriarch's first message to the
Church, issued on January 19, 1918. The document censures
the excesses of the Revolution and the attacks against the
Church. It threatens those who dare to harm the Church
with hell fire and excommunication. We quote the salient
statements of the message :
"That which you do is not only
you do is not only a cruel deed: it is verily
a Satanic deed, for which you are condemned to hell fire in the
future life and to awful curses by future generations in the
present life.
<<
By the authority which is given us from God, we forbid
you to approach the Sacraments of Christ, we anathematize
you, if you still bear Christian names and even by your birth
belong to the Orthodox Church.
"We also conjure all you faithful children of the Orthodox
Church not to enter into any kind of association with these
200
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
monsters of the human race; put away from yourselves that
wicked person (I Cor. v. 13)." 1
The message continues to enumerate the wickedness of
the monsters of the human race," the chief of which are :
the secularization of marriage and the school, the nationaliza-
tion of Church lands and buildings, the bombardment of the
Kremlin churches during the taking of the city, and the dese-
cration of the chapel of the Saviour in Petrograd. The appeal
closes by entreating the faithful to support the Church by
organizing sacred societies of defence. In demonstrating its
spiritual strength it is " mindful that the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it."
(C
CC
The message was enthusiastically received by the Sobor.
One Sobor member hoped " that the first collision with the
servants of Satan will serve as the beginning of saving the
Nation and the Church from the enemy." Finally, he declared,
I would propose calling Bolshevism itself Satanism,' or
'Antichristianism." " 2 The feelings of the Sobor were very
frankly expressed in the speech of one of its influential members
who said: "The only salvation of the Russian people is a wise
orthodox Russian Tsar. Only through the election of an
orthodox, wise, Russian Tsar is it possible to place Russia on
the right historic track and establish good order. And as
long as we have no wise orthodox Tsar there will be no
order." 3
Such frank talking left no doubt on which side of the revolu-
tionary struggle the Church had taken its stand. Both sides
prepared for the battle, each side using the weapons which were
at its disposal. The Church wielded its power of excommunica-
tion, not only against the members of the Government but
against every Russian who in any way co-operated or rendered
service to the revolutionary government. It organized mass
demonstrations and appealed to the fanaticism of the ignorant
masses. The Sobor appointed its special "general staff,”
¹ Quoted from the Acts of the Sobor, Book VI, p. 4.
2 From the speech of the Priest I, V. Tzvetkoff, Acts of the Sobor,
Book VI, p. 40.
3 The Priest V.S. Vostokoff, ibid., p. 43.
{
O
201
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
·
which was to work out an offensive-defensive plan and organize
the forces of the Church for battle. Some generals and
courtiers changed their military uniform and gilded dress
suits for the cassock, and some became priests and even
bishops.¹ The Sobor's "general staff" inspired every effort
which was made for the overthrow of the new regime, and there
were not a few priests and bishops who helped in the organiza-
tion of the White armies. In the cities monster street demon-
strations were set up and pilgrimages to the sacred shrines of
the Church. The ringing of Church bells as alarm calls,
special services and mass meetings, organization of brotherhoods
for the "defence of the Faith" and every other mass propaganda
measure was put into use to frighten off the revolutionary forces
and compel the Bolsheviks to "come to Canossa." At first
it looked as if the Church would get the better of the struggle
and the revolutionary Government would have to abandon its
plan of separating the Church from the State and nationalizing
its property. It was this economic loss which fired the wrath
of the Church and provoked its opposition. Occasional
excesses and mob actions against unpopular monks and priests
helped in an appeal for sympathy to the masses, but the cry
of persecution concealed the real issue, which was economic
and political, the diametrical differences in the religious and
social philosophies adding zeal and idealism to the struggle.
THE COUNTER-OFFENSIVE OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS
A few days after the Patriarch's message of anathema, the
Government replied with the publication of the famous decree
"on freedom of conscience and religious societies "2 (January
23, 1918), which broke the bonds of a thousand years of organic
unity of the Russian State and the Orthodox Church and laid
down a new basis for the existence of organized religion in the
Soviet Republics.
¹ Thus Prince Oukhtomsky became Bishop Andrew of Ufa; Metropolitan
Peter of Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon's chief adviser and temporary succes-
sor, was formerly secretary to the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, a sister of the
late Tsarina.
2 See Appendix II, A.
202
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
This law, if compared with the laws and practices of other
countries where the Church is separated from the State, as in
the United States and in France, is seen to have a number of
new elements unique and revolutionary in character.
Like the United States it recognizes the equality before the
law of all religious cults, with preference to none, and tolerates
every form of religious custom and ceremony as long as it does
not disturb the public peace and does not infringe upon the
rights of other citizens. It is more thorough than the United
States in its principle of secularizing the State, excluding from
its functions every vestige of religious custom and practice.
In that respect it is more similar to the practice of France.
Its exclusion of religious teachings from every school, public
and private, where secular subjects are taught, is a measure of
secularizing education unparalleled in any other country.¹
1
The real revolutionary significance of the law was, however,
in its attitude towards the property of the Church. Here it
must be noticed that in nationalizing the property of the
Church, the State did not discriminate against it but treated
it similarly to other institutions and private enterprizes, such
as industrial corporations, banks, great land-holders and others
whose properties were also nationalized.
In its practical sense it did not curtail the religious significance
of the Church, since Church buildings used for worship were
left to their congregations free of rent, and only revenue-
producing property was taken from the Church for the benefit
of the people. Those most affected were the monasteries, the
upper hierarchy, and the central administrative apparatus of
the Church which received its income from the revenues of
these properties and from State subsidies.2 Nationalization
meant making the Church economically impotent and thus
weakening its influence politically. Finally, the law not only
¹ In a later decree the admission to special schools of religion children
under eighteen years of age was prohibited. An exception is made to
Mohammedans, for whom the admission age is reduced to fourteen on the
ground that they have to learn a different (Arabic) language to pursue their
religious instructions.
• The Church received annually from the State a subsidy to the amount
of 35,000,000 roubles.
203
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
stripped the Church of its wealth and State support, but it also
made it impossible for the Church as a corporation to accumu-
late property. This is the meaning of the paragraph which
deprived the Church of the rights of a juridic person.
In short, the revolutionary government proved itself as
uncompromising towards the Church as it did towards the old
economic and social order generally. To be consistent it
could not do otherwise. It could not abolish private and
corporation property generally and leave that of the Church
untouched. Naturally, like every law, its application was left
to expediency. Had the leadership of the Church recognized
the justice and inevitability of the social revolution it could have
adjusted its affairs much less painfully, by conferring with the
Government and coming to an understanding. As matters
stood, however, the gulf which divided the Church from the
State was so wide that it could not be spanned by any bridge
of compromise. Either one side or the other had to surrender
its principles, and since neither side was willing to surrender
the struggle continued.
After the publication of the Soviet decree separating Church
and State, the Sobor expected drastic action on the part of the
State in the application of the law. The Sobor General Staff
issued orders and organized defence along two lines: non-
co-operation with the civil authorities and mass agitation against
the law. Wisely, however, the Government did not hurry with
its programme of nationalization, except with regard to certain
monasteries and particularly the monastic lands, which were
appropriated eagerly by the local peasantry. The monks had
little chance of finding sympathy and support on the part of
the peasants in defending the property of the monasteries.¹
The Churches, as such, did not feel any particular effect of
the law upon their practices of worship. The property used
for the purposes of the cult was at that time left to the congre-
gations free of any charge, and all that the State demanded was
that the congregations should organize themselves and select
¹ By 1920 the peasants had received 827,540 desyatins (a desyatin
equals 2.7 acres) of monastic lands from 673 monasteries and convents.
204
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
a responsible body as trustees of the buildings so utilized.
Against such arrangements nothing could be argued; there-
fore it was not easy to move the masses into action against
something they did not feel as persecution of their religion. The
fact that the central Church apparatus, the schools and publish-
ing houses of the Church, were either closed or closing through
lack of the financial support they formerly received from the
State, was difficult to bring to the attention of the masses, who
had no contact with these institutions and were not educated
to appreciate their importance.
For a while there was a considerable stir regarding the dis-
continuance of religious instruction in the public schools, and
efforts were made to continue it in spite of the decree. But
here, too, the clergy was the first to lose its ardour when neither
the State nor the Church had any funds to pay them for their
work. Few priests had the will or the power to give their
services as teachers without pay.
Then life itself demanded co-operation. No boycott of the
Government could last without creating suffering among the
populace. Moreover there were not a few clergymen who had
suffered from the former princes of the Church. They were
not so loyal to the Patriarchal regime as was desired. Frequent
desertions and laxity of discipline threatened to weaken and
undermine the resistance of the Church to the State. In April,
1918, but a few months after the decree of separation, the Sobor
found it necessary to adopt repressive measures against cer-
tain bishops, clerics, monks, and laymen who do not submit
to, but rather resist, the authority of the Church, and turn
hostile to the Church, in the relations of the Church to the
civil authorities, thus bringing much trouble upon the Church,
its servants, its members, and its possessions." 1 The resolu-
tion condemns them as enemies of God" and threatens
excommunication.
(C
C
CC
These rigid measures which the Sobor adopted show in
themselves the difficulty which the rank and file of the clergy
experienced in maintaining the uncompromising attitude of
¹ Resolution of the Sobor of April 19, 1918.
205
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
-----
!
the Patriarch and the Sobor towards the laws of the State.
Slowly the resistance of the Church began to waver.
The Soviet Government found rather unexpected support
from exposing the frauds of which the Church was guilty in
falsifying relics of "incorruptible saints." As previously
described, the large monasteries of Russia, in order to attract
pilgrims, sought to acquire some wonder-working relics,
particularly in the form of the "incorruptible body" of a
local saint, the idea prevailing that the body of a real saint
should not see corruption. This idea had probably been
developed among the cave-dwelling hermits in the Kiev-
Pechora Monastery, where climatic and other conditions
favoured the mummification of some of these self-immured
fanatics. Other monasteries, who felt that their hermits
were no less saintly than those of Kiev, sought for them the
same popularity and went so far as substituting effigies made
of wax and other materials for the bodies, leaving them in
precious silver sarcophagi.
The frauds became known when an inventory was taken of
the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery in the province of Olonetsk in
October, 1918. It was discovered that the silver sarcophagus
of Saint Alexander Svirsky contained, instead of an “incor-
ruptible body," a wax effigy of the saint. The exposure caused
indignation amongst large sections of the population, which
demanded that all "incorruptible saints" be examined and
the findings be published. The greatest scandal, however,
was the exposure of the fraudulent relics of Tikhon Zadonsky
and of Saint Sergius, whose shrine was one of the most popular
pilgrimage places in Russia. The monastery of Sergievo, now
a museum, was one of the richest in the country.
The revolutionary Government, of course, used these expo-
sures to weaken the moral authority of the Church, not without
success. The leaders of the Church and the Patriarch felt
their defeat. Faint attempts were made to negotiate with the
Government and to persuade a change of attitude towards the
Church, but apparently these efforts were belated and no results
were obtained. The last session of the Sobor, which recon-
206
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
vened on June 15, 1918, made no change in the situation. It
prepared resolutions to rouse the sympathy of the masses in
favour of the Church and resist the decree of separation, but
its hopes of success were apparently on the wane. No longer
trusting in themselves, they hoped more for the victory of
allied intervention and the defeat of the Soviet Government in
the civil war which was waged most intensively during the years
1919 and 1920.
THE CHURCH AND THE FAMINE OF 1921
The failure of the crops in 1921 and the approaching famine
put the Soviet Government once more to a severe test of its
vitality and again its enemies hoped for its fall. The Church
shared these hopes, and the Patriarch listened to those advisers
who wished to make political capital out of the national
calamity.
As the horrors of the famine increased, certain priests and
laymen began to agitate in the press for the realization of the
many valuables used for decorative purposes in the churches.
Soon the idea was taken up by the press throughout the country,
and progressive public opinion favoured the idea of using the
nationalized wealth of the churches in the help of the starving.
This moved the Patriarch, and about the middle of February,
in his message to the Church, he suggested that unnecessary
objects such as trinkets, jewelry, and broken objects of gold and
silver, which might be found in the churches, be given to the
famine fund, with the consent of the congregation. This
seemed to be the maximum that the Patriarch was willing to
do and it did not promise large results. Then the Govern-
ment took things into its own hands. By the end of February,
at the session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,
a law was passed stating: 1
1
"In view of the pressing need of mobilizing all resources of
the nation which might serve as means in the struggle with the
famine in the Volga region and for seed for the fields, the
V.C.I.K. (All-Russian Central Executive Committee), in
¹ Published in N46, Izvestia, February 26, 1922.
207
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
addition to its decree concerning the use of objects from
museums, resolves :
To instruct the local Soviets, within one month's time
from the day of publication of the decree, to remove from
Church property, given for use to various groups of believers
of all religions, according to inventories and contracts, all
precious articles of gold, silver and precious stones, the
removal of which does not essentially infringe upon the
interests of the cult, and surrender these to agents of the
Commissariat of Finance, specially designating them for
the fund of the central committee for famine aid."
The law further required that the removal of valuables from
the churches should take place in the presence of representa-
tives of believers to whose care the property had been intrusted,
and that these valuables should be used exclusively for the
famine fund and publicly accounted for.
To this law Patriarch Tikhon replied with a message to the
Church (February 28) strikingly different in tenor from his
previous declarations, which had been sympathetic to the idea
of aiding the starving with the surplus wealth of the Church.
The Patriarch branded the law as sacrilegious and non-
canonical, and called upon the faithful to resist its realization
with every available means. The agitation which began was
carried on in much the same spirit as the previous agitation
against the 1918 decree separating Church and State, but with
the difference that the issue was now of an entirely humani-
tarian nature, thus giving the Soviet Government a moral
backing which it did not have in 1918.
To argue the question on the basis of Church canons and
State laws in a country just emerging from a state of war and
revolution and struggling for the very life of starving millions,
was a futile task. Even legally, religious groups could not
refuse to return to the State that which they had received for
use only and for which they had signed contracts to that effect.
Certainly the resistance of the Patriarch could not be justified
from the humanitarian, not to speak of the Christian, point of
208
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
view. Hence his policy was doomed to failure. The Govern-
ment did not refrain from carrying out the decree, and crushed
every resistance on the part of the leaders of the Church. The
committees which were entrusted with the task of appropriating
the valuables were instructed to use the greatest care in select-
ing the articles to be taken. No object should be removed
which was needed for the cult, so that none could complain
that his religious practices had been interfered with. The
amount of surplus wealth taken from the churches was enor-
mous,¹ and yet so much remains that the loss is hardly notice-
able to the visitor.
The conflict which developed between the Church and the
Government, because of the Patriarch's resistance, claimed not
a few victims. There were riots with some bloodshed, followed
by repressive measures on the part of the State. In Leningrad,
for instance, many priests and laymen were tried and ten of
them sentenced to death, among them the aged Metropolitan
Benjamin. In Moscow, also, a number of priests and laymen
were tried, of whom ten were executed and many imprisoned.
In all were reported forty-five executions and two hundred
and fifty long-term imprisonments. The Church throughout
the country was in a state of anarchy. Large sections of it,
particularly in the famine area, resented the Patriarch's stand.
Priests and even bishops, who otherwise were loyal to the
hierarchy, felt greatly distressed, and a few of the stout-hearted
even dared openly to criticize the Patriarch's position. In
Leningrad a group of liberal clergymen, under the leadership,
amongst others, of the priests Vedensky and Belkoff, finally
took the initiative. When it became known that the Patriarch
was under house arrest and that many in Moscow had been
condemned to death for their resistance to the State in turning
over the valuables of the Church to the famine fund, they
came to Moscow, where they were joined by the Priest Kras-
nitzky and Bishop Antonine. On May 12, the day before the
¹ The published reports state that the amount of gold taken was 442 kg. ;
silver, 336,227 kg.; other precious metals, 1,345 kg.; 33,456 diamonds
weighing 13.13 carats; pearls, 4,414 gr.; other precious stones, 72,383
pieces weighing 28,140 gr.; 20,598 roubles in coins.
209
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
execution of the Moscow priests, they appeared before the
Patriarch and remonstrated with him that he was chiefly
responsible for the terror and anarchy in the Church and that
with his name was associated the whole counter-revolutionary
policy of the Church of recent years. They forced the retire-
ment of the Patriarch and appealed to the Church to make
peace with the new social order.
This appeal of influential clergymen of the Church, standing
out for peace and co-operation with the State, and condemning
unreservedly the old policy of the Church toward the Soviet
State, marks the turning point in the warfare of the Church
against the Revolution and the Soviet Government. For five
years the Church had stood out solidly against the revolutionary
State and the new social order, resisting it by every possible
means and aiding its enemies. It proved to be the most
powerful enemy of the Revolution and was the last to yield.
But once its front was broken its surrender was inevitable.
Those Church insurgents who finally refused to follow their
hierarchial leaders, thus bringing about the capitulation of the
Church before the Revolution, naturally became the objects
of a most bitter hatred on the part of the defeated ecclesiastical
leaders, considering them traitors and Bolsheviks, and brand-
ing them as "red" priests.
THE LIVING CHURCH MOVEMENT
The appeal of the progressive clergy against the policy of the
Patriarch found ready response among the clergy, particularly
the village clergy who for centuries had suffered from the
heavy hand of those ecclesiastical feudal lords, the bishops. A
veritable revolt took place throughout the Church. The
clergy, who never before had had the right to organize and
participate in the central administrative affairs of the Church,
now began to organize. The initiators of the revolt were those
progressive priests who now held the chief administrative
centre of the Church which the Patriarch had allowed to slip
out of his hands. This group was determined to use its power
to carry out certain reforms. It took for its slogan the words
210
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
!
a Living Church," and began to publish under this name
a periodical which was to carry its appeal to the masses. It
organized itself into a union of white priests, also called the
Living Church," whose chief leader became the Leningrad
priest, Vladimir Krasnitzky. Its first constitution, accepted
on July 11, 1922, in Moscow, states as its purpose: "to
guarantee to the orthodox parish clergy liberty in carrying on
their pastoral duties and to free them from dependence upon
the economic ruling elements of society."
At this stage the "Living Church " organization was not
much more than a clerical trade union striving for the improve-
ment of its rights as clergymen and for economic welfare. Its
enemy it saw in the monastic episcopal order, and it called for
the right of the white or married clergy to be eligible to the
episcopate. If we remember the centuries-long subjection of
the white clergy to their monastic overlords and the suppressed
bitterness which existed among them against these black princes
of the Church, this revolt is not difficult to understand. Then
there was the fact that the majority of the bishops were giving
sympathetic support to every counter-revolutionary move,
whether undertaken by the Patriarch or the White armies or
foreign interventionists, the consequences of which fell heavily
on the rank and file of the parish clergy and added zeal to their
desire to become independent of their ecclesiastical tyrants.
The "Living Church" group feared a reaction. It knew
that the old monks and bishops would not surrender their
privileges without a struggle, and signs of its coming were at
hand. Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd excommunicated
the leaders of the progressive clergy, among them the priests,
Vedensky and Krasnitzky. Demonstrations against them were
organized by the Conservatives, and they were branded as
traitors and Bolsheviks. Fortunately there were among the
old bishops a few who were sympathetic to the appeal of the
"Living Church," and these agreed to create a new hierarchy
of white, i.e. married, bishops, even before the meeting of the
Sobor. On June 11, 1922, the Archbishops Leonid and An-
tonine ordained the first "white" bishops, the Moscow priest,
CC
(C
211
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
""
John Chancev, and the Petrograd priest, John Albinsky, and
thus was broken the system of the "black" episcopate which
had existed in Russia for over a thousand years. Soon other
"white
bishops were ordained, and the progressives felt
that they now could commence a "cleansing " from the Church
of the reactionary episcopate and replace them by more
trustworthy leaders. Scores of bishops were retired, so that
on the occasion of the first conference of the " Living Church,'
in August, 1922, it was reported that of ninety-seven diocesan
bishops, thirty-seven had accepted the "Living Church
platform, thirty-six were opposed to it, and twenty-four were
undecided. Then and there it was decided to retire those who
opposed the "Living Church" reforms and call upon the
undecided to make their choice.
""
""
This first conference of the progressive orthodox clergy,
which met in Moscow on August 6, 1922, was undoubtedly an
event of great historical importance. Never before in the
thousand year history of the Russian Orthodox Church had
such a conference been called. There were present one
hundred and fifty priest delegates from every part of the great
Soviet Republic. Most of them had never seen each other
and had never corresponded with each other, yet their common
grievances and their common hopes gave them a sufficient tie
of solidarity to commence far-reaching reforms in the adminis-
tration of the Church.
The Sobor of 1923 confirmed the ecclesiastical and ad-
ministrative reforms of the “Living Church." It also may
be characterized as a peace conference of the Church with the
revolutionary State. One may even say that it was a Versailles
of the Church, where the victorious Revolution was dictating
the terms upon which the Church was to be tolerated and per-
mitted to continue its existence. The principal condition was
that the Church abandon the monarchical system of govern-
ment and become republican in form. A second condition
was that the Church sever its contact with the counter-revolu-
tion and dismiss every prelate who was politically incriminated.
With the dogmatic or religious interests of the Church the
P
4
212
THE CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE REVOLUTION
State did not meddle, but upon these political aspects it was
uncompromising.
The Sobor willingly accepted these terms and even went
further. It assured the Government of its undivided sympathy
and loyalty, declared capitalism a deadly sin, and pronounced
the social revolution just. In this way it annulled the anathe-
mas of the previous Sobor and recognized the decrees of separa-
tion of Church and State, of nationalization of Church property,
and even those limitations on the rights of citizenship which
were imposed upon the clergy and the Church as a punishment
for counter-revolutionary activities.
The Sobor session of May 3 was planned to put into canon-
ical law the state of peace between the Church and the revolu-
tionary Government and open a new era in the history of the
Church.
<<
The resolutions of the Sobor condemned Patriarch Tikhon
as an apostate from the true commandments of Christ and
a traitor to the Church." On the basis of the canons of the
Church it declared him deprived of his office and of his monastic
state and returned to his original state of layman.
With the passing of the resolution the leaders of the Sobor
thought that they had cut off the Church from its inglorious
past, and had opened the way for a brighter future.
This was not the case. The Patriarch, being informed of
his removal, circumvented the decisions of the Sobor. To
regain his freedom he paid the price of a most humiliating
confession,¹ and when at liberty split the Church, thus still
1 The confession says:
"In presenting this statement to the Supreme Court of the R.S.F.S.R.,
I consider it to be the duty of my pastoral conscience to state the following:
Having been brought up in a monarchist society and having been
until my arrest under the influence of anti-Soviet persons, I actually was
hostile towards the Soviet power. This hostility at times passed from a
passive state into active functions, such as the appeal regarding the peace
at Brest in 1918, the anathematizing of the Government in the same year,
and finally the appeal against the decree of appropriating the Church
valuables in 1922. All my anti-Soviet actions, with the exception of a few
minor errors, are summed up in the statement of accusation of the Supreme
Court. Recognizing as correct the decision of the court to hold me respon-
sible for anti-Soviet activity, according to the statutes of the Criminal
Code indicated in the summary of accusation, I repent of these my trans-
CC
213
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
further weakening its position before the State. After his
death in 1925, the controversy between the various factions in
the Church subsided. Under force of circumstances prac-
tically all the bishops and priests submitted to the regulations
of the State and now they do their best to fit into the new social
order. The introduction of the six-day week in the cities and
the cancelling of the great Church feasts as legal holidays,
together with the closing of about half of the churches through-
out the Soviet Union, leaves the Church now rather unnoticed.
In 1929, when the persistent agitation of militant anti-
religious propaganda had greatly weakened the Church, the
Government by new legislation 1 still further weakened its
position. The new law prohibits every social activity of the
Church and in changing the former constitutional provision,
permitting religious propaganda, it now tolerates only religious
worship²; such are the results of the defeat of the Church in its.
struggle with the Revolution. Whatever influence the Church
may still possess depends entirely on the service it is able to
render the people and upon the personal merits of each in-
dividual priest and bishop. In its struggle with the Revolution
the Church was completely defeated and now suffers the in-
evitable consequences.
gressions against the State order and ask the Supreme Court to end my
isolation, i.e. to free me from arrest.
"C
Simultaneously I declare to the Supreme Court that I am from now
on no enemy of the Soviet power. Permanently and definitely I reject
the foreign as well as the inner monarchical white guard counter-revolution.
(Signed) PATRIARCH TIKHON
(Vassily Belavin).”
June 16, 1923.
"
After the liberation of the Patriarch the author interviewed him to find
out what was behind this confession." To the question as to whether
he had been coerced by agents of the Government to make the confession
(this theory of coercion was much in circulation in Russia and abroad),
he replied that he had not been coerced in anything and that in writing
his confession he was following the dictates of his conscience. However,
he added, suggestions were made to him of the advisability of this move
to regain his liberty.
¹ See Appendix II, B and C.
2 This decree handicaps chiefly the Nonconformist sects. The Orthodox
Church rather welcomed it as a protection against the propaganda of the
Evangelicals.
་ ་ ་
i
J
214
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
CHAPTER XI
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
ANTI-RELIGIOUS propaganda in the Soviet Union commenced
long before it received its present organized form in the Union
of Militant Atheists. During the first years of the Revolution
it was carried on by a few groups of convinced atheists who
challenged religious propagandists to debate questions on the
Church and the Revolution, Science and Religion, and so on.
There were published also a number of books and pamphlets
attacking religion, and the Department of Justice produced
a magazine, Revolution and the Church, in which the State
voiced its opinion on the Church and fought for the realization
of the laws of its separation from the State, exposed fraud in
the Church in the relics of saints, and the like.
Gradually voluntary societies for atheist propaganda were
springing up in various parts of the country, but these were
neither united by a common programme nor by organization.
These early propagandists were zealous revolutionaries fighting
for atheism as religious reformers would have fought against
the abuses of the established Church. The first efforts at
creating a mass organization for atheist propaganda was
undertaken with the publication of the weekly paper the
Bezbozhnik (The Godless), which began to appear towards the
end of 1922 and was soon supplemented by an illustrated
monthly, The Godless at the Bench (Bezbozhnik oo Stanka.)
This effort to organize on a large scale an atheist movement
found ready support from the large Party newspapers, such as
the Pravda, and by 1924 a society was formed known as the
Friends of the Newspaper Bezbozhnik. These Friends
spread the paper Bezbozhnik and served as its correspondents.
Locally, they also carried on propaganda against the Church
ana against religion generally.
215
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
In the spring of 1925 the Friends organized a conference in
Moscow in which various projects of a wider organization were
discussed and particularly the problem of aims and tactics.
It appeared that in the atheist movement two separate trends
in aims and methods of propaganda were developing. There
were those who emphasized anti-clerical agitation, exposing
the hostile class functions of the Church and ignoring questions
of religious philosophy and culture; the others chiefly favoured
cultural enlightenment, stressing science and the materialist
philosophy of life. These two trends persist generally to this
day, although it has been recognized by the conference and
the Party that both aspects are of importance. In 1926
the Party adopted and published the theses on the basis.
of which anti-religious propaganda was to be carried on.
These theses ¹ present in very terse, distinct form the basic
conditions of a correct approach and method of anti-religious
propaganda. They deal with: (1) a correct understanding
of the nature of religion; (2) a correct evaluation of the
objective rôle and the subjective aspect of religion; (3) a
correct grasp of conditions under which anti-religious propa-
ganda is developed, relating it to the political and economic
problems of the given period.
1
""
They censure the ignoring of the subjective subtleties of
religion, the vulgarization and simplification of anti-religious
propaganda, and they draw the striking conclusion that the
drift from Religion is not due so much to the " enlightenment
of the masses as to the growing participation of the masses in
Socialist construction, and that it is Socialism alone which will
make an end to Religion and not atheist propaganda, and that
the latter can only accelerate the process if the social-economic
conditions are ripe for it.
These theses by their clearness and frankness are the most
authoritative pronouncements of the Party and their basic
principles are still accepted by Communist anti-religious
workers as the platform of their movement.
On the basis of these principles the " Union of the Godless "
1 For the full text of these theses see Appendix I, B.
***
216
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
developed its activities and in the years following spread its
organization throughout the whole country. During this
period public discussions upon religious questions were very
popular and did as much to arouse and deepen the religious as
the anti-religious interests. The religious forces in some
places were even getting the better of the atheists; this was
due to lack of experienced students of the problem in the anti-
religious ranks and to the sentiment of the public which, under
the revival of the N.E.P., was losing faith the in Socialist ideals.
Since 1927, therefore, the "Union of the Godless" has changed
its tactics and has devoted its efforts to more systematic educa-
tion and training of the various organized groups in Soviet
society in the Red Army, in the Trade Unions, in Teachers'
Associations, in schools, in young people's societies, in village
reading-rooms and clubs.
At this period were organized the first anti-religious museums
and exhibits, anti-religious " wall newspapers," films, plays and
radio talks. To silence the religious forces as much as possible
the anti-religious faction succeeded in 1929 in passing an amend-
ment to the constitution, prohibiting religious and permitting
only anti-religious propaganda. The advocates of the amend-
ment justified these measures by the fact that religious propa-
ganda was very often used as anti-Soviet propaganda. Coinci-
dently a forcible drive was started to close the churches and
1929, on the whole, was the hardest year for organized religion.
Many congregations could not withstand the pressure and
liquidated their churches or united with other congregations
in order to reduce expenses and escape the high taxes imposed
on the churches.
This drive of 1929 coincided with the inauguration of the
Five-Year-Plan of industrialization and agricultural collectiviza-
tion and diverted the interests and enthusiasm of the popula-
tion towards creative work, with a natural decline of interest
in both religious and anti-religious propaganda. The intro-
duction of the continuous week and the cancellation of all the
Church holidays still more obliterated Religion in the life of
the large cities and industrial centres. Church bells were
.
¿
P
217
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
heard no more, factory whistles and the noise of the street
traffic drowned the last vestiges of the once-solemn tones of
the Sunday and the religious holiday in Russia. This, it
must be added, is limited to the cities; in rural communities
the Sunday is still officially recognized as the day of rest.
In June, 1929, an All-Union Conference of Anti-Religious
Societies was held. It renamed its organization The Union of
Militant Atheists, and laid its plans of active participation in the
realization of the Five-Year Plan. The atheist mass organiza-
tion was to be henceforth the vanguard of constructive effort,
fighting under the general direction of the Communist Party
for the industrialization of the country and for the victory of
Socialism in the villages. The local atheist associations were
spurred on to organize collective farms, assist in the purchase of
agricultural machinery and tractors and, by example of their
life and work, attract others to abandon their religious super-
stitions.
The Central Council of the Union launched campaigns to
collect a fund for the defence of the country, at which expense
were built a battleplane, a tank and a submarine-all named
Bezbozhnik.
Naturally such activities differed in no way from the work
of many other Soviet social organizations and the atheist move-
ment was rapidly losing its specific character and purpose as
the advocate of a new atheist philosophy of life. This its
leaders begin to realize and efforts are being made to revive the
work of the Union and fit it for the present task of the Second
Five-Year Plan aiming at the complete establishment of
Socialism and the liquidation of class society.
NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE UNION
The official statistical data of the Union of Militant Atheists
shows a mushroom growth since its organization in 1926.
This is clearly seen from the following:
218
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT

Years.
1926
1927
1929
1930
On 1.1.31
On 1.5.31
In 1932
Number of
local groups
("cells ").
2,421
3,121
8,928
35,000
50,000
abt. 60,000
65,000
Number
of members.
87,033
138,402
465,498
2,000,000
3,500,000
5,000,000
5,500,000
14 to 22 yrs. of age
23 to 45 yrs. of age
Over 46 yrs. of age
"
Increase
"}
Growth per cent. in
comparison to 1926.
"
Groups
("cells ").
20
100,0
14 times
25
27
130,0
370,0
""
""
>>
Increase
1
""
"
Members.
"
100,0
160,0
535,0
23 times
40",
57
69
"}
In addition there are two million members in its junior
organization, for children below the age of 14, about 48 per cent.
girls and 52 per cent. boys. In the adult organization the
percentage is about 30 per cent. for women and 70 per cent.
for men.
The age grouping is seen from the following table :
""
45 per cent.
45 ""
IO ""
According to occupation in the industrial districts about
50 per cent. are workers, about 30 per cent. students and the
remaining 20 per cent. employees.
The number of non-party members is about 60 per cent.
As to race and language there are about 100 different racial
and language groups in the organization.
If we turn now to the qualitative analyses of this huge army
of professed atheists, we find that only a very small percentage
is actively engaged in any of the activities of the organization;
not more than 10 per cent. at the most. The rest is satisfied
simply in paying their annual dues, which are very small,
about 5-10 cents. Nevertheless the huge membership does
219
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
show that many millions, chiefly young people, have grown
indifferent to religion and light-heartedly declare themselves
atheist, which seems to them the proper and respectable thing
to do. One may safely say, however, that the numbers who
have become indifferent to religion are many times greater
than actually recorded. At least half the population is already
unchurched and more or less indifferent to the old religious
taboos and traditions. This does not mean, as yet, that they
are convinced atheists. They may become such, but they
may also join some sect or, after a while, return to the old
Church, which depends on their subjective experience and
the opportunity to hear a message which may meet their
conscious needs.
THE ATHEIST YOUTH MOVEMENT
1
The leaders of the atheist movement understand very well
that the future of their movement depends largely on the
proper training of the young. The Church is deprived by
law ¹ of the systematic teaching of children under 18 in Religion,
and while religious instruction in the home is not prohibited,
few parents avail themselves of this opportunity, nor is there
a suitable literature for the purpose. True enough, attendance
of Church services by the young is not prohibited and many
children are seen there. Nevertheless the fact remains that in
the Soviet Union there is no systematic religious instruction of
children.
Some educators, sympathetic to the atheist movement, agitate
for the introduction of systematic anti-religion training in the
public schools. From the outset the Soviet educational system
declared itself for a non-religious school. This means that the
curriculum simply ignored religion as a subject, but it was
expected that the teachers of the natural sciences, of history
and of literature, would point out the anti-religious implications
of their subject material. For example, in studying the origin
of man, the teacher was to instruct that man was not created
by God, as taught by the Church, but evolved from a lower
¹ See Appendix II, A.
220
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
animal species; a similar stand being taken with relation to
all other natural phenomena. Into the study of history also
might be introduced references to the evils of clericalism and
the "holy inquisition." And so on. In 1927 atheist enthusi-
asts commenced an agitation against the non-religious school
and demanded a definitely anti-religious school. The Com-
missariat of Education finally yielded, but in practice things
remained very much as before. This at least is the general
complaint of atheist enthusiasts-that the school does next to
nothing to promote their cause.
The reasons for this neutrality are several. First of all, there
exists the conviction among the Soviet educators that syste-
matic instruction in "anti-religion" is too negative a subject
to be appreciated by children. Further, the great majority of
teachers have little sympathy in such teaching and above all
are not trained for this work. Finally the curriculum of the
schools is so full already with the study of the natural and social
sciences, mathematics and languages and polytechnical train-
ing, that the introduction, it is felt, of a subject like "anti-
religion" does not fit into the educational programme. The
position of the school authorities is therefore that anti-religious
propaganda should be carried on by implication as described
above, and more systematically studied by voluntary societies,
the so-called “cells of youthful atheists," a junior organization
of the Union of Militant Atheists.
These "cells" normally exist in all schools but their work
is not systematic and rarely enthusiastic. The reason for this
apathy is again the lack of a trained leadership. The over-
worked teachers, even those who are members of the Party,
show little enthusiasm for and understanding of this activity.
Most of it is reduced to presenting two anti-religious pro-
grammes a year, at Christmas and at Easter, in which the
children learn poems and produce a sketch or a play on an anti-
religious tenet.
Further, there is the general feeling among many, even
responsible Communist leaders, that religion is generally for-
gotten or in a lingering condition, and no longer dangerous to
-
221
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the young generation actively engaged in the constructive pro-
gramme of the Party. In its leisure time youth prefers sport,
or some scientific and artistic hobby. Questions of religion
are generally forgotten and are not in evidence; to say, how-
ever, that they do not exist would not be true to the facts. If
not life then death reminds them from time to time of the
eternal question of the hereafter. Then there still exist
Church and family traditions with their birth and name days,
solemn Church services during the great annual feast days
and the like events, all of which have a peculiar attraction and
are witnessed by the crowds of people finding their way into
the churches in spite of propaganda against it and even
occasional disciplinary measures on the part of the various
organizations.
The years 1927-28 were the most active on the anti-religious
front, also in the schools. The junior sector of the Union of
Militant Atheists has now about two million members and its
own monthly periodical. The children are encouraged to
organize campaigns against many evils and superstitions still
prevalent in rural communities. Drunkenness on the great
Church holidays is one of the worst evils and disgraces of the
Church. The struggle against drink is naturally associated
with the struggle against the Church and its feast days which,
at times in the summer, become a real menace to the security
of the harvest. The children agitate against these drunken
feast days, and are the pioneers of temperance in the life of the
village.
The Communist Youth Movement has grown to a member-
ship of about three million. These young people, it is taken for
granted, are all atheist, and as such should be actively engaged
in anti-religious activity. As a matter of fact only 4 per cent.
are members of the Union of Militant Atheists, and it is the
general complaint of atheist agitators that the Communist
Youth Movement has alienated itself from the anti-religious
propaganda. The reason for this apathy to religion lies in
the fact that the youth movement has been entirely absorbed
by the constructive programme of the Five-Year Plan, and its
1444
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
interest in questions of religion and philosophy has waned
correspondingly.
Efforts are now on foot to revive these interests in the Youth
Movement and if a programme of vital interest should be
presented the young people will respond. The more thought-
ful are beginning to ask the eternal questions of "whence "
and "whither," and have not received satisfactory answers.
The old anti-clerical agitation does not appeal to them any
more, they desire something more constructive and interesting,
and in this respect the anti-religious movement has so far failed
to meet the demand.
ATHEISM IN THE RED ARMY
The Red Army in the U.S.S.R. has become an active centre
for disseminating atheism. The recruits are systematically
trained in the Communist doctrines of atheism and at least
75 per cent. of them declare themselves against religion before
they are dismissed from the army.
The Red Army was, from its very beginning, militantly anti-
religious. During the civil war it fought an enemy which
was in close alliance with the Church and which claimed that
all the heavenly powers were on its side. These White armies
carried crosses and ikons into battle against the Reds and had
"Regiments of Jesus" and of the "Holy Virgin," organized
by the clergy. In defeating these "holy " regiments of coun-
ter-revolutionists, the "Red Army
Red Army" established an anti-
religious tradition which is unique and is considered to add
to its fighting quality.
After the civil war, in the years 1922-23, the educational
programme of the Red Army training camps included frequent
debates with the clergy on religious questions, which later
developed into more regular courses carried on in special study
circles. These courses more or less followed the line which
the general Communist programme provides, emphasising the
class nature of religion, the counter-revolutionary function of
the Church and the anti-scientific position of orthodox theology
with regard to the origins of the world, of man, etc.
223
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
With the inauguration of the Five-Year Plan, the Red Army
undertook to train its best men for leadership, particularly for
the collective farm movement and the cultural needs of the
village community. Between the years 1928-30, 200,000
obtained their training in special subjects to fit them for the
new tasks in the collective farms, the co-operatives, for cultural
work, and as village Soviets functioning among them. 10,000
graduated as agitators in anti-religious propaganda and they
spread throughout the country carrying with them a destructive
message against the old gods.
The anti-religious training in the army pays special attention
also to the sectarian pacifists who serve their term in divisions
without arms.
Efforts are made to convert the sectarians to
atheism and persuade them to abandon their pacifism. These
efforts are not without success, although it is not definitely
known what percentage of the sectarians abandon their
religious convictions.
ATHEISM AMONG THE MINOR NATIONALITIES
The Union of Soviet Republics is a huge international in
which live about 200 different racial and linguistic groups.
Some of these people, like the Ukrainians and the Tartars,
number many millions, but there are others, particularly among
the mountain races of the Caucasus, which do not exceed a few
thousand persons. The Caucasus, lying between Asia Minor
and Europe, was from time immemorial the refuge place of
many races. Here scores of little remnants of defeated and
pursued people hid themselves from their enemies and were
able to survive, living in the narrow mountain valleys.
Most of the smaller and culturally backward racial and lin-
guistic groups had no written language. The Soviet Govern-
ment has undertaken to supply these, and during the last
decade 32 new alphabets were devised to fit the demands of
these languages; literature is produced in about 80 different
languages. Over 70 of these nationalities have already a
printing press into which anti-religious propaganda has been
early incorporated. An important step forward has been the
224
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
Latinization of a number of the Turk languages which had
their script in the difficult Arabic The native literature was
almost exclusively of a religious nature. The introduction of
the simple Latin script has radically changed the situation and
now the anti-religious literature has the right of way. At
present atheist papers in 14 different languages and anti-
religious textbooks in 22 languages are published in the
U.S.S.R.¹
Work in the minor nationalities in the Soviet Union is con-
sidered highly important, for many of these racial groups are
still exceedingly backward and their economic and cultural
development is retarded by the tenacious hold of many pagan
superstitions and taboos. In many of these groups religion and
nationality have become synonymous, and whatever culture
these peoples possessed was religious, their leaders being often
also their priests and medicine men. This makes anti-religious
propaganda among the minor nationalities much more compli-
cated. To abandon their religion often means to these people
the abandonment of their nationality. All these errors have to
be combated. The Soviet Government is selecting the best
active elements among the youth of these nationalities and
training them for leadership in special schools organized for
this purpose. It is unnecessary to say that this training is
definitely anti-religious and that Soviet intellectual leadership
of the minority nationalities has become altogether atheistic.
The industrialization of some of these minor national
republics is rapidly increasing. The great Turksib Railway,
connecting Siberia and Turkestan, has cut through large areas
rich in oil, coal and non-ferrous metals, which wealth is now
rapidly being developed. The Five-Year Plan has increased
the industrial output of Kasakstan and Dagestan by over
500 per cent. and similar growth has been recorded in the other
republics. This fact alone means a revolution in the thought
and habits of the nomads of yesterday and this transition
1 While it is estimated that there are 200, languages actually on record
are 186 in the U.S.S.R. But scores of others exist which so far have not
been studied.
225
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
naturally cannot occur without a struggle on the part of the
conservative and former ruling classes among these people.
The collective farm movement, which is successfully carried
through among many of the minor nationalities, has similar
effects as industrialization. To many of these primitive people
to enter the collectives means, at the same time, to abandon
their religion; on this ground there is opposition and, at times,
bitter struggle.
The spread of atheism among the minor nationalities may
best be seen in the records of the recent All Union Conference
of the Atheist Movement. At the first conference in 1926
there were but six nationalities represented. By 1931 their
numbers had actually increased to 97 nationalities, and by now
must have passed the 100 mark. The Moslems, which formerly
were the most fanatical. in adhering to their religion, are now
turning away from it in large numbers; the reasons are
chiefly social and economic. To the Moslem women it means
emancipation from their age-long degradation; to the men it
means freeing themselves from the oppression of their former
feudal lords. In joining the collective the former semi-slave
farm labourer becomes independent, a new life begins for him
and he readily abandons his old religion which had taught
him submission to his master.
The Moslem women, particularly of Central Asia, have been
roused to cast off their former bondage and degradation, sym-
bolized in the wearing of the parandja, a heavy cloth covering
face and body, when outdoors. On the international woman's
day, March 8, the great solemn annual meeting takes place in
which the women in large masses remove the parandja and some-
times demonstratively burn them. In 1932 ten thousand
Uzbek women alone dropped the veil. This meant as much as
abandoning their religion and exposing themselves to persecu-
tion from Moslem fanatics; as a result many women were
beaten and 14 even were killed. Nevertheless they continue
their struggle for independence. During the last (1930)
elections, 126,165 Uzbek women, 16.2 per cent. of the voters,
participated in the elections and elected 3,890 women delegates
C
226
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
•
to the Soviets, 12.9 per cent. of the total number of seats. All
this was done despite the bitter opposition of the Moslem
clergy and means actually a break with the old religious taboos
and traditions. Anti-religious propaganda among the minor
nationalities is at the same time an agitation for a social revolu-
tion and its far-reaching consequences are widening.
THE ATHEIST INTERNATIONAL
Communists are internationalists and every aspect of their
work eventually becomes international in scope. This is also
true of their anti-religious propaganda, which in late years has
found expression in the atheist international. Known abroad
as the "International of Proletarian Free-thinkers," its aim
is "to carry on a decisive struggle on an international scale
against clericalization of the labour movement, against mission-
ary activities in colonial and semi-colonial countries, against
Christian pacifism and the participation of the Church in pre-
paring a new imperialist war." 1
In the summer of 1925 was formed, under the initiative of
German and Czecho-Slovakian Atheists, the International of
Proletarian Free-thinkers which at once communicated with
the Soviet atheist organizations; in 1926 the Soviet Union of
Militant Atheists joined the International and soon gained
control of the organization, directing its efforts along revolu-
tionary lines in opposition to the reformist tactics of the
Socialists affiliating with the Second International. The con-
troversy which arose out of these differences ended with the
withdrawal of the reformist free-thinkers, who joined the so-
called Brussels International consisting of bourgeois free-
thinkers, and the International of Proletarian Free-thinkers.
came under the full control of Communist parties and of
organizations sympathising with the Third International.
At first the headquarters of the International was in Germany.
But later, when prohibited by the German Government, it
withdrew and temporarily its address is at the headquarters of
the Central Union of Militant Atheists in Moscow. The
From the resolution of II Congress of the Union of Militant Atheists.
70
227
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
A
activity of the International consists in a lively exchange of
experience between the different national sections and in
friendly competition in carrying its propaganda amongst the
masses. By 1932 two hundred and fifty local atheist organiza-
tions in the U.S.S.R. were in correspondence with foreign
organizations. Of these 80 atheist youth organizations have
signed competitive agreements with as many units in Czecho-
Slovakia. Similar exchange is going on with Holland, Germany
South Africa, Australia, South America, Japan, etc., and in all
there are 31 countries which are in correspondence and which
use "Esperanto" as a medium of communication.
The "International " has turned its attention to the foreign
workers engaged in Soviet construction work and carries on
its propaganda among them. In one of the Moscow plants,
out of 150 foreign workers, 100 have joined the atheist Union,
whilst in other plants and cities similar interest is found
amongst foreign workers.
In the programme of activities of the "International "
study is made of religious movements in capitalist countries,
particularly in the U.S.A., Canada, Latin America, and most of
the European countries. The results of these studies have
been published in 30 different monographs and for such litera-
ture there is an increasing demand among the atheist organiza-
tions of the "International."
CHIEF CAUSES OF ATHEISM
Wherever the masses are being organized in the U.S.S.R.,
it entails a break with the old traditions and also with religion.
Some of the surveys have brought this out clearly. The Red
Army, as we have shown, carries out extensive anti-religious
propaganda among its recruits. Surveys of large factories
show similar results. In a factory with 12,000 workers
84.1 per cent of the non-party members in the factory are
atheists and only 15.9 believers. For the party members it is
taken for granted that they are all atheists. A survey in White
Russia, carried out in 1930 in 20 towns and 225 villages, showed
that 98.5 per cent, of the industrial workers are atheists, whilst
228
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
for the rural communities the average of unbelievers is
65.4 per cent.
The performance of the rites of christening, marriage and
burial by a priest, while having little to do with religious con-
victions, being largely a matter of social custom, is also begin-
ing rapidly to decrease, particularly as regards Church weddings,
which formerly were universal and rather an expensive per-
formance. The present registration fees in the civil depart-
ment are very small and the registration still has enough sem-
blance of a ceremony to satisfy most people. The following
figures are very characteristic of this drift from former religious
customs. The data are taken for the periods of nine months,
January to September 1 of each year:
I
For the Number of Births in Moscow
1927
33.0%
59.7%
7.3%
1. Having no religious ceremony
2. Having a
3. Unknown
""
""
For the Number of Burials
>>
1. Having no religious ceremony
2. Having a
3. Unknown
>>
""
For the Number of Marriages
1. Having no religious ceremony
2. Having a
3. Unknown
""
30.1%
66.8%
3.2%
81.6%
15.6%
2.8%
1928
38.1%
57.8%
4.1%
33.3%
65.7%
1.0%
86.3%
11.8%
1.9%
If we commence an inquiry into the causes which have
brought about this rupture with Religion we find them to be
the results either of agitation or of disappointment in the clergy
and in the power of religion to prevent the calamities of war
and famine. In one of the factory surveys 96 autobiographies
of atheist working men were received in which are told the
stories of their severance from religion. Analyzing these
229
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
testimonies we find that in 7 cases it was the experiences of
the
1905 Revolution which led to the severance; in 10 cases,
the World War; in 26 cases, agitation in the Red Army; in
31 cases, the experiences of the October Revolution and of
Socialist construction; in 9 cases, disappointment in the clergy
and revolt against the frauds of the Church; direct converts
by atheist agitation, 5; and, finally, 5 cases resulting from
personal experiences leading to the abandonment of God and
the Church.
Here are some of these testimonies.
Writes one worker: "My doubts in the Faith date back to
1905, to the time of the shooting of workers on January 9.
With Religion I broke in the shop."
Another: “My break with Religion began in 1905. I began
to visit the underground groups and the May Day demon-
strations, which made it clear to me that Religion is a
weapon of the bourgeoisie and that we must struggle
against it."
A third: "At the Front in 1915 I completely severed my
relations with God. At the Front all this could be under-
stood. Where can there be a God when people kill each
other, for what reason? They don't know themselves.
Now I have no doubts."
A fourth: "Before the war I was religious; during the war
I saw that Religion is an opiate of the people. When the
priests accompanied the army to the Front, they told us :
You shall perish for a sacred cause, and will receive for
it a heavenly reward,' but they themselves retreated to
the rear."
A fifth: "The civil war made me break with Religion; because
of the relation of the priest to the people during the
Imperialist (World) War, and also, during 1918–19, when
I saw how the priests behaved toward the Soviet
Power."
:
A sixth "After the Revolution I saw what was taking place.
There can be no heavenly ruler. No one could stop the
230
THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
revolution, which was breaking down all the foundations
of Religion and faith in God.”
(C
A seventh: "I read a few atheist journals and listened to
lecturers, and this made me break with Religion."
An eighth : The chief reason for my severance from Religion
was the influence of my teachers and also the absurdities
of the Bible, which I had read."
A ninth: "I read Darwin's book on the origin of nature,
which produced a revolution in my mind."
:
A tenth "Not God gave the peasants the land of the lords,
but the godless Bolsheviks."
There are thousands of similar cases. We see that they are
rarely of a philosophic nature, but rather the result of dis-
appointment, or of a naïve faith and superstition, shattered by
scientific facts. As illustration of the latter cause, it is recorded
that in one village a group of school children, with the aid of
the teacher, installed an incubator; this apparatus was watched
with curiosity and anxiety by the inhabitants, and when finally
the chicks appeared, they began to doubt in God Almighty,
and one of the women took all her ikons and burned them
demonstratively before the whole village. These are not
isolated cases; science and the machine upset the traditional
beliefs of unsophisticated peasants, particularly if scientific
facts are interpreted as proof that there is no God, as in the
case of the incubator.
1
231
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CHAPTER XII
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST
PROPAGANDA
SOCIALISM is impossible in a country with millions of small
individual peasant holdings and primitive methods of agri-
culture. The population of the Soviet Union is still pre-
dominantly agricultural; more than 80 per cent., or about
130 million people, are peasants living in a million small
villages. Such small settlements are too poor to have any
cultural activities. For centuries they lived in illiteracy,
poverty and superstition, and the Church was the only insti-
tution which had access to them, though it did next to nothing
for their education. On the contrary it kept them in ignorance.
as the safest way to maintain authority over them.
The proletarian revolution swept away the political power of
the Church together with that of the Tsars whose mainstay
it was. The peasantry, generally, supported the Revolution,
for they were hungry for the land hitherto held by the rural
gentry and the Church. The Soviet Government nationalized
and distributed the land amongst them for their permanent
use, with a single tax system by which the State drew its
revenue. This, for the time being, solved the problem to
the peasant's satisfaction, but not to that of the city population.
These small holdings, tilled by primitive methods, were too
inefficient to yield a large enough surplus to provide for the
needs of the city and for purposes of export. From year to
year this surplus continuously decreased and the growing
cities and industrial centres began to feel the shortage acutely.
Two possibilities offered themselves as escape from this
difficulty. One was to permit and stimulate the development
of the larger holdings of the more well-to-do peasants, called
232
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
the "kulaks" (i.e. "fists") because they held the poorer
peasants in their control and exploited them; the other was
to pool the land of the peasants and to cultivate it collectively
by more efficient methods with the aid of modern machinery.
The Communist Party and the Government decided in favour
of the latter; to do otherwise would be to betray the aims for
which the Revolution was fought. This decision was reached
after profound internal party struggles and it was the most
daring venture of the Bolsheviks since the early October days.
Large industrialized State farms and machine-tractor stations
were to demonstrate the new methods and become the leaders
in the movement. In this manner the State hoped to solve
the food problem for the city and also to open the way for
Socialism in the village.
The industrialization of the country outlined in the Five-
Year Plan was to proceed hand in hand with the collectivization
of the peasant landholdings. This gigantic scheme meant
equally a cultural revolution. The plough-shares, drawn by
powerful tractors, were not only to till millions of acres of fertile
land, some still in a virgin condition, but also to break down the
old traditions with their many superstitions, religious taboos
and customs. It must be remembered that the religion of the
peasants is an agricultural cult in which the working seasons
of the year are associated with the great Church feasts and
Saints days. It was believed that the fertility of the soil and
the success of the crops depended on the magic rites and the
Church prayers. But now agricultural science and modern
machinery, hitherto practically unknown in Russia, was let
loose upon a still primitive untutored people and it went
rough shod over all they cherished. It struck hard at their
individual property instincts and wrought havoc in their re-
ligious and social habits and ideas. It roused enthusiasm in
the younger and the poorer peasants and bitter opposition in
the conservative "kulak " class.
The anti-religious movement put great faith in the tractor
as a means to the eradication of Religion. Its enthusiasts
jumped to the conclusion that the collective farm will end rural
r
Q
233
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
!
class differentiation and therefore Religion. Some of the new
collectives were named " Godless," the peasants having voted
for the closure of the Church. There are 400 such Collectives
registered in the Central Union of the Militant Atheists. This
is not large considering that there are over 200,000 Collectives
and 5,000 State farms embracing 61 per cent. of the farming
population and producing 80 per cent. of the crops of the
country.
THE EFFECT OF COLLECTIVIZATION UPON RELIGION
In December, 1932, there met in Moscow a conference of
rural representatives and leaders of the anti-religious movement,
in all about a hundred delegates. These representatives came
from practically every part of the Union and their reports
were most illuminating in revealing religious conditions in the
collectivized villages. The writer attended a number of their
sessions, and much of what he heard was food for thought and
helped considerably in the understanding of this complex
problem.
With few exceptions all delegates frankly stated that their
work so far had not had much effect upon the masses. The
religious customs have still a strong grip upon the people.
Most of the so-called "Godless
Godless" collective farms are godless
only in name and do not differ actually from other Collectives;
sometimes even they have no organization for anti-religious
propaganda of any kind. One of the representatives of the
Leningrad province reported concerning several surveys
carried out in two rural districts, one of which is considered
progressive and the other exceedingly backward. Here are
the facts as given by the speaker. They reveal an entirely
different story from that which is commonly believed concern-
ing religious conditions in the Soviet Union, and the fact that
the data were collected by an atheist organization may assure
us that the report has not been coloured to favour of religion.
Of the three groups of figures given below: Group I repre-
sents the Collectives of the progressive district; Group II,
the Collectives of the backward district; and Group III
234
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
represents individual peasant households who have as yet not
joined the Collectives. The survey sought to establish how
many peasant families still have ikons in their homes, which
is the first and surest indication of the Russian orthodox re-
ligious tradition, just as the family Bible was once such an
indication in a Protestant farmer's household. The four
following columns list the replies given to questions put to
the families as to their view of Religion, whether it is helpful,
harmless or harmful. The answers are given percentage of
the total ikon holders:
Group I
Group II
Group III
Ikons
77
98.7
100
Helpful Harmless Harmful Undecided
28
30.6
18
39
26.3
82
30
7
6
IO
In analyzing these figures we see that the collective farmers
in Group II are not only beginning to discard their ikons, as
in Group I, but a large percentage considers religion harmful,
referring chiefly to trust in prayer to their ikons as the visible
gods. While agreeing as to the harmfulness of religion they
are still unable to break away from it. Group III is much
more definite in its belief in the helpfulness of religion and
its dependence upon the ikon. The individual farmer does
not feel the strength of the Collective behind him, and therefore
relies upon deity. For a peasant to discard his ikons means
to become an atheist. Hence Group I is already 23 per cent.
godless.
Another Leningrad Survey showed that in a district with
27 collective farms embracing 912 households, 97.4 per cent.
possessed ikons, but 3.1 per cent. were atheists, showing that
some professing atheism had not as yet abandoned their ikons.
These Collectives kept 52 Saint Days and Church feasts, to
which they devoted 117 work days, and there were only two
cases where burials took place without the participation of a
priest. The Church Saint and feast days are a great hindrance
to scientific farming and one of the aims of anti-religious pro-
paganda is to break down the traditions which support them.
235
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Nevertheless, to comply with the wishes of the peasantry, the
Government stipulated a seven-day week with Sunday as the
general rest day for the rural districts. The cities and in-
dustrial centres have a rest day on every sixth day, reckoned
according to date and ignoring the day of the week.
Another survey in 14 rural schools showed that in 94.7
per cent. of the homes there were ikons, 19 per cent. of the
children declared themselves atheists, and 15 per cent. of the
families. Only 25.4 per cent. kept the fasts prescribed by the
Church and 57 per cent. had prayers. These figures probably
compare well with any Protestant community outside of
Russia. Again we must remember that most confessions of
atheism, particularly from school children, are rather super-
ficial; they are usually the result of agitation on the part of
the teacher who instructs the children that science excludes
God, and that the crops do not depend upon the fancies of
Deity but upon the caprice of nature, much of which science
can control. A visitor to one of the rural schools, which was
known to be particularly atheistic, asked the children if there
exists a God and all shouted in a chorus that there is none.
The visitor then asked if there were witches, to which the
children, after a moment's silence, shouted that of course
there were, that they had two in their own village! Probably
the teacher taught them only that there is no God, and forgot
to tell the children that there are no witches.
Anti-religious propaganda, with all its confessed defects, is
nevertheless a force which gradually undermines the founda-
tion of the people's faith. The appearance of machinery on
the farms rouses the curiosity of the peasant and there is a
great search for scientific enlightenment. A group of 20
peasants of the Moscow Province walked 18 miles to the
county seat to inquire from a Communist lecturer who happened
to be there how men and Religion had come into the world.
In another place hundreds of working men formed in line in
order to look through the microscope after having heard a
lecture on biology, and it was two in the morning before the last
one had satisfied his curiosity. This shows that the former
Wh
236
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA

orthodox ideas of the universe are no longer satisfactory. The
anti-religious propagandists are skilfully using scientific know-
ledge to discredit theology. The unsophisticated peasant is
faced with the choice between God or Science, the Collective
Farm and Socialism or the Church and Religion. It is not
only the atheist agitator who presents the problem in this
exclusive manner, it is often done by the priest and the religious
fanatic. The writer once enquired of a peasant why he was so
opposed to Collective farming, which promised so many advan-
tages; his bizarre reply was that it was opposed to the will of
God, for had God desired Collectives, he would have created
not the individual Adam and Eve, whom he had put into the
Garden of Eden, but he would have created a Collective and
instructed them to work the garden as a group. Similar argu-
ments are heard from the Evangelicals who, however, stress
the fact that to enter a Collective means to associate with un-
believers.
-
This opposition to Collectives on religious grounds is
usually either an excuse on the part of the more prosperous
peasants, who withhold their co-operation because it means
for themselves a personal loss, or comes from the most back-
ward peasants, usually from those villages which were formerly
in the possession of landlords under the system of serfdom, to
which class of peasantry entering the Collective appears like
returning to the old system of serfdom. The clergy also
spreads propaganda against the Collectives because it fears its
anti-religious influence; it fights the Collectives in every way
and frequently turns to fraud or appeals to the superstitions
of the masses. Thus in one of the Central Volga districts a
"Letter from Christ" was circulated by monks and nuns
which asked the faithful to keep out of the ungodly Collectives.
Investigation shows that this district at the time of the outbreak
of the Revolution had some 2,000 monks and nuns and hardly
a single school in the whole district. The Soviet Government
disbanded these monasteries and convents, with the result that
their inmates spread through the neighbouring country, where
they continued their agitation. Although the constitution of
<<
237
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the Collectives prohibits religious discrimination, the fact that
anti-religious propaganda has been carried on in them has been
used as an argument against them. It is of course true that
a Collective is a dangerous rival to the old religion even though
no word against God is said there. It is a machine which
ruthlessly disregards the old customs and goes roughshod
over the old superstitions and taboos.
A young peasant lad of 18, visiting a rural anti-religious
exhibit, writes: "I believed in God but the exhibit convinced
me that the priests had deceived me. I am now declaring
myself an atheist and shall enter the Komsomol and the
Collective." From this statement it is clear that this youth
was held back from the Collective by his traditional belief
that it was incompatible with Religion. Abandoning the old
faith he found the way clear to join. The Collective does
affect the psychology of the peasant and the machine removes
the fear of the forces of Religion against which the individual
feels so impotent. This does not always mean that the
peasant gives up his belief in the supernatural all at once, but
he feels that the collective and the machine are strong enough
to resist it. A conversation with an Uzbek farmer, in one of
the Collectives in Central Asia, illustrates the point:
me," asked the interviewer, "do you still believe that Shaitan
(the evil spirit) exists?"
"Tell
"Oh, yes, he still exists, and he can get me, but not in
the Collective !"
"And why not in the Collective?"
Because there we are many, and if I should become learned
and be an engineer, then he cannot get me at all ! "
Another peasant, interviewed on the existence of witches,
answered in the affirmative, but added: "In the Collective
they are harmless because it is a godless Collective." ¹
In another community, visited by an expedition of the
Communist Academy for the study of Religion, the leader of
the expedition asked a lad of 18 to go up into the belfry and
(C
¹ From the report of A. T. Lukachevsky, quoting from materials collected
by the expeditions of the Communist Academy for the Study of Religion.
238
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
ring the church bell to assemble the peasants scattered in the
fields. The boy did so and afterwards said: "Two years ago
I would not have climbed into the belfry for anything.
CC
در
And why not?"
"Because there are devils up there, and they would have
caught me."
"And why don't they catch you now?"
“Because now I am doing social work and they don't dare
to touch me."
Similar reactions take place in the minds of many workers
recently arrived from the villages, who have never seen a
machine before. One of these writes from the newly-con-
structed Magnitogorsk steel plant: "We build everything,
there is no God." Such are the reactions of an unsophisticated
people upon whom has suddenly descended a mechanical
civilization. Some recoil from it in fear. Others feel its
mighty challenge and creative power. They join it enthusi-
astically and through it they feel their own strength. "We
build everything, there is no God." Such is their sweeping
conclusion. As a result they drift away from the Church.
A survey in one of the rural districts in White Russia with
a population of 40,000, seventy per cent. of which are in
Collectives, shows that they had eight Orthodox Churches,
two synagogues, and one Roman Catholic Church. Of these,
one synagogue and one Orthodox Church had been closed since
the collectivization movement began. The Survey shows that
the Jewish population leaves its religious traditions most
readily and the Roman Catholics hold to it the longest. Accord-
ing to actual count, after collectivization has been established
in the district, not more than 10 per cent. of the population
still attends church.
The drive against the old-established religions with their
consequent disintegration does not always mean that the people
are finished with Religion and have become permanent
atheists. Very often they leave the old faith to embrace some
new cult. There is, for example, a strong sectarian movement
among the Moslems of Azerbaidjan. The nature of these
239
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
sects has not been studied as yet, to understand in what consists
their attraction during this transitional period. There is also
a strong sectarian differentiation in the south of Russia and in
Siberia, following the traditional lines of the apocalyptic
flagellators and other trends. To the mystically inclined and
discontented peasants the revolutionary changes brought about
by collectivization and the whole atheistic propaganda of
Communists appears to them a certain sign that Anti-Christ
rules and that the world is heading towards a cataclysmic end.
In some places it takes on fanatic forms, of peasants leaving
their homesteads and taking to wandering, a phenomena which,
as we have observed, existed during the 18th century when
Peter I made his first drive to modernize Russia. This
wandering mania is frequently stimulated by the monks
expelled from the monasteries, who make their way through
the country spreading alarm among the population. Also
there are some priests who, after being driven from the parishes,
take to wandering, and as they go they offer their services in
performing the orthodox rites of baptism, prayers for the dead,
and so on. These monks and priests mingle in the market
places and seek admission and shelter in the homes of peasants
and artisans who often become willing listeners to their in-
sidious propaganda. Others of the former clergy and sec-
tarians enter the collective farms as accountants, clerks and
sometimes as full members. Possessing greater organizing
skill and shrewdness, they quickly rise to leadership and
influence. Other priests and sectarians openly and undis-
guisedly offer their service, which some Collectives and even
Soviet officials accept, pressed by the shortage of experienced
and literate help. The sectarians, particularly because of their
sobriety and elementary honesty, rise quickly to influence and
control in some of the Collectives.
NEW TACTICS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
All these facts compelled the atheist agitators to renew their
activities and to design a programme of work which would
more effectively counteract the revived religious forces. It is
240
?
1
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
realized that to let things drift in the hope that Religion will
atrophy by the mechanical forces of industrialization is thought
to be an unsafe solution. This is called the mechanist heresy.
It ignores the consciousness and the power of organization of
the old religious movements, some of which have shown
remarkable vitality under most trying circumstances. The
anti-religious leaders argue that to leave Religion to itself will
prolong its existence, and therefore something must be done
to counteract it. The more impatient fall back upon repressive
measures, trying to force the closing of churches and the
arrest and exile of the unfriendly and fanatical leaders of
religion; but by these measures they arouse ill-feeling among
the followers and are apt to stimulate fanaticism. These
repressive measures have contributed a great deal to stimu-
lating the revival of apocalyptic sectarianism and have made
the population believe that the Soviet Government is in
sympathy with religious persecution. To avoid these harmful
conclusions, repressive measures are discouraged and strictly
prohibited by the Party and the Government.
The only effective thing to do is to rely on education and
active counter propaganda. This is the present position of the
atheist leaders and on this principle the new programme of
activity is being outlined. In the resolution adopted by the
All-Union Conference of Rural Anti-religious Workers, to
which we previously referred, this change of policy is clearly
stated. We shall quote from this document at some length,
for it presents a clear picture of the situation as seen by the
men engaged in the struggle against Religion. In characteri-
zing the present situation in the rural districts, the Resolution
says:
<<
In the given period, because of the great victories of
Socialism, millions of toilers depart from Religion, casting off
for ever religious customs, attending to work on religious
feast days, shutting down churches and religious meeting
⚫ houses, and godless collective farms are organized at the initia-
tive of the peasants themselves. All this calls for further
development of anti-religious propaganda in the villages. At
|
241
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
7
the same time is observed in a number of organizations and
among individual anti-religious workers, a most harmful point
of view which consists in the opinion that religion is at its
end and therefore no anti-religious activity is needed."
The “organizations" referred to in this paragraph, we learned
from the debates on the resolution, were chiefly the public
schools, which prefer to hold a neutral position in the struggle
with Religion. The Resolution furthermore states:
"The
separation of the toilers from Religion must be deepened upon
a Marxo-Leninist basis, upon the basis of scientific knowledge.
The development of the dialectic-materialist philosophy of life
among the working masses is a long process, it will not come
by itself but calls for extensive educational work in politics
and in anti-religion.'
In reviewing the work of the Union of Militant Atheists in
the light of these aims, the Resolution arrived at the conclusion :
"The condition of the anti-religious work in the villages does
not answer by any means to the demands that are placed upon
it at this stage; the Union of Militant Atheists does not cope
with the organization of the masses who drift away from
Religion, and in its mass activities it does not meet the growing
demand of the members of the collective farms and of in-
dividual farmers."
The constructive measures suggested for improving their
activities in the villages, are in seeking to raise upon a higher
scientific research level all the anti-religious mass activities,
making them correspond to the problems which are before the
workers of the Soviet Union in the Second Five-Year Plan.
The present anti-religious propaganda must start with the
achievements of Socialist construction of science and technique,
which, it is hoped, will further disintegrate the religious sur-
vivals. Says the resolution: " The anti-religious propaganda,
in exposing the counter-revolutionary aspect of Religion and
in exhibiting its anti-scientific nature, must help millions of
toiling peasants to grasp, in a Marxo-Leninist way, the world
of nature and of society. The materialistic conception of the
world is being gradually understood by the peasants together
242
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
with collectivization and the use of machine technique in agri-
culture. The anti-religious propaganda must strengthen and
raise it to a philosophic Marxo-Leninist level. This newly
developing materialistic approach to the world is gained
through practice in Socialist construction.'
""
To attain these aims the Central Council of the Union is
entrusted with preparing instructions and devising methods
for every form of anti-religious activity, such as textbooks,
lectures and exhibits. Of interest are the themes which are
to be treated in these books and lectures. Emphasis is
placed upon : "Abolition of the opposing cultural standards
of city and village"; "The abolition of the differences between
physical and mental work"; "Collective work and the
struggle with religion "; "Latest achievements in agricultural
engineering and technique"; "Economic and organizational
improvement of collective farms"; "Improvement of crops.
and the struggle with Religion"; "International education
and race co-operation"; etc. In considering these subjects
one begins to wonder what anti-religious interpretation the
author of the subjects may give to them. It will possibly be
the old charge that Religion is anti-scientific, conservative and
anti-social. These accusations are generally true of organized
religion in Russia and upon this anti-religious propaganda
bases its stress. The problems indicated are of most vital
importance, for upon their solution depends the success of
the Five-Year Plan, which aims at the realization of a classless.
society in the Soviet Union and hence the establishment of
Communism.
To meet the new demands for positive scientific knowledge,
a qualified personnel must be trained, the lack of which is,
considered the weakest link in the chain of anti-religious
activities. The leaders of the Union complain that their best
converts and collaborators are taken by the Party and the
Government for other work and in turn the poorly qualified
and inefficient are sent to them. On the precept," as one
orator put it, “ if a man is not fit for anything else he is con-
sidered good enough for anti-religious work; and yet there is
CC
243
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
no other activity which needs such high qualifications as anti-
religious propaganda." Here we have the same complaint
and the same difficulty which for centuries has been heard in
the Church.
In listening to the frank self-criticism of the preachers of
atheism and in reading their resolutions, one begins to appre-
ciate their difficulties, which are not unlike those which any
propagandist has to face whatever his message. The ignorance,
indifference and frivolity of the masses seem to be their common
attribute. The bold attacks of anti-religious propagandists
have done, however, a great deal to awaken the peasants from
their inertness. After a thousand years of Christian tradition
when never a shadow of doubt darkened the minds of the masses
of "Holy Russia," the peasants suddenly see their gods and
sanctuaries attacked and exposed as fraud; they see great new
forces released from Nature by the will and power of man;
they see the machines and great power stations harnessing
Nature to do their work; and naturally they begin to ask, if
there is a God, why He permits all this blasphemy to His name
and His sanctuaries. Why does he not smite the atheist
agitator? Is God indifferent, or is he asleep, or is he an
illusion? The peasant looks at his sacred ikons, to his
visible gods; he recognizes in them the bearded images of
his own forefathers, and at once jumps to the conclusion this
is made by man and in his, man's, image. There is no God
but man himself. Therefore he declares himself a bezbozhnik,
a man without a god.
The Church expected that after the destruction of the old
forces of control and the disappearance of the fear of a revenge-
ful God, every moral restraint would disappear; yet nothing
of the sort has occurred. As far as observation goes, the
amount of crime and moral licentiousness has not increased
but, wherever economic conditions and educational facilities
have improved, men have become more civil and restrained.
It is too early to generalize on the results of anti-religious
propaganda in the life of the peasant. The millions of the
Russian countryside see, for the first time, their gods challenged
244
COLLECTIVIZATION AND ATHEIST PROPAGANDA
and dishonoured; the peasant is sometimes amazed, some-
times terrified by what has happened. The revolution is
upon him. It attacks not only his property instincts, but all
the foundations of his life. He can never return to the past
and he is not certain of his future. For him the old world
has actually come to an end.
245
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CHAPTER XIII
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-
RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
THE programme and methods of the activities of the atheist
societies has been rapidly developing into an intricate system
which may well compare with that of any modern church
organization in the West. It is supervised by the Central
Council of the Union of Militant Atheists, with headquarters
in Moscow. It has also a system of regional organizations
spreading throughout the whole country. Associated with
the Central Council" are its "home
are its "home" and "foreign
missions departments, which carry on an intensive activity
among the minor nationalities in the Soviet Union and assist
groups of proletarian atheists throughout the world.
(C
""
Important departments of atheist propaganda are those of
mass agitation, education, publications, army and navy,
industrial, rural, youth and children, scientific research in
religion and methods of work, training of agitators, museums
and libraries, and finally the use of the fine arts in anti-religious
propaganda, particularly the theatre, the cinema and the radio.
Mass agitational activities were particularly used during the
first stage of the struggle of the Revolution with the Church.
Lectures and debates were the favoured methods, also anti-
religious demonstrations, carnivals and open-air meetings.
The direct object of mass agitation was to expose the counter-
revolutionary activities of the Church and the anti-scientific
nature of Religion.
The coloured poster was very popular. It aimed to ridicule
and expose the superstitions of the Church and the vices of
the clergy. The agitation against drink was usually associated
and synchronized with an agitation against great Church
246
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, which habitually were
occasions for over-eating and drinking. Posters such as
Guard your children against Religion and Alcohol are
common; the priest is usually pictured drunk, holding the
cross in one hand and a vodka bottle in the other. It is of
course true that the priests as a class were very intemperate
and that the Russian Church never agitated against the liquor
traffic, but on the contrary opposed the temperance movement
when it was started by a number of laymen and priests. These
originators of the temperance movement were finally excom-
municated as dangerous sectarians.
<<
The introduction of the Five-Year Plan and the collectiviza-
tion of agriculture gave the anti-religious mass agitation a new
impetus. Its posters and slogans were now directed at making
the people believe that the Church was opposed to the Soviet
industrialization and collectivization schemes. One of the
favoured methods in this mass agitation was the printing of
rhymes and verse on sweet wrappers, cigarette boxes, and the
like. One of the popular brands of sweets had the following
verse printed on the wrapper :
Priests are our enemies to the grave!
Watch them closely with both your eyes.
در
In answer to the calumny of Popish nonsense
Let us complete the Five-Year Plan in four.
Let us drive out Alcohol and Religion with culture.
The radio was used for lectures on subjects such as “Re-
ligion and the Five-Year Plan." Two of these lectures by Z.
Krainiuk were even published in English translation to be
circulated among the English-speaking workers, many of whom
had come to the U.S.S.R. to participate in the huge construc-
tion works provided by the Five-Year Plan. We shall briefly
outline these radio lectures, since they show the methods which
atheist agitators are commonly using in attacking religion :
247
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
LECTURE I:
The Five-Year Plan; The Basis of Anti-religious propaganda.
1. The absence of plan in capitalist economy and the social
roots of religion. The victory of Socialism leads to the
abolition of exploitation and slavery. The victory of Socialism
means the final destruction of all these social roots which feed
religion. The fulfilment of the Five-Year Plan will not only
be a victory on the economic front; it is also a cultural under-
taking to free hundreds of thousands of workers from the
tyranny of darkness, from religious stupefaction and ignorance.
The Marxo-Leninist view characterizes religion as the sigh
of creatures under oppression, an opiate for the people, a
mental intoxicant which weakens their class antagonisms and
suppresses their creative initiative and their enthusiasm for
work. This means that only by being freed from the yoke of
capitalist exploitation and from religious, as well as every other
kind of bourgeois oppression, can a higher standard of labour
productivity be attained.
·
2. The underlying principles of the Five-Year Plan for the
development of the national economy of the U.S.S.R. in the
field of industry.
3. The same in the field of agriculture.
Conclusion: In developing these principles in industry and
agriculture a materialist philosophy of life advocated by Lenin
will be created which is irreconcilable with religion and fatal
to priestcraft in all its forms.
LECTURE II:
Introduction: What is the social basis of the Five-Year Plan
for cultural development? In what consists the problem of
cadres? The Five-Year Plan of the Union of Militant
Atheists is to rid the country of the poison of religion.
1. The liquidation of illiteracy and universal compulsory
elementary education. Here the problem is to compel the
Commissariat of Education to change its policy from a non-
religious to an anti-religious programme of education, and to
248
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
obtain teachers who would be trained and willing to carry on
anti-religious propaganda among the school children. No
neutrality on this question should be tolerated.
"Our task is not only to protect the rising generation from
the disintegrating Church and sectarian influence, but also to
wrench from the iron clutches of religion those children of
workmen, peasants and toilers generally, who have been held
captive by it. In the liquidation of illiteracy (i.e. adult educa-
tion) we have the special task of impregnating all branches of
the work with an active anti-religious content."
2. The Five-Year Plan of the Union of Militant Atheists.
In respect to members it provides an increase of member-
ship by 1933 to 17 million members and 12 million children.
Factories, workshops, shock brigades, communal houses,
ought, at the end of the Five-Year Plan, to become regular
hot-beds of atheism. There should be no churches and no
trace of religion in the Socialist towns for whose construction
the Five-Year Plan provides. They should be centres of free
and joyous atheism and genuine enthusiasm.
This very briefly is the gist of the radio lectures delivered
in October, 1930. We have outlined them here showing their
salient points because they are so typical of the present Com-
munist anti-religious mass propaganda. It takes for granted
that religion is a hindrance and alien to Socialism and will
disappear with the realization of the latter. We may also note
that the Five-Year Plan of the Union of Militant Atheists has
been realized only by about 30 per cent. in the adult sector and
only by about 17 per cent. in the work among children. These
shortages, it is hoped, will be made good during the next Five-
Year Plan which is now worked out by the leaders of the
Atheist movement.
To attract the interest of workers in anti-religious problems,
factory clubs are presenting courses of lectures. Thus the
Moscow Automobile Works have announced for the season the
following subjects :
,
R
249
i
A BER
+
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1. Baruch Spinoza's Struggle against Religion and the
Church.
2. Social Re-education of the Workers and the Struggle
against Religion.
3. Science Penetrates the Atom.
4. Marxo-Leninism as Militant Atheism.
5. Modern Theories on the Origin of the Universe.
6. Origin of Life on the Earth.
7. The Modern Struggle concerning Darwinism and
Biology.
8. The Rôle of Work in the Origin of Man.
9. Brain and Consciousness.
10. Origins of Religion in the Light of Marxo-Leninism.
11. The Struggle for Dialectical Materialism in the Light of
the Bourgeois Crisis of Science.
12. The End of the Relative Stabilization of Capitalism and
Religion.
We see here a predominance of the critique of Religion in
the light of modern science. But there is still lacking a popular
presentation of the positive teaching of Communism in respect
to the spiritual and ethical life of man.
A similar approach still dominates the popular appeal on
special occasions like the great Church feasts, which are
celebrated by the atheist societies in their own fashion. We may
illustrate this best by quoting extensively from an atheist
Christmas Sermon:
A GODLESS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
1
"The struggle against Religion
Is the struggle for Socialism."
"On December 25 the Christian Church celebrates the
birthday of its God, the Saviour, the birthday of Jesus Christ.
This holiday, the so-called Christmas, is a holiday of
savages, of slaves, of hypocrites. The priests assure us that this
¹ From the December (1932) number of the Young Bezbozhniks '
(Youthful Atheists), a monthly, published in Moscow.
"}
"C
250
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
holiday was celebrated at first only by Christians. As a matter
of fact the feast of the birth of God, the Saviour, at this time.
of the year existed among many people long before the appear-
ance of Christianity. All these Gods-Osiris, Thammus,
Adonis, Mithras, and others are imaginary creatures, born in
the heads of ancient agricultural people.
"Fortune-telling, masquerading, the Christmas tree,
Christmas dinner, all these are survivals from savage times,
when man populated his surrounding Nature with spirits,
when the "helplessness of the savage before the forces of
nature generated in him faith in gods, demons, devils, etc."
(Lenin). And the savage, this helpless slave of nature, bowed
before the gods he himself created, begging them aid and
mercy when oppressed by the terrible phenomena of nature.
“With the development of technique the force of Nature
over man weakened. Still faith in God did not diminish, but
on the contrary it grew because a new yoke was laid upon help-
less man.
The yoke of exploitation of one man by another.
"The helplessness of exploited classes in the struggle with
the exploiters inevitably produces faith into a better life beyond
the grave, just as the helplessness of the savage in the struggle
with Nature creates faith in gods, miracles, etc. Thus spoke
V. I. Lenin.
"There never was a Jesus Christ. This even some bourgeois
scholars have to acknowledge, those same learned men who,
more than anything else, fear the atheism of the working masses.
"The legend about Christ the Saviour appeared in the minds
of Roman slaves and paupers crushed by inhuman exploitation.
These slaves and poverty-stricken people embraced the legend
about God the Saviour and the tale about life after the grave;
it was the result of class oppression.
CC
The Christian teaching about Hell and Paradise has all the
earmarks of ancient slave-holding society.
"Hell is the "utter darkness," i.e. the gaol, for the slaves,
which was usually outside the town. Paradise is “eternal
bliss," eternal do-nothing, the principle hope of exhausted
and crushed slaves to escape the cursed labour.
?
251
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
$
"Hence the Christian religion made its start, the religion
of slaves, submission and patience; hence Christmas made
its beginning, the feast of the birth of Christ who actually was
never born.
(6
This Christmas is not only a feast day of savages and
slaves, it is also a feast of utmost hypocrisy. In churches and
chapels priests will shout at the top of their voices, “Glory to
God in the highest."
"These words sound particularly hypocritical and mean
when millions of toilers and their families in capitalist countries
are left without work, starving, thrown out into the Christmas
cold, while thousands are committing suicide out of hopeless
despair, with peasants of colonial countries selling their
children, in order to maintain themselves by any means.
"The priests shout about the peace on earth' which was to
commence with the birth of Christ. Glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace. . .'
.' And yet at the same time,
in spite of the economic crisis, in all capitalist countries the
war industries are at work day and night, manufacturing, for
the glory of God, shells and poison gas to annihilate mankind.
"A greater mockery than this preaching of peace and
goodwill to man cannot be imagined. Not peace and goodwill
but death and annihilation are raging in capitalist countries,
camouflaged by gorgeous divine services, hypocritical sermons,
lovely singing, Christmas trees, mangers, angels, Saint Nichlaus,
and similar savage and slave superstitions.
(C
The chief task of the Soviet school is to educate a strong,
healthy new generation, with nerves of steel and muscles of
iron, fit to establish Communism, and in this they are opposed
and always will be by the class enemy in vestment and by the
Cross."
•
1
We have translated this message because it is quite typical
of atheist propaganda during the great Christian holidays,
Christmas and Easter. The theme is always the same: that
Religion is the product of man's helplessness before Nature
and the strong governing classes, that it is anti-scientific and
252
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
counter-revolutionary and is destined to disappear, together
with the division of man into classes, with the consequent
establishment of Communism.
Sta
Bangla a
The results of the atheist mass activities are not always easy
to follow up. It has been observed however that in places
where systematic anti-religious propaganda was effectively
carried on, the number of absent workman on religious holidays
has greatly decreased, and the forms of Socialist work such as
social competition and shock brigading had improved. There
appears also increased interest in the study of Dialectical
Materialism and participation in the various social activities
of the local atheist organizations.
The weakest link in the mass activities of the Union is con-
sidered the still small interest of women in atheist teaching
with a correspondingly small membership in the Union, only
30 per cent. of the total membership.
One of the favoured and sometimes spectacular forms of
anti-religious mass propaganda, are the so-called anti-religious
campaigns or revival meetings. These usually are syn-
chronized with corresponding religious revivals at the time of
Lent and the great Christian holidays like Christmas. These
special efforts show from season to season the success or
failure of the local organizations to dissuade the masses from
participating in the religious services, particularly Christmas
Eve and Easter night, which to orthodox Christians are the
greatest religious services of the year. To counteract the
services special programmes are set up with lectures and
musical entertainment, and these sometimes succeed in dis-
tracting considerable numbers of the population from the
Churches. The drawback of these seasonal anti-religious
campaigns is that most organizations are satisfied when they
have carried through their holiday programmes and do little
or nothing for the rest of the year. The Central Council is
trying to overcome these defects by providing local organiza-
tions with regular weekly messages and programmes of activity.
To stimulate the regular and campaign work, the Central
Council of the Union has a staff of three travelling agitators and
!
:
•

253
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
three instructors in organization, who visit the various districts
in the Union with their message of atheism. These visitors
usually carry with them an anti-religious exhibit and cinema.
films which are always an attraction to the masses.
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
The acute shortage of trained agitators and organizers has
prompted the leaders of the anti-religious movement to create
a system of anti-religious education in which lay and profes-
sional agitators could receive their training. It may be noted
that among the founders of the anti-religious movement were
a number who received a theological seminary training and not
a few of the popular atheist agitators are former priests and
monks. These men, while of temporary value, must in due
time be replaced by men who have risen from the ranks of the
workers and are loyal in every respect to the Party teachings.
and its political aims.
About a decade ago the XII Party Congress turned its
attention to this problem of training a staff of anti-religious
agitators. It passed a resolution which said: “It is necessary,
within the whole system of Communist education, to carry on
special courses in the origins, development and history of
religion, of various creeds and cults and religious Church
organizations, closely associating these courses with the study
of human society and the class struggle of exploiters and ex-
ploited and the exposure of the manifold actual relations of
Capital and religious propaganda." This decision of the Party
had an enormous influence in the development of anti-religious
education and clearly pointed out the lines along which it
should be carried on.
The first seminar for the study of religion was organized at
the Sverdlov Communist University in 1921 by E. Yaroslovsky,
one of the old outstanding leaders of the anti-religious movement
in Russia. By 1925 there were already 36 anti-religious courses
and 6 seminars functioning in the various higher schools of
learning in the Union, and in 1926 was published the first
number of the Antireligioznik, a monthly serving the same
254
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
•
movement.
purpose as homiletical and theological magazines do for the
clergy. It carries critical articles and outlines for lectures,
and book reviews on questions of religion and philosophy.
This magazine has given the anti-religious propaganda unity
of thought and helpful directions in the organization of the
In the Antireligioznik appeared outlines of
various courses and programmes which were now beginning to
be developed by special commissions appointed by the Depart-
ment of Education, which also prepared three standard text-
books, one for use among industrial workers, another for the
peasants, and a third for the Red Army. Simultaneously were
prepared some correspondence courses on the subject "Learn
to be an Atheist," which since have been greatly extended.
With the appearance of this literature the number of students
of anti-religious courses rapidly increased. On January 16,
1927, there were recorded 68 anti-religious seminars, 9 propa-
gandist circles, one special school for propagandists and one
night school, besides 14 " cabinets " for the study of religion.
There were also 266 study groups organized at the various
workers' clubs and similar organizations. In the same year
were prepared the first programmes of study for some of the
national minorities in the U.S.S.R., such as the Tartar, Tchu-
vash, Maries, Mordva, Lettish and Esthonian languages.

In 1928 the Central Committee of the Party adopted a
resolution for the organization of special chairs for the study
of religion at the Communist Academy and the Institute of
Red Professors, which were to train specialists in religion to be
employed as curators of museums, literary workers and teachers
in the training schools for anti-religious agitators. Similar
chairs were organized in Leningrad, Kharkov and other of the
larger Universities. Thus gradually developed a graded system
of elementary, secondary and higher education in the field of
religion, and not only for the study of Christianity, but also of
the other great religions of the East: Christianity, Judaism,
Mohammedanism and Buddhism, besides many such primitive
religions as the Shaman fire-and-nature worshippers. The
adherents of orthodox Christianity are the most numerous and
255
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
politically they are considered the most dangerous. But agita-
tion is carried on equally against all forms of religion and the
Communist programme provides for the complete eradication
of all religious ideologies and cults.
In 1929, during the great drive against religion, there were
introduced a number of other forms of systematic anti-religious
training. A so-called Radio University was organized which
recorded about 20,000 regular listeners. In addition there
were 35 so-called "Sunday Universities" which, throughout
the season of 1929-30, gave popular courses of lectures in the
auditoriums of the various universities of the Union. The at-
tendance at the lectures has not been fully recorded throughout
the whole country. In Moscow at the end of the session there
were still 500 students attending the lectures, which shows
that their number throughout the country must have been
considerable.
The normal course at the "Anti-religious Universities" is
two years and their purpose is to prepare district organizers for
anti-religious activities, to train propagandists, lecturers,
excursion leaders and general club workers for the villages and
collective farms, as well as leaders for child and youth organiza-
tions.
The higher research institutes have set themselves to work
along four principle lines, which A. Lukachevsky, the director
of this research work, formulates in the following theses:
1. To grasp the Leninist stage of militant atheism; to
combat any distortion of Marxo-Leninism in questions of
religion and the struggle therewith; to apply merciless criticism
to the work of Kautsky, Kunow and other Social Fascists;
to introduce critique of the Plekhanov position in religion and
to give a complete exposure of the errors of the mechanistic
materialists and Menshevik idealists, and mercilessly to expose
the Trotskyist position on the questions of anti-religious
propaganda.
2. To study the process of the dying out of religion. What
facts contribute to the abandonment of religion, what detains
256
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
people from abandoning it? Religion and atheism in the
collective farms, religion and atheism among the old and newly-
recruited industrial workers.
3. Study of the development of scientific methodology of
anti-religious propaganda? How to organize the work among
the followers of different religions? Content, methods and
forms of work.
4. Study of the work of religious organizations in foreign
countries. Study of everything that appears in foreign
countries on the problems of religion, philosophy, history, etc.
This outline shows that the study of religion in its influence
on society is being taken seriously by Communist scholars.
It is checked by laboratory work and ethnographic and survey
expeditions among the various national minorities, and the
rural and industrial communities. In 1931 there were 19
such expeditions in which participated 56 persons, who sur-
veyed 34 districts with 19 nationalities. This is a very hopeful
sign. It will undoubtedly change that vulgar and frequently
superficial attitude towards religion, which in the past has
characterized the anti-religious propaganda in the Soviet
Union and which chiefly was due to gross ignorance of the
subtler aspects of religion in the life of the people.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS LITERATURE
Anti-religious and even critical literature in the field of
religion practically did not exist in Russia previous to the
October Revolution. There was a relaxation of censorship
after the 1905 Revolution which permitted the publication of
such works as Robertson's History of Free Thought, Lecky's
History of Rationalism, Renan's Life of Jesus, Bradlaugh's
Science and Religion, and a few similar books well known in the
Free Thought Movement of Western countries. Communist
authors, beginning to write on the subject after the Revolution,
had a virgin field before them, but so far they have not produced
much of value, lacking the necessary scholarship and frequently
losing the necessary objectivity in the controversial atmosphere
257
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
- ~~ in
which existed in Russia after the downfall of Tsarism.
M. Yakovlev, one of the contemporary students of the problem,
thus characterizes the aims of Communist writers on religion :
mafij ***
"First, persistently and convincingly expose before the
broad masses of toilers, the class and exploiting nature of
religion, the counter-revolutionary rôle of the clergy and of
lay theologians, the incompatibility of religious prejudices,
which are a heritage of a savage antiquity, with the construction
of a new socialist order; secondly, attract the millions of toiling
masses, which are being freed in the revolutionary struggle from
the religious opiate, into the first ranks of that gigantic army
which is struggling for the inner and outer strengthening of the
Socialist fatherland of the workers of the whole world; thirdly,
in a most acceptable and intelligent form, interpret and dis-
seminate the scientific Marxo-Leninist atheist philosophy of
life." 1
If we examine the new Russian atheist literature in the light
of these aims, we must admit that, generally speaking, it
relentlessly pursued these objectives, usually at the expense of
scientific objectivity, but was not always very successful in
giving it the necessary popular form and intelligent interpreta-
tion. In its bulk it lacks quality! Frequently it fights against
theological positions which long since have been abandoned by
most intelligent religious people, as, for example, the verbal
inspiration of the Bible, evolutionary science, the origin of
man, and the social origins of religions.
Many of the translated works are chosen from authors whose
theories have long since been discarded as untenable in the
light of advanced historic criticism, as, for example, the anti-
religious works of the French Materialists, of Drews' and
Robertson's theories denying the historicity of Jesus, the
animist theory of religion by Tylor and Frazer, etc. On the
other hand the strength of Communist propaganda lies in
Lenin's theory, insisting on the necessity of a sociological
approach to religion and finding its roots in social-economic
class relations. The selection of the writings of Marx, Engels
¹ Fifteen Years of Militant Atheism in the U.S.S.R., p. 386–387.
258
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
and Lenin on the subject of religion are of real value, as also
are some of A. T. Lukachevsky's studies in the origins of
religion and the historic works by P. A. Kranikov, B. P.
Kandidov, E. Yaroslavsky, N. M. Nikolsky, M. Pokrovsky and
a number of others, who have collected valuable materials on
the relation of the Church to the Revolution and the place of
religion in the life of the Russian people. The U.S.S.R. with
its 200 racial and lingual groups, adhering to very different
religions, from primitive fire-and-nature worshippers, to
rationalistic sects like the Tolstoyans, are of course a huge
laboratory for the study of religion and the factors contributing
to changes in the thinking and customs of the people. Some
of these ethnographic and religious studies, like those of
Motorin, which were recently published, promise to be of real
scientific value.
While there remains much to be desired in the quality of
Soviet anti-religious literature, its bulk is enormous. No other
country can show such circulation of publications on religious
subjects as the Soviet Union. During the last decade were
published 1,200 titles of anti-religious books and pamphlets
not including numerous short tracts. The total number of
copies distributed is given as 40,000,000, which means an
average of over 235,000 for each title. This is not at all an
unusual number for Soviet publications. The weekly news-
paper Bezbozhnik has, according to latest reports, a circulation
of 473,500 copies per issue, and the illustrated magazine
Bezbozhnik, 200,000 copies. The reason for so large a circu-
lation of books and papers lies in the Soviet system of its
distribution, which is accomplished through the agency of the
many local organizations of the anti-religious movement, of
which, as we know, there are about 65,000 throughout the
Union. While this may be an advantage to the publishing
houses, it does not always mean that this literature is read.
The writer has examined the anti-religious literature on the
shelves of a number of Moscow libraries and found that most
of the books have never been used even once. Only the
manuals used in group studies are really read, and in this
259
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
A
;
SAARE APPAN J
respect the anti-religious literature is very much like the books
in the libraries of churches, which are also rarely used unless
studied in young people's groups and Sunday Schools. The
lack of interest in anti-religious literature is well known to the
leaders of the movement and measures are taken by libraries
to popularize and advertise it, for instance by organizing, in
reading circles and discussion groups, disputes on the quality
of certain books. This does not obscure the fact that in the
consciousness of Soviet readers neither religion nor anti-
religion occupies at present an important place.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS MUSEUMS
The museum as an institution of popular education has been
fully recognized by atheist propagandists. During the last
five years more than 100 such museums have been opened
throughout the Soviet Union, in addition to many so-called
travelling exhibits.
The largest of these museums are in Leningrad, housed in
the great cathedral of St. Isaak and in the Kazan Cathedral.
These two huge buildings were still in use for worship a few
years ago, but their high maintenance cost was above the
financial strength of the dwindling congregations. Therefore
they were abandoned to the Department of Museums, which has
converted them to anti-religious purposes.
In Moscow also there are several museums designed for
anti-religious propaganda; of these the best known and best
equipped is the Central Anti-religious Museum, housed in the
former Strastnoi Convent Church, situated in the very centre
of the city. It was opened in November, 1929, and during
the first year was visited by 234,716 people, remaining ever
since one of the most popular museums of the city.
Other museums of national reputation are the former famous
Troitzo-Sergievo Monastery, situated about 60 miles to the
north of Moscow, and the equally famous Kievo-Petchora
Monastery, situated on the bank of the Dnieper in close
proximity to the city of Kiev. These two ancient monastic
institutions were formerly the richest and the most venerated
260
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
sanctuaries in Russia, the Mecca and Medina of Russian
Orthodoxy, visited annually by thousands of pilgrims.
The Petchora Monastery was the cradle of Russian Christi-
anity; Sergievo was its northern citadel made famous by the
saintly and patriotic life of Saint Sergius. Growing rich and
powerful these monasteries became corrupt, and when the
Revolution exposed and broke up these centres of monastic
corruption and religious fraud, they were appropriated and
preserved by the State from loot and destruction. Now they
function as museums, exhibiting the former gorgeous wealth
and power of the Church, and there they stand as sad monu-
ments of what religion should not have been. The attractions
at Sergievo are the remains of Saint Sergius, formerly fraudu-
lently exhibited as "incorruptable"; when the sacred sar-
cophagus was opened by order of the Soviet Government in
the presence of the clergy, the remains proved as corruptible
as all flesh, and so the decayed body of the once famous saint
remains to-day a symbol of a Church, itself pretending to
incorruptibility, but now fully exposed of its frauds.
The attractions of the Kievo-Petchora Monastery are its
catacombs, in which the "Fathers" of Russian Orthodoxy
once dwelt, died and were buried. Some of them became
mummified, a phenomenon which was taken to be a special sign
of divine favour, thus starting the tradition in Russia that real
saintliness is rewarded by incorruptibility of the flesh. Very
many precious works of art were held in custody in these
monastic museums, consisting of jewelled vestments, crowns,
cups, old paintings and frescoes, old manuscripts, etc. They
are still visited by a few pilgrims, but the majority of the
visitors, who number many thousands, are excursionists who
come to be shown the frauds and corruption of the
Church.
G
If we return to the newly-equipped museums of Moscow
and Leningrad we find them to be built upon a definite scheme,
exhibiting departments on Science and Religion in which the
evolutionary theory of the cosmos and of the origin of species
is presented against the background of Biblical cosmology.
261
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
Thus in the dome of the Cathedral of St. Isaak is fastened a
huge Fuco pendulum, supposedly the largest in the world, to
prove the movement of the earth about its axis. The Moscow
Central Museum has collections of models of the various inter-
mediary skulls and other anthropoid relics illustrating the
simian origin of man. Then there are good exhibits on the
origin of religion, demonstrating the naturalistic and anthro-
pomorphic ideas of God. The greatest emphasis, however, is
placed on exhibiting the class function of religion in pre-class
society, under slavery, under feudalism and in the transitional
period between Capitalism and Socialism. It demonstrates
the close association of the Church with the Tsarist regime
and the inglorious rôle which it played in the struggle against
the Revolution and the enlightenment of the people. Of
course, the horrors of the Inquisition, the martyrdom of such
as Giordano Bruno and Galileo, are most dramatically repre-
sented in sculptured figures and marquets, but the majority
of exhibits, particularly in demonstrating the relation of the
Church to Tsarism, consist of original materials and docu-
ments.
Agitation against the anti-socialist and counter-revolutionary
functions of religion are not limited to the sins of the Orthodox
Church. Equal emphasis is now paid to the functions of other
religions, Mohammedanism, Judaism, and particularly the
sectarian movement in Russia with its extreme fanatic forms
of castrators, flagellators, etc.
The expositions are by no means permanent. The exhibit
is continually changed to meet the current demand of anti-
religious propaganda. Thus at present the Moscow Central
Museum is preparing new exhibits to demonstrate the struggle
of religion against industrialization and particularly the collec-
tivization of agriculture.
The designing of these exhibits is the work of a special staff
of scholars and artists, and the manufacture of the objects is
carried out in special shops, where also are prepared sets of
exhibits for provincial and travelling anti-religious museums.
The anti-religious museums are gradually accumulating
262
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
valuable paintings and sculptures illustrating one or another
aspect of their propaganda.
Efforts are made by the atheist movement also to develop
special anti-religious departments in the various anthro-
pological and ethnographic museums to demonstrate the class
nature of religion, and in museums of the natural sciences to
show the incompatibility of religion and science. The same
aim is pursued in the planetariums where the astronomic
exhibits are accompanied by lectures in which the Biblical
cosmogony is refuted and the conclusion drawn that religion
and science are incompatible.
It must be added that all of the larger museums in the
U.S.S.R. possess trained guides and lecturers, who accompany
groups of visitors through the museum explaining to them the
meaning of the exhibits.
STAA w
There is no doubt that of all the forms of anti-religious propa-
ganda the museums are the most effective and convincing.
They visualize the anti-religious message and seek to prove it by
carefully and pointedly selected facts and original evidence.
ROLE W
It is true that intelligent religious foreigners, many of whom
have visited these museums, find nothing anti-religious about
them, since they demonstrate facts most of which have for
a long time been accepted by all intelligent religious people,
and strike hard only at uncompromising fundamentalists and
at those not wishing to accept a sociological origin and inter-
pretation of religion. But under conditions as they exist in
the Soviet Union, where there has been no modernist move-
ment in religion, the alternative to orthodox religion, with
its obscure theology and cosmology, is atheism.
The success and popularity of the anti-religious museum
have prompted its development, and efforts are being made to
have them organized in all larger towns and villages, trans-
forming for that purpose and as centres of atheist education
the abandoned cathedrals and churches.
The greatest
difficulty in realising these plans is found in the lack of a
trained personnel, and of artistic exhibits. To overcome this
shortage specialists are now trained for such work in the
263
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
various Communist higher schools of which we already have
spoken.
THE FINE ARTS AS WEAPONS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
It has been generally observed that the anti-religious propa-
ganda is an appeal to reason, it ignores the emotions and is
frequently dry and dull. These facts are not denied by atheist
propagandists and they are making strenuous efforts to mobilize
the fine arts for anti-religious purposes. The first efforts
were directed to creating an anti-religious theatre and cinema;
after years of trial and error they have had some success,
although confessedly nothing of permanent artistic value has
been created.
Play and scenario writers tried themselves in this field.
During the last decade about 200 such plays and sketches have
been published, but they rarely progressed beyond that anti-
clerical stage which does not satisfy the anti-religious propa-
gandist. Plays like the "Feast of St. Georgeus," "The
Million of Anthony, "The March of the 14th Division to
Heaven" (a musical review), " Inquisitor Torquemada," and
a few others, which were staged in Moscow, had short runs
and could not hold the stage. There is now no theatre which
can claim to have an exclusively anti-religious repertory.
But there are many plays, one might say almost every new play,
dealing with Soviet life, having something anti-religious
about it; the religious character in the drama is presented
either as a villain or an idiot with the intention thereby to
characterize religion as anti-social.
""
The production of anti-religious films has been more success-
ful. Many of them are of considerable artistic quality, but
they all remain within the range of anti-clerical themes and
do not seriously approach the social roots of religion. Among
the films which enjoyed considerable popularity were the
"Feast of St. Georgeus,' "The Cross and the Mauser,"
"The Third Wife of the Mullah," "Behind the Convent
Walls," "Judas," and a number of others. The evils of the
harem, and the degradation of women in Moslem communities,
>>
264
ORGANIZATION AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
•
found its reflection in many films produced in Central Asia,
Georgia and Adzerbajan. In the Far East was filmed from
nature the barbaric and superstitious nature of religious
customs amongst the natives and similar scenes.
But in the Soviet film, as in the stage play, it has become the
rule to insinuate against religion, thus to discredit it in the
eyes of the spectator. Scientific films such as the " Mechanism
of the Brain," "Man and the Ape," etc., have also been pro-
duced with the insinuation that religion is opposed to and
incompatible with science.
The greatest difficulty the atheist propagandist has found is
in creating anti-religious music. Composers who have tried
it get no further than satirizing some of the great religious tunes
by working them into a pot-pouri of wild dance music. This
was done by Pulver, who wrote the music to Demyan Bedny's
"March of the 14th Division to Heaven." So far, however,
there is no anti-religious song or symphony which has captured
the atmosphere and imagination of anti-religious sentiment,
and most musicians doubt whether atheism lends itself to
musical expression. Atheism is chiefly an intellectual product
whereas religion is chiefly emotional; therefore religion found
its most powerful expression in a music, contributed to by
practically all great composers.
Our survey of anti-religious activities in the Soviet Union,
though far from exhaustive, has shown us to what extent
anti-religion has gripped the popular imagination and the
skill with which it is carried on, using every scientific and cul-
tural device to attain its end-the destruction of religion.
Nothing like it has ever happened in the history of mankind.
Surely religion under Communism is put to a test which it
never before has had to face. Will it survive the ordeal ?
A
;

+
S
265
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
CHAPTER XIV
THE OUTLOOK
THE strategists of the militant atheist movement have cal-
culated that within the next decade the power of organized
religion will be broken in the Soviet Union and the roots which
feed religion will wither away. Simultaneously it might seem
that the militant atheist movement will also wither away because
it will have fulfilled the chief task for which it was called into
existence, and this actually is the opinion of some observers.
In our estimate the case is not so simple. First of all,
organized religion will not disappear so rapidly as the anti-
religious strategists think. Even if the militant atheist move-
ment should succeed in closing all the churches, the remaining
faithful will start an underground existence which will lend to
religion a new attraction, gather a new following with zeal and
ardour peculiar to new converts. Then we must not forget
that there are many sects which do not depend upon specially
equipped buildings as does the Orthodox Church for their
existence, and recent observations show that sectarianism still
increases in the Soviet Union. The crux of the problem is,
however, not in the liquidation of existing religious organiza-
tions. The wiser men in the Government know very well that
religion will not be eradicated simply by making its organized
form difficult or impossible. They know that religion will
disappear only if the conditions which create and feed it
disappear.
What are these conditions? In Communist opinion they
are chiefly social and economic, arising from the anarchical
conditions of a class stratified society, with its exploitation,
uncertainties, fears, crises, and an over-emphasis of the
individual as against group solidarity; then there are the great

266
THE OUTLOOK
woes and calamities which from time to time overcome ever
modern society, such as wars, famines, pestilences, floods,
earthquakes, accidents, untimely death, disappointments in
love and friendship and last, not least, the eternal question of
the mysterious meaning of the universe with its whence, why
and whither of life. All these facts have contributed to the
survival of religion. Many thoughtful, sensitive, but lonely
men have again and again sought solace and an answer to the
mystery of life in occult and mystic realms. Many of the
causes just indicated as contributing to the development of
religion, will no doubt disappear or at least will be greatly
limited in a classless society, but they can never be eliminated 1
altogether; hence some of the roots, from which new religions,
will continue to sprout, will remain.
The question as to the future of religion and of atheism is
in the last analysis still a theistic problem. If there is a God
in the universe, men will continue to seek and worship Him;
if there is none, this greatest of human illusions will be exposed
in the Communist social order which, for the first time in
history, is organizing its life on the hypothesis that there is no
God. We know that there were and still are many thinkers
who have laid aside the problem of seeking God as a hopeless
effort and have sought to re-value religion æsthetically and
socially, appreciating it as a reverent, loving attitude to the
universe and human society, which, God or no God, should
by all means be preserved.
Such great humanists of a century ago as Ludwig Feuerbach
and August Comte made desperate efforts to establish a religion
without a God. After a century of the existence of the humanist
movement in religion it must be confessed that it has been
unable to attract any considerable following and has done
practically nothing to inspire the movement for the emancipa-
tion of exploited toilers. The same is true of more recent
ventures such as the Society of Ethical Culture and similar
movements which have tried to preserve the ethical and
æsthetical values of worship without recognizing the existence
of Deity. In spite of the seeming hopelessness of discovering
267
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
:
$
To
God by the power of Reason, thinking men again and again
resume these efforts, changing their methods but never their
aim.

At
Man, it seems, cannot exist for long without some guiding
philosophy of life, nor without some emotional stimuli which
religious cult has usually been able to supply; the emotional
aspect of religion has been always the more evident and
appreciated. In the past religion has been predominantly an
opiate, a soporific, and precisely for this very reason it is still
to this day desirable to many people, despite their intellectual
conviction that the metaphysics and ethics of the historic
religious creeds have lost their social and rational significance.
The æsthetics of religion, with its dainty mystic art, has still
a tremendous attraction even to confirmed atheists. The
writer knows this from many years observation of the musical
life of Moscow. The great mystic musical creations like
Mozart's "Requiem," Bach's "Mattheus Passion," the
magnificent religious symphonies of Beethoven, and the operas
of Mussorgsky, Tchaikowsky, Rimski-Korsakoff and others,
remain a great attraction to Communist audiences and as yet
there is nothing to take their place, for, as we have shown,
modern composers have been unable to create an atheistic
music.
TH
ket a tie veel aan j
Atheist ideology is too rationalistic. It exists in an emotional
vacuum which is suited to human nature. The strength
of the anti-religious propaganda is more in its ethical appeal
than in its criticism of the obscure metaphysics and the dogmas
of religion. The masses which have dropped their religious
affiliations are moved at present by the pathos of the Socialist
construction programme. They have embraced the "Re-
ligion of the Five-Year Plan " which has the promise of a better
and happier future in the practical realization of which all
can participate. Further there is the great appeal of inter-
national Communism with its great impending struggles and
sacrifices. These are to many Communists an adequate sub-
stitute for religion. But everyone is not a Communist en-
thusiast and fighter; the majority will probably always remain
268
A ---
TUNING

•
THE OUTLOOK

indifferent and need inspiration and education, otherwise they
will quickly drift into anti-social habits and become a menace,
to the community. Again, there are always some, disappointed
and hurt in the struggle of life, the weary and the heavy-laden ;
to what or to whom shall they turn for solace and relief?
*******
The Communist system has so far developed nothing which
could fully replace the institution of pastoral care and of the
Church. Yet some such institution is undoubtedly a human
need in every form of society. All this points to the necessity
of some organization which would take up these functions
formerly pursued by the Church, providing emotional activities,
inspiration, ethical instruction, and personal care. Who, in
Soviet society, should take over these functions? So far some
of them have been rendered by various non-religious organiza-
tions and institutions, although there is no single institution
specially set apart with these objects in view.
The Soviet theatre and art institutions have, to a great extent,
assumed the function of the ethical training and inspiration
of the masses. The Soviet theatre, the cinema, the radio,
the art exhibits, the concerts, even the circus and the cabaret
have, apart from their æsthetic qualities, a distinctly moral
and educational purpose, appealing to the best in human nature
and inspiring it by challenging the intellect and the emotions.
So noble a purpose in Soviet Art has many possibilities, of
which Communist leadership is fully aware. The Second
Five-Year Plan provides not only for a large construction pro-
gramme of new buildings for Art Institutions and for the train-
ing of new artists, but it seeks also to overcome the passive
nature of the theatre audience by creating social entertain-
ments with folk dancing and singing, into which the masses
are drawn in active participation. This is done particularly
in the popular Parks of Culture and Rest, in the Amateur
Dramatic and Musical Societies, at the Clubs, and such other
places. Thus the æsthetic and emotional needs of the masses
for which the Church formerly catered are now gratified by the
Soviet Art institutions. In the theatres and concert halls
no distinctly atheist propaganda is carried on; on the contrary

A
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
free use is made of all the spiritual heritage and art of the past,
presenting it in a secularized form, and while on the surface it
may appear as something different, it satisfies the ethical and
æsthetic needs of the masses. Some of the former pastoral
functions of the Church have now been successfully assumed
by the various social-service sections of the local Soviets and
by the many special Soviet organizations such as the Red Cross
and the children's and Mothers' Aid Societies, amongst others.
What, finally, will become of the movement of militant
atheism? It is quite possible that it will gradually disappear,
though more likely to change its tenets and become a popular
institution for training the masses in Communist ideology,
with a special emphasis on the ethical aspects; of such an
institution there is a great need. The former anti-religious
agitator, gradually and hardly conscious of the change, is now
turning to the functions of teacher and ethical instructor.
From the ranks of the more active enthusiasts students are
recruited, trained in the history and psychology of religion
and in the fundamentals of Communist Philosophy. These
young men, by temper and qualification, under different cir-
cumstances would probably have chosen the study of theology
and entered the service of the Church, but in the new social
order they pursue a function similar to teachers of Communist
ideology. Trained for this activity, they are forming certain
mental habits which partially unfit them for any other work
and for that reason they will probably stay on in this profession,
which we may call Soviet Socratics, for the rest of their active
life. While at present their message remains largely a critique
of religion, the needs of life call more and more for the positive
presentation of a theory of life and action. In this manner
there develops a new institution of professional men to teach
the ways of the good life in the Communist social order.
Existing as a voluntary society the Union of Militant
Atheists is ambitious in building up its organization. It has
already converted many of the large church buildings into
premises on which to carry on its propaganda and there are
plans for erecting new buildings which would suit the method

270
THE OUTLOOK
of their work better than old churches. In short, step by step,!
the demands of life create institutions which more and more
assume the functions of the discarded institutions of the Church.
The weakest link in this process is the absence of a uniform
æsthetic symbolic cult, appealing to the imagination of the
masses, acting as an inspiration and supplying them with a
much-craved-for emotional solidarity. But even here we find
beginnings, in the so-called "Red Corners," with their in-
evitable busts of Lenin and of other popular leaders, mounted.
upon beautifully draped pedestals, and decorated with velvet
or red silk banners, with fine gold embroideries. The Com-
munist "red funerals,”
""red baptismals," "red weddings
and other dedicatory ceremonies rapidly assume the semblance
of a cult and while, as yet, not properly standardized, they
create the manners, language, musical accompaniments and the
atmosphere generally which formerly was provided by the
institution of organized religion.

""
Thus, step by step, in place of the abandoned cults and
traditions the new life creates its own social and cultural forms.
We see, therefore, no reason why the former institutions of
organized religion should not disappear altogether and be
replaced by something new, a higher synthesis in form and
content of the obscure cults and ideologies of the past. A few
centuries hence, historians and sociologists, in analyzing the
superstructures of classless society, will point out that there are
many survivals, rudiments and developments of what once
used to be called religion.
Since the Revolution broke the bonds which tied the social
life of the Russian people to its religious institutions and
ideology, there is little left unchallenged which was once con-
sidered of permanent value and authority. Frankly we see
no future for the former established Church of Russia; while
it may linger for much longer than its Communist grave-
diggers have allowed it for its death, already it has been so
weakened, and its former leadership so discredited, as to render
no longer dangerous as a competitor in modern Soviet life.
The Evangelical Sectarians, whilst their movement is yet vital,
271
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
☆
their appeal on the intellectual side is rather to the old ignorance
and prejudice of the masses, which will doubtless hit back
upon them, most painfully, as a boomerang, when a new
Soviet generation, trained in modern natural and social
sciences, confronts these fundamentalist Evangelicals who so
far have not dared to adjust their antiquated theology.
Thus the future of religion in Russia is above all a socio-
psychological problem. Organized religion is the social form
in which is moulded the spiritual experience of men. The old
moulds are now breaking up. This fact our study has already
revealed, yet it remains to be seen whether the new generations
will reveal a different psychology, not possessing those psychic
traits which create spiritual religion. These latter were never
at any time too common, but were as rare as other spiritual
qualities, as the artistic and creative traits. If religion be only
nurture then in Russia there will be no religion; but if
religion in its subjective aspects is chiefly nature, that is, an
innate spiritual quality of man, then, we ask how a Communist
society can avoid the birth of people possessing these qualities,
and what moulds the classless society will provide for its proper
expression.
The science of eugenics has not discovered any method by
which to select men of spiritual quality, nor do we know
whether these qualities are hereditary. Religious types of
genius are as much biological variants as any other type of
genius. The problem is thus not one of selection but one of
providing the proper nurture and a suitable environment for
1
the unhindered development of those subtle human values
which are now largely crippled or forced, as was the case in
the ascetic mysticism of the Russian Church, into anti-social
channels. We are confident, however, that the classless Com-
munist order will provide an infinitely more advantageous
environment for the selection, development and nurture of the
subtle psychic qualities of man, than was ever possible in the
class-stratified materialistic civilization of acquisitive society.
These conditions will open the era of what we may call the
personal plane of society. It will show us what untapped
alum
1
272
THE OUTLOOK
reservoirs human nature has, and while, no doubt, many new
qualities will reveal themselves, new attempts also will be made
to re-value the forgotten treasures of past spiritual cultures.
I cannot help thinking that future generations of Russian people
will rediscover Jesus, whose historicity is now denied and whose
gospel is now rapidly being obscured in the memory of the
present generation.¹ Will the rediscovered Jesus be the cruci-
fied Son of Man, the martyred prophet of an unpopular cause,
or will he be Jesus the poet, the friend of the flowers, the
birds, and the little children, or will he be Jesus Christ the
logos manifested . . who can tell? The mystery of the cross, of
the innocent sufferer, may never be solved. The new social
order cannot be a painless, static, fools-paradise; so long as
the laws of nature continue to function, there will be inexplic-
able suffering to contend with. The appearance of human
self-consciousness is a gloriously bright light in the shadow of
the universe. Has it its constant beyond the effervescent
manifestations we call Life? This will probably always remain
a mystery, and hence the object of faith and contemplation.
The young Soviet people have demands and interests which
to-day are not satisfied, so they reject both the existing religious
teachings and the anti-religious propaganda. There is need
for a message which synthetically would enrich the social
message of Communism with emotional and ethical values.
This message in content and form will be nothing like any of
the old institutions of religion. It will be upon a much higher
intellectual level, much more æsthetic in form and sentiment.
It will greatly differ from the present crude presentation of
atheist propaganda. We may be sure the future lies not in
the negation of the past but in the affirmation of the new life ·
for which the proletarian revolution has prepared the way,
and the coming Communist classless society should be the
most favourable environment for the development of a spiritual
culture never before dreamed of by prophets, sages or poets.
¹ The attraction which the character of Jesus has to the poetic mind
may be seen from the fact that the famous French Communist writer,
Henri Barbusse, has turned to this subject in his book Jesus.
273
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX I
IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, ISSUED BY THE U.S.S.R.
COMMUNIST PARTY, RELATING TO RELIGION
A. PROGRAMME AND RULES OF THE U.S.S.R. COMMUNIST PARTY
OF BOLSHEVIKS
§ 13. In the Field of Religious Relations.
In relation to religion the U.S.S.R. Communist Party does not
limit itself to the already decreed separation of Church and State
and of the School from the Church-measures which bourgeois
democracy itself advances in its progress, but nowhere in the world
has carried to the end because of the various actual relations of
Capital and religious propaganda.
The U.S.S.R. Communist Party guides itself by the conviction
that the realization of planning and consciousness, in the whole
social-economic activity of man, alone will result in the complete
withering away of religious prejudice. The Party strives towards a
complete destruction of the relation between the exploiting class
and the organization of religious propaganda, thus effecting the
actual liberation of the toiling mass from religious prejudice, and
towards organizing a most extensive scientific educational and anti-
religious propaganda. Herein it is necessary carefully to avoid
any insult to the feelings of believers, since that would only lead to
the strengthening of religious fanaticism.
(Translated from the 16th Edition, 1932.)
B.-PROBLEMS AND METHODS OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
(Theses adopted at the Party Conference on Anti-religious Propa-
ganda and at the Central Committee of the U.S.S.R.
Communist Party, April 27-30, 1926.)
I. Basic Conditions for the Proper Organization of Anti-religious
Propaganda.
1. The correct solution of the problem relating to the content and
method of anti-religious propaganda depends on three basic con-
ditions: (1) on the correct understanding of the very nature of
?

275
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
I
religion; (2) on a correct evaluation of the objective rôle as well
as the subjective aspect of religion; (3) on the correct grasp of con-
ditions under which the anti-religious propaganda is developed,
relating it to the political and economic problems of the particular
period.
II. Significance of a Correct Understanding of the Nature of Religion.
2. Success in anti-religious propaganda depends, to a considerable
extent, upon a correct definition of religion, upon which our propa-
gandists have their base and from which they proceed in their work.
The struggle with religion can be successful only under conditions of
a correct understanding of the very nature of the religious philosophy
of life, a correct evaluation of the rôle of religion in the life of the
toilers, a proper grasp of the causes which raise or lower the waves
of religious sentiment among the toiling mass of the population.
Every simplification, every one-sidedness or narrowing down of
definition of religion, the insufficient appreciation of any of these
aspects, must inevitably lead, and actually does lead, to all kinds
of“ deviations" in practice.
III. Objective Rôle and the Subjective Aspect of Religion.
3. In all anti-religious activity explaining comprehensively and
emphasizing the objective rôle of religion as subjugation and
oppression of the toilers, it is necessary at the same time to make
a distinction between this objective rôle of religion and the mode of
its subjective acceptance by one or another social group (the back-
ward strata of proletarians; various social groupings of peasants,
etc.), i.e. the subjective aspect of religion.
It is necessary, in defining the content and methods of anti-
religious propaganda, to remember that the subjective aspects of
religion represent :
(a) A philosophy of life and the universe; that is to say, a peculiar
system of fantastic conceptions of the universe, not corresponding
to fact and contradictory to the data of contemporary science.
(b) A peculiar emotion and mystic sentiment.
"
(c) “ A more or less consistent system of behaviour outwardly
expressed in religious worship, or . . cult" of the believers-
(Plekhanov).
(d) A system of morals—since the concept of good and evil peculiar
to one or another social group, all concepts of " duty" and all rules
and opinions regulating the conduct of people, are usually presented
by believers in a religious form, whilst others are transformed into
a system of religious-moral concepts (i.e. into religious morals).
•
در
276
APPENDIX I
1
Naturally, between the objective and subjective aspects of religion
exists a close, inseparable relation. Religion becomes an implement
of class oppression through the system of religious concepts of the
world, through religious emotions, and through various rules of
everyday behaviour. The problem of the anti-religionist consists
not only in illuminating, from the aspect of Marxism, these two
aspects of religion, but also in detecting the existing inseparable and
close relation between them.
Furthermore, detecting in the subjective aspect of religion its
objective rôle, as an implement in the hands of the exploiters, it is
necessary with sufficient clearness to extract its bourgeois kernel
from the especially variable shell of mythology, and with this end in
view to carry out anti-religious propaganda in every existing re-
ligion. Such an approach will at the same time prevent the possi-
bility of the interpretation of anti-religious propaganda, by the clergy
and the believing masses, as persecution of one or another creed in
particular.
IV. It is Necessary to Calculate Strictly the Peculiarities of the Situa-
tion and the Close Relation of Anti-religious Propaganda with
Economic and Political Problems.
4. A particularly important condition to the success of anti-
religious propaganda, as of every agitational and cultural-educational
activity, is its strict co-ordination with the conditions and peculi-
arities of a given moment.
At present we observe, in the toiling masses, two opposite processes
in the field of religious experience. On the one hand, religion is
exhausting itself, and atheism is spreading and deepening; this
progress is seen in the growth of the Society of Atheists and the
increasing rejection of religious ceremonies (baptisms, Church
weddings and funerals, and the entertainment of the priest on feast
days), as well as an increased interest in anti-religious lectures and
literature. On the other hand, in some strata of the toiling popula-
tion, not only among peasants but also among workers, is observed
the opposite process, an increasing growth in some places of sec-
tarianism, in others a strengthening of the orthodox parishes.
Anti-religious propaganda must be construed upon an exact com-
putation and scientific Marxian grasp of all the peculiarities of the
given moment, on which background such contradictory phenomena
as the growth of atheism and the strengthening of religion are com-
prehensible. Anti-religious propaganda must proceed from a clear
understanding of the social roots" of religion precisely now, at
the given period of socialist construction and must be closely related
to the political tasks of the moment. The growth of atheism,
""
277
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
generally speaking, is conditioned by the very process of socialist
construction. The participation of the toiling masses in the ad-
ministration of the State, in the trade union and co-operative move-
ment, in political educational work, in the growth of agriculture, of
technique and of co-operation in the villages, etc.-all such partici-
pation conditions the desertion of religion by the working masses.
But inasmuch as socialist construction (even though in the form of
agricultural producers co-operation) does not yet sufficiently em-
brace the broad peasant masses, and inasmuch as the poor and
middle peasant still remains an individual small producer-in so far
the premises of religious sentiment are for the time preserved in
these strata, in the economic conditions of their existence. These
sentiments are also upheld in the backward strata of the proletariat,
among petty artisans and similar groups of toilers, by the com-
paratively high cost of living, by unemployment, by insufficient
organization of this strata, and by the inadequacy of educational
work among them. In this respect those new working strata,
formed by peasants migrating for work to the towns without severing
their relation to the village, also demand attention. However, the
increased activity of priests and sectarian leaders at the present
time is undoubtedly due not so much to the maintenance of religious
sentiment in the various strata of the working population as to the
development of the new bourgeoisie (the Kulaks in the villages and
the Nepmen in the cities).¹ Kulaks and Nepmen make use of re-
ligion in new forms, under changed circumstances, for their class
interests. Anti-religious propaganda must take into consideration
the new forms of class utilization by the kulaks of the religious
sentiments of the middle and poor peasants, in order thus to counter-
act the aims of socialist construction in the villages. Therefore anti-
religious propaganda must be construed so as to be closely related
to the general work of the socialist construction of the Party and
Soviet power, and also with the problems and methods of this work
under present conditions.
V. Comprehensive Critique of Religion Necessary.
5. In view of the conditions outlined above, as well as in view of
the peculiar complexity of religion and its many aspects as a social
phenomena, the possibility of the complete success of anti-religious
propaganda is assured only by a comprehensive critique of religion;
the exposition of the harmful rôle of religion in the life of society
must be carried on simultaneously along all directions indicated
above, it must embrace all aspects of religion.
¹ Since destroyed as a class. Translator.
278
APPENDIX I
!
It is necessary to struggle against religion; firstly, by exposing
the class essences of religious beliefs; the underlying class basis of
the activities of the religious organizations of both the dominant
Church as well as of the sects; by exposing religion in its rôle, in
Western Europe, America and in the Orient, as the servant of
capital.
Secondly, by exposing the anti-scientific nature of religion, which
as such proves a trustworthy means in the hands of the bourgeoisie
for obscuring the class consciousness of the toilers by idealistic
notions, distorting and perverting their concept of the world, the laws
of nature and the development of human society. By pointing out
that objectively religion imposes upon the toilers a false concept of
the world, thus preventing them from forming the concept obtained
from contemporary science; that religion shows itself as servant
and weapon of the exploiters, since whilst the proletariat is mastering
science and transforms it into an implement of his class struggle,
religion plays the rôle of a class implement in the hands of his
enemies.
Thirdly, the struggle with religion must be carried on by exposing
religious morals, as a morality imposed in a special manner upon the
toilers by the ruling class. (Contemporary Christianity, for example,
as a system of morals, represents by itself nothing but such concept
of duty as is in the interest of the exploiters. The morals, proposed
to the toilers by Christianity, are bourgeois-exploiter morals, train-
ing the exploited classes for all those qualities which, from the point
of view of the exploiter, his victim should have: silence, passiveness,
meekness, patience.)
It is necessary to condemn categorically, as the worst type of
popery, every effort or approachment of Christianity to Communism.
Religion must be rejected for good, without reservation and camou-
flage. At the given moment this is particularly necessary since
sectarianism, in its effort to hide from the toiling masses its bourgeois
essence, is adopting a Communist phraseology. Every obscuration
by anti-religionists in this respect will be used by sectarians against
us.
Fourthly, it is necessary to point out the harmfulness to the class
interests of the toilers of religious emotions and sentiment. It
must be shown that the feeling of awe paralyzes human thought and
results in a submissive instead of a critical attitude, produces fear
and compliance and results from slavish conditions of society based
upon exploitation.
Fifthly, it is necessary that anti-religious propaganda, in the
conditions of the given moment, should become one of the sections
of the general ideological and political struggle for the interest of
279
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RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
I
socialist construction. It is necessary to expose the political rôle
of religion at the given moment as the servant of Kulaks and the
Nepmen bourgeoisie and their struggle against the construction of
socialism. Especially is it necessary to expose the rôle of sectarian
religion in the villages, which propaganda helps to strengthen the
Kulaks. This should be done by exposing the class meaning of the
preaching of general peace, love and co-operation under conditions
of stratification in the village and the growth of the Kulaks.
VI. The Harmfulness of Insufficient Appreciation of the Subjective
Aspect and of the Objective Rôle of Religion.
6. Insufficient appreciation of the significance of the subjective
aspect of religion, in the sense of limiting our task to exposing re-
ligion as an implement for the oppression of the workers, results, in
practice, in narrowing the limits of anti-religious propaganda, by
which it is inevitably reduced to superficial agitation, thus objectively
preparing the ground for the appearance of those mechanistically
simplified, unscientific, frequently idealistic conceptions of religion,
which are only a product of the fraud of the ruling classes and the
priests.
This narrowing of the limits of our work deprives us of the possi-
bility of gripping by a wide ideological influence, the toiling prole-
tarian masses, among whom religious sentiment still persists, and
thus compels the adherents of this view to concentrate themselves
in their work only upon the top layers," the vanguard of the
masses. Such" proletarian aristocracy" is a great political danger
under present conditions.
((
In relation to the strengthening of the Soviet economy and the
progressive development of our industrial programme, the opening
of new mills and factories results in profound changes in the com-
position of the working class; new elements are added to it from the
villages which have as yet not broken their relation to the peasant
economy. This produces a "peasant sentiment in the ranks of
the working class. It is unpardonable, therefore, for us to forget
our duty to this enormous mass of fresh poorly-qualified elements
in the working class.
""
7. A further error is just the reverse of that above described and
is due to the insufficient comprehension of the objective rôle of re-
ligion, that is, its political and class essence. According to this
opinion, which may be characterized as that of liquidation,"
anti-religious propaganda must be severed from the concrete problems
of the class struggle advanced by life itself-disassociated from
questions of social life and of politics, in other words liquidated, and
ر,
280
APPENDIX I
replaced by mere" enlightenment,” by a dissemination of scientific
and agronomic knowledge.
Such deviation is not less harmful, since it is well known that
neither cultural activity nor enlightenment by themselves are the
means of freeing man from the religious opiate.
VII. Anti-religious Propaganda is Unthinkable without Relating it
to the Problems of the Class Struggle and Socialist Construction.
""
"}
"C
8. Economic slavery is the true source of the religious hum-
bugging of man," says Lenin, “ and only socialism frees the worker
from faith in a future life, by consolidating him in the present struggle
for a better life on earth (Socialism and Religion). The oppres-
sion of religion over humanity is but the product and reflex of
economic oppression within society, and therefore, by no books and
no sermons is it possible to enlighten the proletariat, if his own
struggle will not enlighten him against the dark forces of Capitalism
(Lenin). It is necessary to relate our work in the struggle with
religion to the general political problems of the class struggle of the
proletariat, recommending to all toilers a complete denunciation of
religion, as that objectively necessary conclusion at which arrives
every conscious fighter for the emancipation of the toiling part of
humanity from the oppression and violence of Capital. All our
atheist conclusions we must make to proceed from the class interests
and demands of the toiling section of contemporary humanity.
رد
The religious sentiments of people cannot be got rid of as a result
of intellectual effort alone. Fantastic concepts of actuality persist
in the people's minds because in the conditions of their lives there
exists a corresponding ground for these concepts. Life does not
change from reasoning about it. Only socialism, only the struggle
for a thorough reconstruction of life upon socialist principles, can
free man's consciousness from the mystic concepts of life. Only
socialism can prove itself the force fit to remove from the path of
human development the hindrances created by religion. This
thought, expressed by Com. Lenin twenty years ago, finds its realiza-
tion and corroboration in our days. Economic and political oppres-
sion, the struggle with nature under conditions of backward tech-
nique, isolation and the confused struggle of unorganized individuals
and of petty producers, economic slavery and impotence, served as
source of the religious sentiments of the toiling poor under the
regime of exploiters who, with the aid of the priests, transformed these
sentiments into implements of still greater enslavement and
oppression. It would suffice to understand the sources of these
phenomena in order that these sentiments may disappear. It was
T
281
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
1
necessary to attain a real possibility to remove these causes.
Philosophers have only explained the world in one way or another,
our task is to change it." (Marx.)
The possibility of "changing" the world is now gradually being
realized under our dictatorship. The extensive drift from religion
by the toiling masses at the present time is a fact not so much the
result of atheist propaganda as it is the result of the strengthening
and development of the socialist elements of our economy. Anti-
religious propaganda only helps the masses to abandon religion, it
accelerates the process where the conditions are ripe for it. The
increase of atheism among the proletarians is conditioned by the
fact that the latter participate more actively in socialist construction.
This process takes place much more slowly among the peasants.
But the mechanization of the whole of Soviet production, and
especially the supply of tractors to the village, will mean a gigantic
technical revolution in our economy. The power of nature over
man, limited in his struggle with it by the capacity of his own
muscles, will be replaced by a human control over nature by means
of the powerful resources of electric energy. The isolated position
of millions of solitary producers will be replaced by powerful co-
operative unions of economic contact between the city and the
village. The many millions of the village will be drawn into the
construction of Socialism, which will free human consciousness from
faith in God now shattered by anti-religious propaganda. Already
Socialism pursues religion at every step. In this struggle each per-
fected machine in the factory, each tractor on the fields of the farmer,
is a weapon; electricity is his force, co-operation the way leading
to victory; the drift from religion to atheism is the ideological
expression of the gigantic material changes taking place at this
moment in our country.
(6
<
9. " We.
We . . . must not drift into abstract idealistic presentation
of the religious problem by reason,' outside of the class struggle."
(Lenin-Socialism and Religion.) We must not construct our pro-
gramme merely by limiting our task to exposing the logical contra-
dictions of priestly creeds; we must unfold before the consciousness
of the toilers those gigantic contradictions which exist between his
class interest and the demands of religion.
We must construct our propaganda upon rigidly concrete material,
such as the actual surroundings of the proletarian or the peasant.
We must point out that religion is a handicap in the life of the toiler ;
that it obscures the development of his class consciousness and
thereby reinforces and strengthens the yoke of Capital over its
victims; that it hinders his abilities in the struggle for a better lot
on earth; that it hinders the development of technique, condemning
282
APPENDIX I
the toilers to starvation and want; that it hinders the development
of the political struggle and supports the exploiters in their greedy
attempts to suck out completely the vitality of contemporary
proletarians.
Finally, we must emphasize the harmful reactionary rôle of religion
in home and social life.
VIII. Anti-religious Propaganda must Serve the Scientific Material-
istic Philosophy of Life.
10. Even if anti-religious propaganda presents a concentrated,
combined blow at religion, its exposure does not exhaust our task.
It is only one part of our work.
We reject religion in order to clear and prepare the way for in-
jecting into the consciousness of the toilers the basic principles of
Marxian science. With us exposure is no end in itself; it is only one
of the means of purging the minds of the toilers of false mystic views
of life by grafting thereon the scientific materialist conception of the
world, of man and human society.
CC
The Marxist differs from the anarchist and from the bourgeois
enlightener in that he sees his task not only in destroying faith in
God, but also in destroying the religious philosophy of life by
scientific concept." (I. I. Skvortsov-Stepanov. Principles of
Anti-religious Propaganda.)
IX. Anti-religious propaganda must be Construed in Consideration of
the Peculiar Conditions of the lives of Toilers (Workers and
Peasants).
II. Religion is by no means the result of exceptional ignorance
and darkness, just as it is not a question of simple logic, the result of
false thinking. It has its roots in the social life, in the conditions of
existence; it grows upon the soil of definite social relations and is
determined by the class position in society of the one or the other
group.
The religious convictions of people depend on the methods of
production in society, on the level of development of technique, on
economic and political conditions. Therefore our task in selecting
the more appropriate methods of anti-religious propaganda may, in
principle, be reduced to the following: in as much as the conditions
of life are not everywhere the same, there can be no uniform method
of struggle with religion in all conditions of life; the methods must
naturally be selected in consideration of the situation in each particu-
lar place.
12. By inertia, backwardness, routine, primitive savage technique,
283
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
which deliver the peasant into the power of the uncontrolled forces
of nature; his ignorance of natural law; his inability scientifically
to grasp natural processes and to select the useful forces of nature
serviceable to his economy; his inability to subject them, technically
to overcome them and, what is most important, his lack of means
for this control; by all such are created conditions for the appearance
of faith in fortunate or unfortunate chance, in evil or good fate, or
in “providence," which direct the fate of man independent of his
will. All this, taken together, creates the basis of the religious senti-
ments of the people. In these conditions, upon this ground, appears
and develops faith in God, designer and ruler of the world. Thus
becomes evident the need of directing anti-religious criticism not
only against faith itself, but also upon those material causes which
condition the vitality and persistance of religious sentiment-
namely, backward technique, backward methods of production,
backward social customs, and deadening inertia and routine in the
family and social habits of village life. In these conditions present-
day peasant economy remains deprived of scientific efficiency. In
spite of our achievements we have far from mastered in the villages
the dependence upon uncontrolled nature and the slavish attitude
thereto. All this, taken together, explains the difficulty of the
peasant mass in understanding those processes which take place in
nature and society. Therefore, in exposing religion as the implement
of class oppression, as the servant of the Kulak class in its effort to
subject the poor and middle peasant to its influence and control,
in emphasizing the social-political rôle of religion in the present-day
village, it is simultaneously necessary to lay stress upon natural
science and agronomic propaganda. Anti-religious work in the
village must give the peasant a materialistic interpretation of those
phenomena of social life and of nature with which they come into
contact. In this respect it is necessary to show the peasant that the
religious interpretation of the phenomena of nature and society is
false, depriving him of the possibility of a correct concept of life,
and how it might be changed to his advantage. It is necessary so
to formulate anti-religious propaganda in the villages that the peasant
rejection of religion would be a logical conclusion from the point of
view of his interests, resulting from his own reasoning and calcula-
tion of what would be profitable to his economy. It is necessary to
correlate anti-religious propaganda with the problem of the peasant
economy from the point of view of its development towards
Socialism.
13. Anti-religious propaganda in the village must have the nature
of a quiet, cautious talk, a deepening propaganda influencing the
mind of the hearers.
284
APPENDIX I
With no less caution it is necessary to carry on anti-religious propa-
ganda among the workers, particularly at present when is observed
a considerable influx of peasantry into the working class. It is our
duty not to repulse but to attract these fresh elements in the working
class, to attach oneself closer to them and subject them to our influ-
The old rule of Lenin, "better to move slower but with the
whole mass,” is of exceptional significance at the present moment.
Our programme must be thoroughly saturated in the spirit of uniting
ourselves to the proletariat and the principle body of the peasants,
in the spirit of consolidating these two groups of toilers in our
Union.
ence.
Problems in discrediting and exposing methods, passion for
offensive tactics and its over-estimation in anti-religious propaganda
results in ugly phenomena as:
(a) Struggle against religion by external pressure (administra-
tional method; closing of churches; removing of church bells;
etc.).
(b) By shocking (carnivals and demonstrations), and even, in
isolated cases, by terror.
Particular caution must be maintained toward debates, which
frequently yield results contrary to those for which they were
organized.
X. In Anti-religious Propaganda National Peculiarities must be
taken in Consideration.
14. The fact of the existing influence of the clergy upon national
minorities, among which
among which are adherents
adherents of Islam, Lamaism,
Judaism, Catholicism; the fanaticism of the believing masses, which
is frequently exploited by the clergy for organizing resistance to
Soviet construction; the increased propaganda, directed to associate
the concept of nationality with religion; these create special diffi-
culties in work among these nationalities. These difficulties may be
overcome only by a careful, thoughtful approach in this work.
The methods of propaganda among the nationalities of the U.S.S.R.
are conditioned by:
-
(a) The form of the economic life of the nationalities among
which are distributed the religions mentioned above;
(b) The remnants of semi-feudal class relations existing locally ;
(c) The historic past ;
(a) The degree of participation in Soviet construction;
(e) The degree of influence of religious organizations and religion.
285
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
XI. Practical Conclusions.
1. A widely-spread development of anti-religious propaganda is
necessary both in the city, among the backward strata of the working-
class and particularly among its new strata immigrant from the
villages, and in the villages, where religion, particularly sectarianism,
and the religious sentiments among the village poor and middle
peasants are used by the Kulak class for increasing their influence
upon the peasant mass, for struggling with Soviet society and for
counteracting Socialist construction.
2. Anti-religious propaganda in city and village cannot and
should not be carried on by the forces of the Party alone; in the
interests of this propaganda a wide, non-party, active atheist group
of workers and peasants should be created, organized in the local
unions of atheists.
3. In these unions all Party organizations should establish firmer
direction than heretofore, for which purpose it should
(a) form Communist sections therein;
(b) obtain regular reports from these sections of the work accom-
plished;
(c) establish an ideological control over the anti-religious literature
published by the unions of atheists ;
(d) strengthen the unions by qualified Party workers;
(e) consider active work in the unions of atheists, as well as the
anti-religious work of party men generally, as party work which is
to be credit as such.
4. Provincial and regional committees must participate directly
and through the medium of the atheist unions in the training of
anti-religious propagandists, by organizing special seminars and
by developing more than heretofore a system of propaganda study-
circles among workers and peasants, transforming them into schools
of political literacy and into cells for the propagation of Marxian
ideas in problems relating to religion.
5. The Central Council of the Union of Atheists, together with
the Chief Department of Political Education of the R.S.F.S.R.,
must prepare, and harmonize with the propaganda department of
the Central Committee, typical programmes for seminars of anti-
religious propagandists in towns and villages. These to be ready for
the winter season of 1926-27. In addition, to prepare, and similarly
harmonize with the propaganda department of the Central Com-
mittee, a plan for publishing special teaching manuals for these
seminars and circles, having these manuals prepared and edited by
qualified persons and their publication completed by the beginning
of 1927.
286
APPENDIX I
6. Moreover, the Executive bureaux of the Central Council of the
Union of Atheists, together with the Cultural Department of the
All-Union Council of Trade Unions and the Chief Department of
Political Education of the R.S.F.S.R., must prepare and distribute
locally by the autumn of this year instructions for the organization
of anti-religious propaganda in workers' clubs on the basis of the
present theses. In these instructions it is necessary to consider the
organic relations of anti-religious propaganda with all forms of club
work, particularly of mass activities, the work of club libraries, red
corners, and wall newspapers in the enterprises; in particular it is
necessary to give attention to the closest relation of anti-religious
propaganda with problems of the worker's social and home life;
especially to set apart the problem of the atheist corners" in the
clubs, indicating the necessity of reviving their work by transform-
ing them into corners of consultation relating to anti-religious
questions, under direction of an anti-religious propagandist, demon-
stration of pictures, placards, etc.
<<
7. Instructions of the same kind, in the same order, must be
prepared by the autumn of this year for anti-religious propaganda
in the cottage reading rooms, houses of peasants and the atheist
corners attached to them.
"C
8. The Executive Bureau of the Central Council of the Union of
Atheists should also plan and take the necessary steps to organize
an anti-religious museum and establish it in Moscow.
9. The Commissariat of Education of the Republics of the Union
f
should provide anti-religious repertories for all kinds of theatrical
productions (particularly for the workers' clubs, houses of the
peasants and cottage reading-rooms), also prepare lantern slides and
cinema films with an anti-religious content.
10. On the part of these Commissariats it is necessary, for the
school season of 1926-27, to improve the programmes of Soviet
Party schools, institutes of political education, pedogogical tech-
nicums and pedogogical faculties, by inserting elements of an anti-
religious character, problems of content and method of anti-religious
propaganda, in order to train party propagandists, political educators
and teachers for spreading anti-religious propaganda among workers
and peasants, as well as work out the problem of organizing at the
Higher Schools research work in the anti-religious field.
(Translated from "Antireligioznik," N. 8. 1926.)
287
APPENDIX II
APPENDIX II
DECREES AND STIPULATIONS OF THE SOVIET
GOVERNMENT RELATING TO RELIGION
AND THE CHURCH
FREEDOM
A.—DECREE OF JANUARY 23, 1918, “ ON Freedom of Conscience
A.—Decree
AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.”
The Church is separated from the State.
2. Within the limits of the Republic it is prohibited to publish
any kind of local laws or orders which would hinder or limit the
freedom of conscience, or would establish any kind of preference or
privilege on the basis of the denominational adherence of the citizens.
Every citizen may adhere to any religion or adhere to none.
Any limitations before the law relating to adherence to any kind of
faith or non-adherence to any faith are abolished.
Note.
From all official documents are excluded every reference to
religious adherence or non-adherence of citizens.
All State and other public and social functions before the law
are not to be accompanied by any religious customs or ceremonies.
5. Free practice of religious customs is safeguarded in so far as it
does not disturb the public peace and does not infringe upon the
rights of citizens of the Soviet Republic. Local authorities have
the right to take all necessary measures to safeguard public peace
and security in all such cases.
6 No one may evade his civil duties on religious grounds. Exemp-
tions from these, on condition of substituting one form of civil
service by another, in each separate case must be granted by a de-
cision of a people's court.
. The religious oath is abolished. In necessary cases only
solemn promises are given.
8. Records of civic states are kept exclusively by the civil authori-
ties, by departments of marriages and birth.
The School is separated from the Church; the teaching of
religious confessions is not allowed in State, public and private
schools where secular subjects are taught. The citizen may teach
or be taught religion in a private capacity.
289
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
All Church and religious societies are subject to the general
status existing for voluntary societies and unions and do not enjoy
any privileges or subsidies from the State, nor from local autonomous
and self-governing bodies.
Compulsory collections or assessments for the benefit of
Church or religious societies, as well as measures of compulsion or
punishment on the part of these societies over their members, are
not permitted.
. No Church and religious societies have the right to own
property. They have no rights of juridic persons.
3 All property of existing Church and religious societies is
declared the people's property. Buildings and objects specially
designated for divine service are given for free use to corresponding
religious societies on the basis of special ordinance of the local or
central State authorities.
B.-DECREE OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COM-
MITTEE AND COUNCIL OF PEOPLES COMMISSARS OF THE
R.S.F.S.R. ABOUT RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
Author's Note.-This decree contains 68 paragraphs of which we
translate fully those of special interest, for the rest we only
indicate the content.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee and Council of
People's Commissars of the R.S.F.S.R. decrees:
1. Under the jurisdiction of the decree of People's Commissars of
the R.S.F.S.R. from January 23, 1918, on the separation of the
Church from the State, and the school from the Church, come
churches, religious groups, sects, religious trends and other organiza-
tions of cult of all denominations.
2. Religious organizations of believers of all cults are registered
into religious societies or groups of believers. Each citizen can be
a member of only one religious organization (society or group).
A religious society is a local organization of believing citizens,
not under eighteen years of age, of one and the same cult, creed,
opinion or sect, in numbers not less than twenty persons, who unite
for the common satisfaction of their religious needs.
Believing citizens who, due to their small number cannot form
a religious society, have the right to form a group of believers.
A religious society or group of believers has no right of juridic
person.
4. A religious society or group of believers can commence their
activities only after registration of the society or group in a given
290
APPENDIX II
administrative department of a local Executive Committee or city
council of a city, which is not the administrative centre of a region
or of a county.
5. For the registration of a religious society its initiators, if not
less than twenty persons in number, apply to the organs indicated
in the previous (4) paragraph, according to a registration form
fixed by the People's Commissariat of the Interior of the R.S.F.S.R.
6 refers to place of presenting applications.
7. The organs indicated in (4) are obliged, within a month from
the day of the filing of the application, to register the society or
group of believers or inform them of refusal of registration.
8. The composition of the religious society or group of believers,
as well as their executive and controlling organs and servants of the
cult, is presented to the organ with which it is registered according
to the time and form prescribed by the People's Commissariat of
the Interior of R.S.F.S.R.
9. In the lists of members of religious societies or groups can be
entered only those believers who have given their consent to it.
10. To satisfy the religious needs of believers who have composed
a religious society a special building for service and equipment,
exclusively designed for purposes of the cult, may be received for
free use from the township, or regional executive Committee or City
Council.
In addition, believers who have formed a religious society, or a
group of believers, may also use other premises for the purpose of
worship, obtained from private individuals at local Soviet and
Executive Committees. For these premises are applicable the
same rules as for special buildings of cult; leases for the use of such
premises are signed by separate believers under their personal
responsibility. In addition, these premises must be satisfactory in
the technical and sanitary sense.
Each religious society or group of believers cannot use more than
one set of premises for worship.
11-16 refer to the signing of contracts and the election of control
organs of the societies.
17. Religious organizations are prohibited: (a) from forming
mutual aid associations, co-operatives, productive associations, and
generally making use of the property in their care for any purpose
except the satisfaction of their religious needs; (b) from rendering
material aid to their members; (c) from organizing special children's,
youth, women, prayer and other meetings as well as general bible
studies; also literary, handiwork, industrial, teaching of religion
and other meetings, groups, circles, departments, as well as organiz-
291
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
ing excursions and children's playgrounds, opening libraries and
reading-rooms, organizing sanatoria and medical aid.
In buildings and premises for worship may be kept only books
needed for the celebration of the cult.
18. It is prohibited to teach any religious creed in State, social
and private schools and educational institutions. Such teaching
may be permitted exclusively in special theological courses, opened
by citizens of the U.S.S.R., with the special permission of the
People's Commissar of the Interior of R.S.F.S.R., and on territories
of autonomous republics with the permission of the Central Com-
mittees of the corresponding autonomous republics.
19. The region of activity of servants of the cult, of preachers and
teachers, is limited to the residential area of the society served by
him and the location of the place of worship.
The activity of servants of the cults, of preachers and teachers
of religion, who permanently serve two or more religious units, is
limited to the territory on which the believers are living who enter
into these units.
20. Religious societies and groups of believers may organize local,
All-Russian and All-Union, religious conferences and conventions
on the basis of special permission in each case, obtained: (a) from
the People's Commissariat of the Interior of R.S.F.S.R., when the
conference is called for Russia or for the whole Union upon the
territory of the R.S.F.S.R.; or if the conference embraces a territory
or two or more provinces, regions and governments; and (b) from
the corresponding regional or territorial, governmental or district
administrative departments, if the conference is local, etc.
21-24 deal with organization and functioning of conferences.
25-44 deal with the care of property given for use to religious
cults and the provisions of contract related to them and the liquida-
tion of contracts.
45. The building of new places of worship may be permitted at
the request of religious societies on the common basis and technical
provisions, as well as in accordance with special regulations fixed by
the People's Commissariat of the Interior.
46-53 refer to repair and maintenance of property used for
worship.
54. Members of groups of believers and religious societies have
the right to make and collect voluntary contributions in their place
of worship as well as outside it, but only among members of a given
religious unit and only for the purpose of maintaining the buildings
of worship, objects of the cult, engagement of servants of the cult,
and the maintenance of their executive organisations.
292
APPENDIX II
Every compulsory collection in favour of religious units is prose-
cuted by the criminal code of the R.S.F.S.R.
55-56 refer to the accounting of collected funds.
57 refers to sanitary conditions of property used for the cult.
58. Prohibits religious functions in State, social, co-operative and
private enterprises.
This prohibition does not refer to requests of the dying and the
sick in hospitals and prisons; religious cult in these cases is per-
mitted in isolated rooms as well as on cemeteries and in crematoriums.
59-61 refer to regulations of religious processions.
62-63 refer to stipulations in the accounting of religious societies
and groups.
64.-The control of religious units, their property, etc., is laid upon
the departments which registered them.
65–66 demand re-registration within one year of the issue of this
law; societies failing to do so are considered liquidated.
67-68 refer to annulling of previous stipulations contradicting this
decree.
Signed by the Chairman, V.C.I.K.,
M. KALININ.
Vice-Chairman of the S.N.K., R.S.F.S.R.,
A. SMIRNOV.
Vice-Secretary, V.C.I.K.,
April 8, 1929,
Moscow, Kreml.
A. DOSOV.
Author's Note.-On the basis of this law have developed commen-
taries and instructions, issued by the Central Administrative
organs directing the affairs of religious organizations, which
serve as precedents in the application of the law.
DECREE
C.—OF THE ALL-RUSSIAN CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND
THE COMMITTEE AND COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF
R.S.F.S.R.
Relating to the Formation of a Central Commission on Religious
Affairs.
On the basis of the decree of the Central Executive Committee
and Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R. from December
15, 1930, “concerning the liquidation of the People's Commissars of
293
RELIGION AND COMMUNISM
the Interior of the Union and Autonomous Republics (Isvestia
C.I.K. of the Union and V.C.I.K. of December 16, 1930, No. 345),
and in correspondence with the decision of the Presidium of V.S.I.K.
of December 20, 1930, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
and Council of People's Commissars of the R.S.F.S.R. decrees :
The handling of affairs related to cults to rest upon the Commission
for dealing with religious problems at the Presidium V.S.I.K. in
the Centre, and locally upon the Presidiums C.I.K. of the Autono-
mous S.S.R., the Executive Committees and Councils through the
corresponding part of the apparatus.
Chairman of the All-Russian Executive Committee,
M. KALININ.
i
Chairman of Council of People's Commissars R.S.F.S.R.,
D. SULIMOV.
Secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,
A. KISELEV.
December 31, 1930,
Moscow, Kreml.
DUTIES
of the Permanent Central and Local Commissions for dealing with
Religious Problems.
1. The Permanent Central Commission on problems relating to
organizations of cult is attached to the Presidium V.C.I.K. as the
organ upon which are laid the duties of the general direction and
surveillance for the correct realization of the policy of the Party and
the Government in the application of the laws relating to cults upon
the whole territory of the R.S.F.S.R.
2. The Permanent Central Commission consists of a chairman
(member of the Presidium V.S.I.K.), a responsible secretary and
members, personally appointed by the Presidium V.S.I.K.
3. The Permanent Central Commission is charged :
(a) With preparing and previously examining projected legisla-
tive acts and ordinances on questions relating to cults, and their
presentation for decision to the Presidium V.C.I.K. ;
(b) With the general direction in the correct application of pro-
jects of legislative acts by the People's Commissariat of C.I.K., of
autonomous S.S.R.s, by territorial and regional Executive Com-
mittees in legislation relating to questions of the cult, and in giving
directions and assistance in these problems;
294
APPENDIX II
(c) With the systematization of legislative acts and ordinances of
V.C.I.K. and R.S.F.S.R. on questions relating to cults ;
(d) With the presentation of conclusions on questions of cults to
the Presidium V.C.I.K.;
(e) With dealing with complaints concerning incorrect actions of
C.I.K.S of the Autonomous S.S.R.s, of territorial and regional
Executive Committees, on questions related to the functioning of
cults, on the closing of buildings for worship and the cancelling of
contracts with religious societies and groups of believers.
Note. The decisions of the Permanent Commission at the Presidium
V.C.I.K., cancelling the decisions of Executive Committees,
are subject to ratification by the Presidium V.C.I.K.
(ƒ) With the recording of religious unions and preparation of
statistical data presented by local organs.
4. In order to accomplish the task placed upon the Permanent
Central Commission it has the right :
(a) to place responsibilities upon all central organs of the
R.S.F.S.R. within the limits of their competence on problems re-
lated to cults;
(b) to demand from central and local organs necessary information
and materials on problems relating to cults;
(c) to demand from Republican territorial and regional Commis-
sions reports on their work in the field of cults ;
(d) to print and publish materials on questions of legislation re-
lated to cults ;
(e) to form Sub-Commissions, with the right of including in them
representatives of departments, who are not members of the Com-
missions, to treat special problems related to cults.
5. All Government Departments of the R.S.F.S.R. have previously
to harmonize their measures directly relating to cults with the
Permanent Central Commission at the Presidium V.C.I.K. on dealing
with religious problems.
6. All directive ordinances, as well as demands, of the Permanent
Central Commission, relating to problems of cult are obligatory to
all local organs.
7. The Permanent Central Commission on dealing with religious
problems has its stamp and seal.
8. The Permanent Central Commission has its staff consisting of
a responsible secretary, consultants and the necessary office assistants.
Author's Note.-Analogous regulations are given to the Local Com-
missions with the Central Commission as the last court of appeal.
(Translated from Bulletin No. 2, 1932, of the Permanent
Central Commission.)
}
295
INDEX
INDEX
ABRAMOV, 85
Aethos, Monastery of Mt., 24
Albinsky, John, 212
Alexander I, 59, 69, 70, 98, 105
Alexander III, 52
Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, 206
Alexandra, Tsarina, 53
Alexis I, 24, 43, 47
American Revolution, 96
Andrew of Ufa, Bishop, 202
Anti-Christ, 48, 51, 56-57, 60, 61,
63, 64
Anti-Religious Agitators, Training
of, 254-257 /
Campaigns, 253-
Movement, The, 215-231
Beginnings, 10, 92, 101; numeri-
cal strength, 218-220; youth
organisation, 220-223; in the
Red Army, 223-224; amongst
Minor Nationalities, 224-227
Anti-Religious Propaganda :
New tactics, 240-245; organisa-
tion and methods of, 246–265 ;
problems and methods of, 275–
287
Anti-Religioznik, The, 254
Arius and Athanasius, 27
Antonine, Bishop, 209, 211
Arsenius of Novgorod, Archbishop,
198
Artsybashev, Sanine, 136
Atheism in the Soviet Union:
chief causes, 228-231; future of,
266-273
and Education, 220-222
Atheist International, The, 11, 227–
228
Avvakum, Arch-Priest, 47-48
BACON, FRANCIS, 87
Bakunin, M. A.:
Aristocratic origin, 120; early
religious passion, 121; dia-
lectic negation of religion, 121 ;
as militant anarchist,
opposition to religion,
I24; other references,
127, 128
Baptists, 70-72, 74
Barbusse, Henri, 273
122;
122-
108,
Basil of Moscow, Prince, 22
Bayle, Pierre, 87
Belinsky, V. G. :
Early influences, 109-110;
idealist,'110-III; as materialist,
III; as revolutionist, 112;
negation of religion, 113;
controversy with Gogol, 113-
114; denies religiosity of
Russian people, 113-114; other
references, 108, 125, 127
Belkoff, Priest, 209
Benjamin, Metropolitan, 209, 211
Berdyaev, N. :
Religious position, 147-149;
relation to Communism, 129,
149-150,
188; aristocratic
individualism, 150-151; on
Slavophilism, 131; other
references, 138, 140, 143, 152
Bestuzhev, A. F., 99
Bezbozhnik, The, 215, 259
Bible in Russia, The, 26, 45–46, 69,
70, 106-107
as
Bielo-Krinitza Monastery, 58
Black Hundred, The, 193
Block, Alexander, 138
Blount, Charles, 78
Borisov, Peter, 105-106
Bradlaugh, Science and Religion,
257
Brahminism, 77
British and Foreign Bible Society,
69
Bruce, General Jacob, 85-86
Bruno, Giordano, 262
Buddhism, II, 77
Buechner, 118
Bulgakov, Sergius, 129, 143-144
U
297
INDEX
~
CAIRD, The Evolution of Re- D'ALEMBERT, 89, 95
ligion, 3
Dancers, The, 66
Darwin, 118
Castrators, 61, 66–68
Catechism of a Free Man, The, 106–
Dead, Prayer for the, 32-33
Slavic Cult of the, 16-17
Decembrists:
107
Cathedrals:
Assumption, of the, Moscow, 19,
20, 21, 23, 31-32, 40-41 ;
Christ the Saviour, Moscow,
117; Kazan, Leningrad, 260;
St. Isaak, Leningrad, 260, 262
Catherine II:
Liberal enthusiasms, 62, 81, 84,
88-92, 96; attempts to reform
the Church, 91-92; reaction-
ary phase, 92-93, 97-99; bans
masonic order, 92, 94-95, 105;
other references, 18
Ceremonies, Decline in Religious,
229, 277
Chalcedon, Fourth General Council
at, 28
Chancev, John, 212
Christianity, introduction of, into
Russia, 13
and Paganism, Syncretism of,
14-18
Christmas Message, A Godless, 250–
252
Civil War, 1919–1920, 207, 223
Collectives, Godless, 234, 241
Collectivisation :
Hostility of sectarians to, 73;
effect on religious beliefs, 234;
and atheist propaganda, 226,
232-245, 247
Communism amongst Sectarians,
63, 66, 68, 70-73
Berdyaev on, 149-150, 188
Communist Party Conference, 1926,
216; theses adopted at, 275-287
Philosophy of Life, 179–182
Theory of Religion, 1-2, 5-9,
174-188
Writers on Religion, 258
Academy for the Study of
Religion, 238, 255
Comte, Auguste, 1, 113, 118, 267
Condorcet, 95
Conscientious Objectors in Russia,
74
Copernicus, 86
Council of 1666–67, 47-48
>
Their purpose, 102; their leaders,
views on religion,
103-104;
104; aristocratic composition,
104-106; reasons for collapse,
107-108; Herzen on, 114-115;
other references, 93, 99, 125,
189
Declaration of the Rights of Man,
98
Deism, 76-78, 88
Voltarian, 93, 96
de Maistre, Joseph, 79
Denyers, The, 64
Descartes, 87
d'Holbach, Baron P. A., 83-84, 94,
105
Dialectical Materialism, 174-176,
176, 179-182, 253
Dialectics, Laws of, 6, 182-185
Dictionary of Foreign Words, Petra-
shevsky's, 126
Diderot, Denis, 81-84, 89, 94, 95
Dietzgen, Joseph, 187
Dmitrievitch, Prince Vasily, 23
Dolgoruky, Prince Ury, 22
Dostoievsky, F., 139–143
religious complex, 113, 126, 129,
138; religious outlook as
expressed in his novels, 139–
143; sentenced to death, 125,
139
Drama, Anti-Religious, 264
Dukhobury, The, 68, 70
Durkheim, 2
ECCLESIASTICAL Culture, 18-
20
Ecumenical Councils, The Seven,
27, 28, 30, 32
Edinovertsy, The, 59
Elagin, 94
Ellwood, Charles A., 2-3
Encyclopædia, French, 81
Encyclopædists, French, 90, 94,
103, 174
Engels, F., attitude towards re-
ligion, 174-175; Anti-Duerig,
177; other references, 181, 258
298
INDEX
Enlightenment, French, in Russia,
77-84, 89-93, 93–95, 96, 100, 103,
105, III
Ethics of the Russian People, 33-36
Euphemius, 62
Evangelical Christians, Union of, 72
Evangelical Sects, 10, 56, 69–75
Increase since the Revolution,
71-73, 266, 271-272; increase
since checked by Soviet, 71,
73-74
Extremist Sects, 62-69
FAMINE, 1921, The, 207-210
Feudalism, 38-39, 103
Feuerbach, L., 121-122, 126, 174
Wesen des Christentums, 112, 118,
176-177
Fichte, 108, 110, 120, 121, 160
Films, Anti-Religious, 264-265
Fine Arts, Anti-Religious Use of,
264-265, 270
Five Year Plan, 217, 218, 222, 224,
225, 233, 242, 243, 247, 249, 268,
269
Flagellators, 64-65
Fontenelle, 88
Fourier, 108, 126
Fox, George, 119
Frederick II of Prussia, 78, 80, 81,
89
French Encyclopædia, 81
Encyclopædists, 90, 94, 103,
174
Enlightenment in Russia, 77-
84, 89-93, 93-96, 100, 103, 105,
III
Revolution, 77, 81, 92, 93–95,
97, 98, 120, 182
Friends of the Newspaper Bezbozhnik
215-216
Franklin, 95
GALILEO, 86, 262
Galitzen, The Brothers, 98
Gandhi, Mahatma, 155
Gapers, The, 63
Gapon, Father Gregory, 190
George of Vladimir, Prince, 22
Georgian Church, 50
German Idealist Philosophy
Russia, 108
Giddings, Franklin H., 2
Gironde, 112
God-Builders, Socialist, 185-188
in
Godless at the Bench, The, 215
God-Wrestlers and God-Seekers,
Intellectualist, 10, 128-154
Gogol, 113, 138
Going Amongst the People, The,
128, 135
Gorky, Maxim, 129, 186-187
Goudonov, Boris, 43
Grimm, 89
HEGEL, 2, 108, 110, 120, 121,
124, 174, 181, 182, 184
Hegelians, Young, 121
Helvetius, 84, 90, 95, 96, 105
Herbert of Cherbury, Lord, 78
Herzen, A. I. :
Early influences, 114; Decem-
brist uprising, 114-115; in-
fluence of St. Simon, 115–117;
exile, 117; religious dramas,
117-118; Northern Star and
The Bell, 118; critic of the
Church, 118-120; other refer-
ences, 108, 127, 128
High Procurator, Functions of, 50-
51, 196
Hiliodor of Tsaritsin, 53, 54
Hinduism, 77
Hlesty, The, 64-68
Hobbes, Thomas, 78, 87
Holy Alliance, 102
Holy Synod:
Foundation and functions, 49-
55; other references, 69, 71,
91-92, 192-193.
Huxley, Julian, 1
[BERIAN Virgin, Ikon of, 20,
24-25
Ikon Worship, 20-26, 30-32, 91, 235
Illuminates, The, 95
Industry, Heavy, Commences in
Russia, 107-108
Institute of Red Professors, 255
Intellectuals and Religion, 128-154
International, Second, 227; third,
227
of Proletarian Free Thinkers,
227
JE
EREMIAH, Patriarch, 43
Jews, 11, 19, 52, 239
Job, Patriarch, 43
Jonah, Metropolitan, 40
299
INDEX
John III, 40-41
John IV, 41-42
Joseph I of Austria, 89
Jumpers, The, 65–66
Justinian, Emperor, 27
KANDIDOV, B. P., 259
Kant, 2, 6, 160, 182
Kantemir, Antioch, 88
Kautsky, 256
Kerensky régime, 195, 199
Khomyakov, A. S., 29, 108, 130, 134
Khrapovitsky, Antonius, 193-194,
196-198
261
Kniggen, Adolf von, 95
Kornilov, General, 196
Kranikov, P. A., 259
Kraniuk, Z., 247
144-147, 152
Methodosius, St., 30
Michael I, 37, 43, 133
Kidd, Benjamin, 2
Kiev-Petchora Monastery, 206, 260, Military Training, Sectarians and,
74
Miliukov, P., 29, 32
Minor
Krasnitzky, Vladimir, 209, 211
Kremlin, 19, 20
Kroner, 184
Kunow, 256
LAMETTRIE, 80-81, 89
Lecky, History of Rationalism,
257
Lectures, Anti-Religious, 248–250
Leibnitz, 96
Leipzig, University of, 96
Lenin :
on Religion, II, 177-179, 251,
281-282; Dialectical Material-
ism, 181-182; on Tolstoy,
156-157; controversy with
Gogol and Lunacharsky, 187–
188; other references, 83, 259,
271, 285
Leningrad Anti-Religious Museums,
260-262
Leonid, Archbishop, 211
Literature, Anti-Religious, 257-260
Living Church Movement, 210-212
Locke, 79, 87
Lopuchin, I. V., 94, 95
Lublinsky, Julian, 105
Lukachevsky, A. T., 238, 256, 259
Lunarcharsky, A., 129, 186–189
Luther, Martin, 160
Marx, Karl, 99, 112, 128, 129, 160,
174-177, 258
Das Kapital, 177
Marx and Engels, 113
German Ideology, 175
Masonic Order in Russia, The, 92-
95, 105
Reactionary tendency, 93-95;
banned by Catherine II, 92,
94-95, 105
MABLI, 96
Makarius, Bishop, 54
Marat, III
Masonic Order, The British, 94
Merezhkovsky, D. S., 138, 140, 143,
Nationalities, Atheism
amongst, 224-227, 239-240, 285
Cultural advances since Revolu-
tion, 224-225
Minsky, N. M., 153
Moleschet, 118
Molokans, The, 69–71
Montesquieu, 88, 90, 92, 96
Morris, William, 160
Moscow, Religious Splendour of,
18-20
Moscow Art Theatre, 59
Central Anti-Religious
Museum, 260, 262
University, 115
Moslems, Atheism amongst, 226
Sectarian movement, 239-240
Motorin, 259
Muraviev, Colonel N. M., 104, 106–
107
Muraviev, S., 107
Murry, Middleton, II
Museums, Anti-Religious, 260-264
Music in the Soviet Union, 265, 268,
269
Mutes, The, 63
NAPOLEON, 102, 130
Narodnik Movement:
Origin, 107-108; two trends,
108; the Westernists, 108-
127; Slavophilism, 108; move-
ment breaks up, 127-129
Neo-Christians,
The, 140, 143-
154
New Israel, The, 72
Newtonian Physics, 78, 79, 181
300
INDEX
Nicæa, First and Seventh General
Councils at, 27, 28, 30, 32
Nicene Creed, 27, 28
Nicholas I, 50, 51, 59, 63, 102,
108, 121, 125
Nicholas II, 52–55
Nicholas, The Grand-Duke, 54
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 2, 7–8
Nikhon, Patriarch, 24, 43-44, 46-
48, 51, 57, 59
Nikolsky, Professor N. M., 17, 259
Nine Sisters, The Lodge of the, 95
Nonconformism, Belinsky on, 114
Nonconformity in Russia :
Beginnings, 56–57; the Old
Believers, 57-62; various ex-
tremist sects, 62-69; the
Evangelical Sects, 69-75;
Communist trends, 63, 66, 68,
70, 71, 72-73; pacifism, 68,
70, 74
Non-Prayers, The, 63-64
Novgorod, the Baptism of, 18
Novikov, Nikolai, 95
OGAREV, NICHOLAS, 115
Old Believers, The:
Beginnings, 46-48; differentia-
tion, 56-62; split over episco-
pate, 57-58; priestly faction,
58; Edinovertsy faction, 59;
priestless faction, 59-61;
radical factions, 63; pros-
perity of Old Believers, 58-
59; service to culture, 59;
as colonisers, 61-62; their
Moscow settlements, 62;
decline, 68-69
Olga of Kiev, Princess, 13
Oman, Professor John, 3, 5
Orthodox Church, The Greek, 13-14
26-28, 30, 32, 60
The Russian :
P
Foundation, 13; close organic
relation to the State, 10, 13-
14, 37-55, 84, 136–137; doc-
trinal pecularities, 26-33;
apostolic origin theoretically
established, 42; separation
from Byzantium, 40-43; posi-
tion under Feudalism, 38-39;
relationship to Serfdom, 44-
48; its wealth, 17, 18-20,
38, 44, 194, 200, 203, 209;
the illiteracy of the clergy,
and its intellectual back-
wardness, 15-16, 28-29, 33,
39, 46, 84, 86, 88; Slavophil
idealisation of the Church, 131–
134; the future, 55, 271
Orthodox Church and the Revolu-
tion, The conflict of:
Conflict prior to 1917, 189-195;
1917-1918 Council of the
Church and the re-establish-
ment of the Patriarchate,
195-198; the Sobor, 195-198;
1917 Constitution of the Church
197; counter-revolutionary
offensive of the Church, 199-
202; counter-offensive of
the revolutionists, 202–207 ;
separation from the State,
202-205, 208, 290; nationalisa-
tion of Church property, 203-
205, 290; relic frauds exposed,
206, 260; attitude during the
Famine of 1921, 207-210;
capitulation, 210-214; Living
Church Movement, 209-214
PACIFISM, 68, 70, 74, 155, 170-
171, 224
Pagan Survivals, 14-18
Pakhomius, 24-25
Patriarchs, Institution of, 28, 43
Patriarchal Messages, 1918, 200–201
February, 1922, 208-209
Patriarchate, Re-establishment of,
195-198
Paul the Apostle, 45
Paul of Kolomna, 57
Paul I, 99
Penn, William, 118-119
People's Liberty Party, The, 129
Pestel, Colonel P. I., 104
Petchersky Monastery, 29
Peter I, 49, 51, 55, 84-87, 88, 89, 240
Peter III, 67, 91
Peter of Moscow, Metropolitan, 202
Petrashevsky, N. V., 108, 125-127
Petrov, Gregory, 53, 137
Philaret, Patriarch, 37, 43
Philip, Metropolitan, 47
Philippovitch, Daniel, 64-65
Philotheus, 41
Plekhanov, 256
Pnin, I. T., 99–100
Pobyedonostzev, K. P., 16, 52
Pokrovsky, M., 259
301
INDEX
Processions of the Cross, 19-20
Prokhanov, I. S., 72
Prokopivitch, T., 85, 87, 88
Protassov, Count, 50
Protestants, 19, 45-46
Proverbs, Slavic, 33-36
Provisional Government, 1917, 195,
199
Pugatchev, 92
Putilov Strikes, 190-192
QUAKERS, 66, 68, 69
RAD
ADIO used for Propaganda,
247-249, 256
Radischev, A. N., 95–99
Ralcevitch, V., 185
Rasputin, Gregory, 53-55
Raven, Canon C. E., 1
Red Army:
Sectarians and, 74; atheism in,
223-224, 228, 255
Relic Worship, 20-21, 30
frauds exposed, 206, 260
Religion:
Nature and origins of, I-9;
Communist theory of, 1−2,
5-9, 174-188; Feuerbach on,
176-177; Gorky and Lunach-
arsky on, 186-188; Hegelian
view of, 184; Lenin on, LL,
177–179,
281–282;
-251,
Marxian view of, 174–177;
future of, in Russia, 9, 266–
273; Communist Party Docu-
ments relating to, 275-287;
Soviet Government Decrees
relating to, 289-295; its
special study in Communist
Universities, 11, 254-257
Religion and the Revolutionary
Movement, 102–127
Religious and Philosophical
Society, The, 145
Renan, Life of Jesus, 257
Revolution, 1905, 71, 129, 143, 156,
200, 257
Spiritual depression following,
135-136
1917, 45, 52, 54-55, 71, 102,
135, 257
Revolution and the Church, The,
215
Revolutionary Year, 1848, 122, 125,
126
Robertson, History of Free Thought,
257,258
Robespierre, 112
Roman Catholic Church, 19, 80,
85-86, 179, 239
Romanov, Lord Yamblikon, 25
Romanovs, The, 37
Rosanov, V. V., 138, 140, 143,
151-152
Rosenkreuzer, The, 94-95
Rostov, Baptism of, 18
Rousseau, 90, 96, 160
Rural Anti-Religious Workers Con-
ference, 241
Russo-Japanese War, 136.
Rychin, F. I., 23
ST. ANDREW in Russia, Legend
of, 42-43
St. Petersburg Academy of Science,
88
St. Petersburg Journal, The, 99
St. Petersburg Strikes, 1905, 189
University, 126
St. Sergius, 206, 260
Saint-Juste, 112
Saint-Simon, 108, 115-117, 126
Samarin, High Procurator, 54
Sanineism, 136
Sankya, 77
Schelling, 108, 110, 120
Scherbatov, Prince, 90
Schleiermacher, 2
Sectarianism, 56–75
Increase since 1917, 71-73, 268,
271-272, 277; since checked,
71, 73-74
Self-Burning, 48, 67
Semenov, S. M., 70, 103
Sergievo Monastery, 206, 260, 261
Serfdom, 44-48, 88, 103, 156
Seventh-Day Adventists, 72
Shaw, G. Bernard, 1
Sholopats, The, 66
Skvortsov-Stepanov, I. I., 283
Slavophilism, 108, 130-134
Sobor, The, 59, 195-207, 212-214
Socialist God-Builders, 185-188
Solovetsk Monastery, Revolt of,
47-48
Soloviev, 29, 138
Soroky, Nil, 43
302
INDEX
Soviet Decrees:
1918, 202-205, 289–290; 1929,
73-74, 214, 217, 290-293;
1930, 293-294
Spengler, Oswald, 3-4
Spinosa, 79, 171
Stankevitch, S., 109-110, 120, 125
State and Church, Close Organic
Relation of, 10, 13-14, 37-55, 84,
136-137
Steklov, J., 121
Storchevsky, I, 122
Straniki, The, 62-63
Strastnoi Convent Church, 260
Stretensky Monastery, 23
Strigolnik Movement, 45
Stroganov, T. A., 98
Suicides Following 1905 Revolution,
135
Suslov, Ivan, 65
Sutayev, Ivan, 161
Svirsky, St. Alexr., 206
Swedenburg, Emanuel, 117
TAMERLAINE, 22-23
Tatischev, Vasily, 87-88
Theatre, The, 264, 269
Theodosius, Emperor, 21
Theodosius, 61
Tikhon, Patriarch, 198, 202, 207-
210, 213-214
Tikhovinsky, Father, 53
Tolstoy, Count Leo:
His religious anarchism, 155-
173; religious development,
157-161; anti-revolutionary
position, 160-161; contact
with the people, 161-163; prin-
ciples of religious philosophy,
163-173; pacifism, 155, 170-
171; present position, 173;
Youth,
Childhood, Boyhood,
158; the novels, 159; auto-
biographical nature of
characters, 159; Confession,
159, 160; Lenin on Tolstoy,
156-157; other references, 68,
113, 129, 138
Tolstoyans:
Soviet Government and, 155;
foreign influence, 155, 163
Tverentinov, Dr., 70
JKLEYN, SIMON, 70
Union of Benevolence, The, 105
Militant Atheists, The,
215, 218-220, 221–222, 227, 234,
242, 246, 249, 253, 270-271 (See
also Anti-Religious Movement)
the Godless, The, 216-
217
United Slavs, The, 105-106
Universities, Anti-Religious, 254-
257
Utopian Socialism, French, in
Russia, 108, 126
VEDENSKY, Priest, 209-211
Vladimir of Kiev, Prince, 13, 14
Vladimir Virgin, The Ikon of, 20,
21-24, 41
Voltaire, 78-80, 81, 83, 84, 88-93,
95, 103, 104, 105, 122
Voltairians, The Russian, 89–93
WANDERERS, The, 62-63
Weisshaupt, Adam, 95
Wesley, John, 160
Whitberg, A. L., 117
World War, The, 135
YAKOVLEV, M., 258
Yaroslovsky, E., 254, 259
Youth Movements, Communist and
Atheist, 73, 220-223
ZADONSKY, TIKHON, 206
Zakrzhevsky, Religion, 134
Zemstvos, Suppression of, 52
Zubatov, 189
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