MELANIE NGAI WHAT WERE STALIN’S POLICIES TOWARDS RELIGION?

MELANIE NGAI

MELANIE NGAI

WHAT WERE STALIN’S POLICIES

TOWARDS RELIGION?

WHAT WERE STALIN’S POLICIES

TOWARDS RELIGION?

Lenin AND THE BOLSHEVIKS Views

on Religion

Lenin AND THE BOLSHEVIKS Views

on Religion

Under the TzarsUnder the Tzars

Russian Orthodox Church had been the national Church of the empire

Bolsheviks had always seen religion and the Churches as aspects of class division

The Bolsheviks were aggressively atheistic

Karl Marx described Religion as “the opium of the people”

November RevolutionNovember RevolutionBolsheviks did not see religion as a threat

Freedom of religion was allowed

Churches not closed

However, the land owned by Churches were confiscated

Church and state legally separated

Registration of births, marriages and deaths became secular rather than religious

1921 and Lenin’s death1921 and Lenin’s deathGiving of religious instructions to those under 18 were banned

Anti Religious Campaigns were allowed

In 1924, Lenin died from stroke and was replaced by Stalin.

In honor of the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, the Soviet Union changed the city's name of St. Petersburg to Leningrad.

Leningrad became St. Petersburg again 67 years later when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

STALIN’S VIEWS

ON RELIGION

STALIN’S VIEWS

ON RELIGION

Stalin’s BackgroundStalin’s Background

Joseph Stalin, whose real name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, was born and raised in Gori in what is now the nation of Georgia.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1953.

Stalin was raised very religious in the Russian Orthodox Church.

He was named after Saint Joseph and was raised to be a priest.

His father was a priest and young Joseph spent five years in a Russian Orthodox seminary

He became a religion suppressing atheist instead.

Stalin once said: You know, they are fooling us, there is no God… all this talk about God is sheer nonsense.

Anti Religious CampaignsAnti Religious Campaigns

The attack on religion that began under Lenin, was continued by Stalin.

Worship of Stalin was encouraged but religious worship was strongly discouraged.

1927: The Orthodox Church was granted official recognition in return for promises to stay out of politics and to be loyal to the Soviet regime

1928: Stalin began a vigorous anti-religious campaign

Anti Religious CampaignsAnti Religious CampaignsChristian churches and mosques were closed down

And were converted into clubs, cinemas, schools, and warehouses.

Church bells were removed and melted down as scrap metal.

Women were forbidden to wear the veil

Pilgrimages to Mecca were banned.

Church leaders arrested and imprisoned.

Those who escaped arrest were forbidden to organize any religious activity in public.

Anti Religious CampaignsAnti Religious CampaignsIn 1930 there were 30,000 Orthodox congregations

By 1939 only 1 in 40 churches were still functioning and only seven bishops were still active in the whole of the Soviet Union.

Only 1300 mosques were still operating in 1941 as against 26,000 in 1917.

The photograph pictured shows the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the heart of Moscow.

Stalin ordered its destruction in 1931.

League of Militant Atheist

League of Militant Atheist

1924, Communist Party set up a League to weaken the religious faith of the Soviet People (League of Militant Atheists)

By 1933 it had 5.5 million members

Set up anti-religious museums in former cathedrals

Burnt icons and other religious objects

Organised anti-religious propaganda campaigns

Kazan Cathedral converted into a museum of atheism