Church and State in the Soviet Union
| Author | Bohdan R. Bociurkiw |
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070205901400304 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Church
and
State
in
the
Soviet Union
BOHDAN R.
BOCIURKIW*
HE
relationship
between
the
Church and
the
Communist
government
has
long
been
one
of
the
most
puzzling
aspects
of
the
Soviet
system.
The
Kremlin's
church
policy
has
shared
in
the
general
evolution
of
the
regime
from
doctrinaire
attempts
to
remodel Soviet
society
along
the
lines
of
the
Marxist-
Leninist
dogmas
to
political
realism
and increasing
reliance
on
Russian
nationalism.
Viewed
from
the
perspective
of
four
decades,
Soviet
religious
policy
might
thus
be
divided
into
two
periods
separated
by
the
crisis
of
the
Second
World
War.
The
first,
inter-war
period, was
characterized
by
mounting
religi-
ous
persecution
and
progressive
weakening
of
organized
religion
in
the
U.S.S.R.
Paramount
considerations
underlying
Soviet
church
policy
at that
time
were
Marxist
repudiation
of
all
relig-
ion,
and
political
orientation
of
the
Russian
Church
which,
as
a
past
ally
of
the
tsarist
autocracy,
was
suspected
of
political
hostility
to
the
new
regime
and
counter-revolutionary
activities.
In
the
second
period,
originating
in
the later
thirties,
a
radical
change took
place
in
the
Soviet
Church
policy.
The Russian
Orthodox
Church
and
several
other
surviving
denominations
were
granted
a
measure
of
loyality
and
varying
degrees
of
toleration
on
the
part
of
the
regime.
In
return,
they
committed
themselves
to
unqualified
support
of Soviet
policies
at
home and
abroad.
But
the
Communist regime
did
not
abandon
its
ideological
compulsion
to
do
away
with
religion;
it
merely
recognized
that
religious
persecution
and
militant atheistic
propaganda had
failed
to
extinguish
religious
beliefs
in
a
considerable
part
of
the
Soviet
population.
Realistically
enough,
the
Kremlin
now
undertook
to
channel
the
surviving
religious
sentiments
into
a
State-controlled
framework
and to
exploit
them
in
the
interests
of
the
regime.
*Assistant Professor
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Alberta.
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