1917-1941 - Religion

• Marx regarded religion as the "opium of the people" and a false belief that was used to convince them to obey the ruling elite under tsarism.
• The Bolsheviks were determined to reduce the influence of organised religion over the people of Russia after 1917.
• The Russian Orthodox Church was separated from the state in 1918, church land was confiscated, marriage was no longer controlled by the church and religious education was banned in 1921.
• Propaganda discredited religion and the "Union of the Militant Godless" promoted atheism.
• Christmas and Easter were replaced as national festivals by New Year and May Day.
• During the Civil War, priests were deprived of rations and many died, church valuables were seized and priests and church leaders who uttered anti-Communist ideas were arrested.
• Muslims suffered similar persecution as the property of mosques were seized and Sharia courts were abolished,
• Under Stalin, Komsomol members were encouraged to increase the harassment of priests, the desecration of churches and the seizure of valuable objects.
• In 1929, all congregations and their places of worship had to be registered with the government.
• In 1932, the introduction of a 6 day week prevented a holy day of worship.
• Stalin's 1936 Constitution made the publication of religious propaganda a criminal offence.
• For Muslims, Mecca pilgrimages were banned in 1935 and wearing veils was forbidden.
• During the Great Terror of 1936-38, senior priests and bishops in the Russian Orthodox Church were arrested.
• By 1941, only 1 in 40 Orthodox Churches were still operating and the number of active priests was 9% of the figure from the early 1920s.