The Key Factors Dictating Stalins Attitudes And Policies Toward Religion - Essay Example

? The key factors dictating Stalin’s attitudes and policies toward religion. Introduction There is no person more famous than Joseph Stalin in the modern Russian history. There are a lot of controversies around his personality and the evaluations of his activity are diametrically opposite. There is no politician ascribed so many words and phrases never pronounced by him. There is no politician accused in so many uncommitted crimes. How to understand this ambiguous personality? The best way is to address the documents and the recollections of the people who were acquainted with him. Stalin’s regime is characterized by mass repressions of 1937-1939 and 1943. This period is also characterized by extermination of the outstanding figures in the field of science and art, church and religion persecution, forced by industrialization that turned that USSA in to the state with one of the strongest economies in the world. Stalin’s regime was also the period of collectivization that led to agriculture downfall, mass escape of peasants form villages and the famine of 1932-1933. There are many questions around Stalin’s personality, which can be addressed in this paper: if Stalin was despot in relation to his companions and subordinates, if he really was unskillful leader and impeded the process of the war, why Stalin’s contemporaries considered him to be brainy. All these questions are very interesting to be answered, however, the given paper will investigate Stalin’s attitude towards religion: what it was and how it was formed. *** Stalin is one of the greatest oppressors. He was a master of destinies of millions of people. The Soviet Union was focused on eradication of religion. It is incredible, but Stalin thought that it was necessary to take away the most important trigger of human spirit, which is religion. Stalin positioned himself as God. He wanted to be the most powerful human being in the world. Physical features of Stalin and his middle height were hidden behind his artificial power. He was unattractive pygmy, who wanted to compensate his physical vices by his cruel intentions taken against other people. Therefore, the Communist regime was enriched at the expense of church resources. Religion was ridiculed and the believers and followers were prosecuted. Atheism was promoted at schools, but the Communists wanted to position their beliefs as the most important and the crucial for the society. Anti-religious campaigns of Stalin’s policies were focused against the Russian Orthodox Church. This religion had the largest number of followers. There were 50,000 churches, but in the result of this anti-religious policies only 500 remained open. Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. After that year Stalin was promoting patriotic feelings of his nation and restored the Russian Orthodox Church. By 1957 about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become active. Other types of religion were also oppressed during the regime of Communists. Attacks on Judaism were dangerous in the Soviet period. Religious practices of Judaism were almost forbidden and the followers were prosecuted. “Nonetheless, Davies discovered that throughout the periodbelievers could be found among  all segments of society. The population stubbornly resisted official antireligious propaganda.  Moreover, the church held special attraction for it continued to provide a type of entertainmentwhen other diversions were lacking” (Dunn 2004, p. 156). It was a kind of entertainment for people to go and take part in different forbidden rituals. Russians were positioned as those, who were prevented from following their own religious beliefs or any other triggers for their possible normal functioning in the society. In the majority of cases average Russians were positioned in opposition to other nations. At the same time, Russians were not totally prosecuted; they were put under a strong control and supervision of their almighty rulers. Communism was ever existent form of ruling and oppression in the Russian society. That is why there is no doubt that politics of Stalin and other representatives of Communist party substituted religion for the whole nation (McCauley 2002, p.280). People were scared off by a constant oppression. Communists thought that it was necessary to promote some other perverted religions. On the one hand, their politics were independent from religion, but on the other hand, Stalin realized that people without faith in God are weak people. Though Communism was deeply rooted in anti-religious background, it oppressed science and other spheres of human activities too. Rowley in his research paid a special attention to religion, especially of Russian Orthodoxy. Policies of Stalin’s government were really oppressing and religion role in nationalism cannot be denied for sure (Rowley 1998, p. 450). Many modern scientists are looking for solving the puzzle of Stalin’s antagonistic moods against religion. They are working with the archival papers, collecting different types of materials to find out the truth. Russian archives of the modern times were enriched by the documents from the epoch of Stalin, when he decided to get rid of religion and churches. Stalin was fighting against religion, because he wanted to take control over Nazi-occupied Soviet west and expand his hostile moods across the borders against Vatican, Baltic people, Polish government-in-exile and so on. People without religion are weak and it is easy to deal with them and to gain victory over them. Stalin rushed between domestic and foreign policies. He intended to show the way religion exerts influence on the nationalism. Atheism and the Soviet society were correlated. From the perspective of the Western countries it was difficult to find out how this type of relation could be effective or not. Stalin stretched his hands and prevented his people not only from religion, but also from listening to radio broadcasting programs from abroad. For Stalin religion was a kind of dissimilation method for the Soviet people. He was sure that such kind of policy will help to reunite the Soviet people and all of them will be intimidated. There are well-known prosecutions in the Soviet Union, when Stalin made his people believe that only enemies are everywhere. One neighbor was telling the stories against another one, then patrol wagon came and took away disobedient citizens to Lubyanka for questioning, cruel punishment, after which people could agree to confirm anything they were accused of (Young 1998, p. 900). People were afraid to rely on God, to pray him and ask to save their souls. Nevertheless, there were many churches, which were hidden somewhere in small houses, people continued to go there and ask for God’s help, but of course, a very small number of people did. The rest of them turned into an intimidated and puzzled crowd, which ran away and hid under their sleeping pillows. Finally, Church turned into a manipulative means for Stalin. He was focused on people’s intimidation and turning them into a gray mass or a herd of sheep. The Church could temporarily facilitate the process of the western borders conquest, where religion played a very important role. Stalin believed in the “holy” principles of Marxism-Leninism and when the war came to the end, he continued persecution of churches and religion. Stalin was a shrewd politician and he knew about effective means of influence exerted on people. In one way or another he was striving for unification of his nation, but he wanted it to be dumb and blind. He closed people’s eyes on religion; he closed their hearts from God. He wanted to be the only one Tsar, God, Red Idol or whoever. His selfish principles of ruling were evident. The Soviet people won their victory during the World War II. They were strong and they proved that it is enough to have faith in God in one’s heart. At the same time, anti-humane politics of Stalin, when he made soldiers to shoot at people if they had stolen “three spikelets”, took away not less thousands of human lives, than the World War II did. He was a monster, anti-religious nationalist, but he managed to take control over the huge masses of people, who did not mind of being controlled and did not initiate revolutions against him. They lived in a constant fear. Their external happiness and a daily routine work was only a showy mask, which hid their scared natures behind. How is it possible to lead millions of people to the victory and prevent them from believing in God? It is incredible, but Stalin showed that his support of his people does not mean less than people’s belief in God. Therefore, churches were not required anymore and they were turned into cinemas or theatres, where the communist party was promoted. People living under such cruel, selfish and violent conditions did not lose their hopes, but they, at the same time, were getting stronger in their hearts and souls. Religion, for good or bad purposes, has always been an inevitable part of political life of a country. One of the main elements of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union Premier, was religion as well. Being brought up in the Greek Orthodox Church he spent several years in the Greek Orthodox seminary (Joseph Stalin). His parents were very religious and hoped he would become a priest. When Stalin became 10 he was taught at the church school where pupils were forced to speak Russian. At the age of 16 he received a scholarship to join a seminary. Before graduating from the seminary he was expelled because of being indulged in subversive activities. Records, taken from the seminary archives claim, that Stalin felt lack of money to pay the tuition fees. His childhood and the years, which were very closely related to the Church helped him use religion for his personal purposes in the future. Stalin’s character contradictions are the most obviously inherent in the police toward the Orthodox Church (Bourdeaux). Stalin began reading Lenin’s works and became a Marxist. Then he joined the Bolsheviks and headed their chapter in the Caucasus and was spied by the secret police of Imperial Russia. Stalin followed Lenin’s religious belief in which he found religion addictive and harmful for the communist society (Does Joseph Stalin Believe in Religion?). The Bolsheviks spoke about religion as a kind of invention to distract the poor in order to make their life on earth easier and to make them believe that after death their life will considerably improve. Taking over the reins of the Soviet Union, after the demise of Lenin, Stalin started his atheism campaigns and propaganda. He continued the attack of church and believers which was started by Lenin. Joseph Stalin systematically destroyed the Church in the East of Poland and the Baltic States (Moss), and persecuted all religions including the Orthodox Church. Stalin was completely under the heading of Marxist atheism following the idea of Marx to eradicate religion. C. Marx was persuaded that religion is a reactionary force which is based on exploitation, illusion, and complete ignorance (Bober, 147). Some scientists explain his decision to become a Marxist revolutionary by the fact that in the childhood the boy was mercilessly beaten by the father. Communist regime harassed believers, ruined churches and church property, ridiculed religion, priests and monks were sent to gulags or executed, church property was confiscated, religion was ridiculed, church bells were melted etc. Church leaders who escaped arrest were strongly forbidden to lead and organize any religious activity. The main forces which were directed into anti-religious complain in the 1920s and 1930s mainly targeted the Russian Orthodox Church as it had the largest number of faithful (Stalin and Russian Orthodox Church 1939). Its believers and clergy were shot or sent to labor camps. Thousands of monks were persecuted, temples, mosques, monuments, synagogues, monasteries and were razed. During this period more than 45,000 churches were destroyed (Revelations from the Russian Archives). Stalin closed more than 25,000 mosques and 40,000 churches and converted them into schools, clubs, and anti-religious museums. He made up a plan of religion liquidation according to which all prayer houses and churches were to be closed in 1932-1933, all religious book destroyed in 1933-1934. Youth should have been totally grasped by the anti-religious propaganda, even the name of God should have been disappeared (Veith). Stalin claimed that religion only spoils ideal communist society. In order to weaken the people’s faith, the Communist party decided to found a Militant Atheists League which by 1933 had more than 5 million members. Their job was to turn people away from religion and to break their faith. As Soviet policy toward religion was based on Marxism-Leninism, atheism was made the official doctrine. In spite of the fact that the Soviet Union was anti-religion, the majority if citizens remain religious minded. They just were too afraid to show their faithfulness and devotion to God. After beginning of World War II his attitude to the Catholic Church did not change and remained the same since he took power (but was changed during the war). His thorough persecution of religion continued even with greater force (Zatko, 76). The churched had a strong point of view that Stalin’s force, to splinter the Church by the end of the 1930s, was Marxism (Dennis “Stalinism and the Catholic church During the Era of World War II”, 407). Stalin decided to heal the breach with the Church what might facilitate assistance from the West. He began to suppress hooliganism against the Church. The freedom of worship was reconfirmed by the Constitution of 1936. Thus, Stalin’s views concerning religions were considerably changed during World War II as he wanted more and more people to support the cause of the Soviet Union in the war (Burleigh). Thousands of Russian Orthodox churches were reopened, its hierarchy of leadership was reestablished, and his policy towards Muslims was tolerant. Anti-religious propaganda was banned. He also abolished six-day week introducing the seven-day week with Sunday as the day of rest and worship. Stalin boosted reopening of theological seminaries and printing of the literature of religious character. Scientists even relate his retreat in 1941 to his personal relationship to religion (Joseph Stalin). But he only wanted to evoke the feeling of nationalism to bring people in order to fight against the Germans. When Hitler came to power, Stalin realized that national unity is very advisable. Hitler spoke about the need of Germany of the Caucasus, The Urals and Ukraine. Stalin started to feel that there was a great danger at his boarders and was convinced that Russian needed economic, military and spiritual preparation against invasion (Albjerg, 76). Several days after the invasion, Stalin allowed the Metropolitan Sergius (the head of the Russian Orthodox Church) to have access to the Soviet radio and press. He spoke like a prophet calling people to rise in order to defend the Motherland and claimed that the Church supported people in the invasion repelling of the Tartars and the Lithuanian-Polish grandees. People were convinced by is and offered their help in the fight. It marked the beginning of resistance to Hitler, revival of religious life, and resumption between the Moscow Patriarchate and heads of Eastern Orthodox Churches. When Stalin confronted with the Nazi incursion he also faced the problem that he has to organize people not only to fight for their country but also for his government. Anti-God propaganda in the form of films, plays, lectures and everything of this sort disappeared, anti-religious magazines and newspapers were shut down (Dennis “Pre-War II Relations between Stalin and the Catholic Church”, 202). The Church met such policy with patriotic appeals and helped Stalin to solve this problem. Then he decided to ally himself with the Orthodox Church as he thought that the Church was the strongest force of society which could gather people in order to defend the government (Paul “The Orthodox Church in Soviet Russia”, 300). He took a very interesting position as he did not ask people to fight for his political views, he pleaded to defend their motherland displaying icons of past tsars. He considered the past of Russia and the Church may be the best basement to keep his position intact. The fact that he was an Orthodox seminarian played a very positive role. Stalin realized that organized religion may be a stable support to his rule (Souvarine, 15) and political views. After changing his attitude to the Orthodox Church and defined it as a useful element of society (Paul “People, Church, and State in Modern Russia”, 52). The attitude of the Soviet regime to religion was controversial as it totally banned some religions at the same time supporting others. The Soviet Union Policy supported elimination and suppressions of any signs and notices of religious beliefs (Soviet Union Policy toward Nationalities and Religions in Practice). Religion was closely associated with nationality. But the history shows that till the last day of his life Joseph Stalin remained a hardened atheist (Dennis “The Catholic Church and Russia, Popes, Patriarchs, Tsar, and Commissars”, 62). German invasion of the Soviet Union, in June, 1941, showed the real motivation of Stalin’s actions (Pospielovsky). It demonstrated Stalin as a person which was neither an atheist not a Marxist. He was a hardened politician and his attitude and relation to religion was only related to politics and his own interests. He was a practical politician who advanced and protected his position and cared little for any theory (Religious Freedom in the Lenin and Stalin Eras). The war, called the Great Patriotic War, was regarded a testing of common interest. It became a common thing that the Church collected the money to pay for the tanks, and commanders prayed before battles. Сonclusion During the years when Joseph Stalin was very active in political life of the Soviet Union, his religious beliefs varied considerably with respect to certain religions only because of state and personal interests. Stalin’s relation to the church was motivated only by his interest in power. (Dennis “The Catholic Church and the Soviet Government, 1939-1949”, 98). If to speak about his upbringing in the religious family and years in the Greek Orthodox seminary, it is possible to make a conclusion that violence from the side of his father and years in the seminary did not meet his expectation. To my mind, these were the key factors which made him a hardened atheist, in spite of the fact that from time to time his heart softened or only of mere political issues, he changed his attitude towards religion in a positive way. His relationship with religion was complex and evoked lots of questions. He adopted the religious position of the Russian Communist Party, claimed atheism and contributed to atheism study at schools. Joseph Stalin’s policy to religion was different, and strongly depended on his political views. But the years of his rule are mostly remembered by vigorous processes for weaning youth from religion, prohibition of Christian literature, execution of faithful, anti-religious propaganda etc (Bourdeaux). Works Cited Albjerg V. Religion in Soviet Russia. The Social Studies. January, 1962. Bober M.M. Karl Marx’s Interpretation of History. New York, 1965. Bourdeaux M. The Church in Stalin's Web. Available at http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/BourdeauxStalin.php Burleigh M. The Clash of Religion and Politics, From the Great War to the War on Terror. HarperCollins, 2007, pp. 233-236. Available at http://faroutliers.blogspot.com/2008/08/stalin-reinstates-church-1942-43.html Dennis J. Dunn. Pre-War II Relations between Stalin and the Catholic Church. Journal of Church and State Vol.15, No.2, 1973, p. 193-204 Dennis J. Dunn. Stalinism and the Catholic church During the Era of World War II. The Catholic History Review, Vol. LIX, No.3 (October, 1973), p. 404-428 Dennis J. Dunn. The Catholic Church and Russia, Popes, Patriarchs, Tsar, and Commissars. Aldershot, England. 2004 Dennis J. Dunn. The Catholic Church and the Soviet Government, 1939-1949. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. Joseph Stalin. The Hollowverse. Available at http://hollowverse.com/joseph-stalin/ Joseph Stalin Believe In Religion? Available at http://www.historyking.com/Biography/joseph-stalin/Does-Joseph-Stalin-Believe-In-Religion.html Moss V. the Church that Stalin Built. 2000. Available at http://www.euphrosynoscafe.com/www.saintbasilchurch.org/2.html McCauley, Martin. "Thank You, Comrade Stalin! Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War." Demokratizatsiya 10.2 (2002): 277+. Questia. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. Paul B. Anderson. People, Church, and State in Modern Russia. New York, 1944. Paul B. Anderson. The Orthodox Church in Soviet Russia. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jan., 1961), pp. 299-311 Pospielovsky D. The ‘Best Years’ of Stalin’s Church Policy (1942-1948) in the Light of Archival Documents. Religion, State and Society, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1997. Religious Freedom in the Lenin and Stalin Eras, 2012. Available at http://www.soviet-empire.com/ussr/viewtopic.php?f=125&t=52545 Revelations from the Russian Archives. Anti-Religious Campaigns (2010). Available at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/anti.html Rowley, Alison. "Popular Opinion in Stalin's Russia: Terror, Propaganda and Dissent, 1934-1941." Canadian Slavonic Papers 40.3/4 (1998): 466+. Questia. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. Souvarine B. Stalin: A Critical Survey of Bolshevism. New York, 1939. Soviet Union Policy toward Nationalities and Religions in Practice (1989). Available at http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12521.html Stalin and Russian Orthodox Church 1939. Available at http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=46376 Veith G. Stalin’s Five-Year-Plan for Atheism. Cranach: The Blog of Veith - Christianity, Culture, Vocation. 2012. Available at http://www.geneveith.com/2012/05/22/stalins-five-year-plan-for-atheism/ Young, Glennys. "Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader." Journal of Church and State 40.4 (1998): 900. Questia. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. Zatko J. Descent into Darkness: The Destruction of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia. Notre Dame, Indiana, 1965. Read More