Church-state relations have undergone a number of changes during the seven decades of the existence of the Soviet Union. In the 1920s the state was politically and financially weak and its edicts often ignored, but the 1930s saw the beginning of an era of systematic anti-religious persecution. There was some relaxation in the last decade of Stalin's rule, but under Khrushchev, the pressure on the church was again stepped up. In the Brezhnev period this was moderated to a policy of slow strangulation, and Gorbachev's leadership saw a thorough liberalisation and re- legitimation of religion. This book brings together fifteen of the West's leading scholars of religion in the USSR, and provides the most comprehensive analysis of the subject yet undertaken. Bringing much hitherto unknown material to light, the authors discuss the policy apparatus, programmes of atheisation and socialisation, cults and sects, and the world of Christianity. [...]... document on the work of the Central Committee in the field of anti -religious propaganda, which noted both the success of the campaign to seize church valuables and the effectiveness of the 'Living Church' in confounding reactionary clergy and winning over the believing masses The positive tone of this document contrasted sharply with the tone of the opening report by Zinoviev on the work of the Central... policy 8 May 1923 the Curzon Ultimatum formalised the misgivings of the British government, noting persecution of religion as one of the factors hindering the establishment of proper relations between Britain and the USSR The Curzon Ultimatum was not of course the direct cause of the change in anti -religious tactics, however From the very beginning of May a significant reduction in anti -religious propaganda... and during the last years of the Empire churchgoing had actually been declining, particularly in the cities In the immediate post-Revolutionary years, it was indeed the conscious policy of the Bolsheviks to direct their anti -religious activity virtually exclusively against the Orthodox Church; but this did not mean that other denominations and confessions were immune from sporadic attacks by anti -religious. .. who held that a few sharp shocks administered against religious institutions would soon persuade the masses to embrace atheism It was Trotsky who in 1921 was in favour of having Patriarch Tikhon shot, against the advice of Lenin who feared the danger consequent on creating such a prominent martyr It was also Trotsky who termed the religious policy which did in fact theoretically prevail an 'ecclesiastical... the Wind (1989), and Christianity and Russian Culture in Soviet Society (1990) Preface This is a book about religious policy and policy makers in the USSR Its purpose is to shed light on the thinking, goals, assumptions, methods, and instruments of policy The essays collected herein embrace a wide range of subjects, covering both historical and contemporary themes Several chapters examine the institutions... and Politics in the Twentieth Century (1988), and Candle in the Wind (1989) j A (HANS) HEBLY was born in the Netherlands and received his doctorate in theology from Utrecht University From 1949 to 1951 he was an ecumenical fieldworker in the Cimade (in Paris), and from 1951 to 1970 served as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church Since 1970, he has been a staff member of the Interacademic Institute... ideological opponents In the area of religious policy specifically, it was at the Second Congress of the League of Militant Atheists in June 1929 that Yaroslavsky gained final ascendancy over both the 'leftists' and the 'rightists' with whom he had been struggling since 1925 and was free to follow, at Stalin's behest, an anti -religious policy which exceeded in severity anything even the 'leftists' had... voluntary organisations - the Komsomol, the Young Pioneers, workers' Clubs and, of course, the League of Militant Atheists — were encouraged to undertake a whole range of anti -religious initiatives: promoting the observance of the fiveday working week, ensuring that priests did not visit believers in their homes, supervising the setting-up of cells of the League of Militant Atheists in the army Public lampoons... showing where toleration ended and discrimination began; and then I shall look at what efforts were being made in thefieldof anti -religious education and propaganda Before moving on to the chronological survey, however, I shall briefly consider some of the basic motives which have influenced those responsible for shaping Soviet religious policy, and the institutional framework within which such policy. .. against insulting believers' feelings and thereby encouraging their fanaticism - a sign that some at least in authority were realising that persecution was counter-productive One of the recurrent features of subsequent Soviet religious policy was to be that periods of anti -religious violence would regularly A survey of Soviet religious policy 7 be followed by warnings similar to the above heralding periods . Gorbachev&apos ;s ultimate goals in his religious policy? How was Soviet religious policy related to policies in other spheres? Why were the Greek-Rite Catholics, suppressed for more than 40 years, granted. of the Sciences in Moscow, and specialises in research methodology and social structure. ANATOLII LEVITIN-KRASNOV was born in Russia in 1915, and spent seven years in a Soviet prison during the. religious policy, and my own chapter on the Gorbachev era. Still other chapters focus on the perspectives and drives of the religious organisations themselves, such as Oxana Antic&apos ;s chapter