Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader

425 Pages·1996·36.8 MB·English

by  Felix Corley (auth.)

RELIGION IN THE SOVIET UNION
Also by Felix Corley
IN THE EYE OF THE ROMANIAN STORM: The Heroic Story of Pastor
Laszlo Tokes (co-author with John Eibner)
Religion in the
Soviet Union
An Archival Reader
Felix Corley
ISBN 978-1-349-99975-0 ISBN 978-0-230-39004-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-0-230-39004-1
Selection, translation and editorial matter © Felix Corley 1996
Reprint of the original edition 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-61659-8
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
05 04 03 02 0 I 00 99
To my father
Tony Corley
for his continued support
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Plates viii
Acknowledgements ix
A Note on the Translation X
Abbreviations xii
1 Introduction 1
2 Religious Groups in the Soviet Union 4
3 War Communism and the New Economic Policy 1917-29 13
4 Stalin's Revolution from Above 1929-41 75
5 The Great Patriotic War 1941-45 130
6 Postwar-stalinism 1945-53 156
7 Nikita Khrushchev and Renewed Persecution 1953-64 184
8 The Brezhnev Years 1964-82 244
9 From Andropov to Gorbachev 1982-91 289
Sources 385
Select Bibliography 391
Index 394
vii
List of Plates
=
1. Children write anti-religious slogan (religion opium) on bas-relief
of angel, St Isaac's Cathedral, Leningrad, 1920s
2. [top] Jewelled headgear confiscated from Russian Orthodox clergy,
Moscow, 1921
[bottom] Valuable metal being removed from icons, Moscow, 1925
3. [top] Destruction of bells for industrial reuse of metal, Mozhaisk,
1929
[bottom] Confiscated church-bells shipped off to be melted down,
Moscow, 1925
4. [top] Show-trial of leaders of the sect of the Castrates. From right to
left: Lomonosov, Alekseyev, Petrov. Moscow, 1930
[bottom] Final chorus of anti-religious performance by the Jewish
Free Art theatre group in workers' club, Moscow, 4 October 1929
5. [top] Unmasking of relics of St Mikhail, Tver, 1922 or 1923
[bottom] Workers reading newspaper entitled 'Down with Easter',
produced by the League of Militant Godless, Moscow, 1930s
6. [top JA rrested Russian Orthodox priest I van Inyushin, 1931
[bottom] Arrested Evangelical Christian F.S. Novak, 1937
7. [top left] Arrested Hasidic Jew, M.Ya. Dobruskin (born 1890)
[top right] Arrested Buryat Buddhist lama, Zhamso Garmayev
[bottom left and right, side view and front] Arrested American
Catholic priest Walter Ciszek, here given his pseudonym Lipinsky
8. Anti-Easter demonstration, with placards 'Away with the clerics' and
'Turn the Church into a Club!' (in Polish), Minsk, 1929
viii
Acknowledgements
There are many people who have helped me compile this collection. First
of all are the archivists in the former Soviet Union who have, within the
confines of what they were permitted to show me, been helpful in provid
ing materials and guiding me through the sometimes arcane classifications.
Irina Osipova, Yevgeny Polyakov and Mikhail Odintsov in Moscow gave
useful advice based on their extensive research experience.
Outside the former Soviet Union, many scholars and institutions have
been helpful. Keston Institute in Oxford allowed me to consult their mater
ial, and I am grateful to Dr Philip Walters for granting me access and
Malcolm Walker for going to a great deal of trouble to provide books and
documents. At the Library of Congress in Washington Dr Harold Leich and
his colleagues brought many useful texts to my attention from their 1992
exhibition of Russian archive documents. The staff of the National Archive
in Washington made available the microfilms of the Smolensk Party
Records from the 1920s and 1930s. The library of London University's
School of Slavonic and East European Studies was invaluable.
Of the individuals who helped me I would like to single out Professor
Dimitry Pospielovsky of the University of Western Ontario, Yaacov Ro'i
of Tel Aviv University and Francis Greene, who provided a link with the
Memorial society in Moscow. Professor Bohdan Bociurkiw gave useful
advice, as did Fr Viktor Potapov, Blair Ruble, Jim Herschberg and his col
leagues, Amy Knight and Fr Patrick Gray. Howard Spier and John Klier
gave advice on Jewish questions. Marite Sapiets and Michael Rowe
helped with translational and other difficulties.
I am especially grateful for the hospitality offered while I was engaged
in the research process. In Moscow I was hosted by the Pospielovsky
family, in Vilnius by Fr Ausvydas Belickas and his colleagues and in
Yerevan by Gayane Afrikian. In Washington, DC, the monks of
St Anselm's Abbey welcomed me into their community.
FELIX CORLEY
ix