The government of the Soviet Union followed an unofficial policy of state atheism, aiming to gradually eliminate religious belief within its borders.Ramet, Sabrina Petra Ed. (1993). Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press. p. 4 While it never officially made religion illegal, the state nevertheless made great efforts to reduce the prevalence of religious belief within society. To this end, at various times in its history it engaged in anti-religious persecutions of varying intensity and methodology. Believers were never officially attacked for being believers, but they were officially attacked for real or perceived political opposition to the state and to its policies.Letters of Metropolitan Sergii of Vilnius at en.wikisource.org. These attacks, however, in the broader ideological context, were meant to serve the ultimate goal of eliminating religion, and the perceived political opposition acted as a legal pretext to carry this out. Thus, although the Soviet Union was officially a secular state and guaranteed freedom of religion in its constitutions, in practice believers suffered discrimination and were widely attacked for promoting religion.
As part of its anti-religious campaigns, the Soviet state enacted a significant body of legislation that regulated and curtailed religious practices. This, along with many secret instructions that were not published, formed the legal basis for the Soviet state's anti-religious stance. Laws were designed in order to hurt and hamper religious activities, and the state often vigilantly watched religious believers for their breaking of these laws to justify arresting them. In some places, volunteer neighbourhood committees, called "public commissions for control over observance on the laws about religious cults", watched their religious neighbours and reported violations of the law to the appropriate authorities. The state sought to control religious bodies through such laws with the intention of making those bodies disappear. Often such laws incorporated many ambiguities that allowed for the state to abuse them in order to persecute believers.
This article lists and discusses some of the most important legislation below, although this list is by no means comprehensive.
The Russian Civil War and the first anti-religious campaign (1917–1928)
Legislation that preceded Lenin's Decree on the Separation of Church and State
From November 1917 until Lenin's Decree on the separation of church and state in January 1918, legislative measures against religion were enacted. Among important Acts included:
i) Act of the Commissar of Education, 11 December 1917: ... It is declared that all control of educational matters shall be handed over to the Commissariat of Education from all religious organizations. All church/parish schools, teachers colleges, religious colleges and seminaries, ... all missionary schools, [and] all academies ... with all of their property, both movable and immovable, i.e. with all buildings ... land, with all gardens, with all libraries ... valuables, capital and vulnerable papers ... and with all that was credited to the above-mentioned schools and institutions, shall likewise be handed over to the Commissariat of Education. ... (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars VI Lenin).
ii) Decree on the Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce), 18 December 1917: ... 12 ... All records currently in the possession of any religious organization are to be handed over to the local courts without delay. ... All decisions regarding the dissolution of marriage already made or in the process of being ruled upon by any religious organization or by any of its representatives, are hereby declared destroyed and not valid, they are to be decided upon by the local courts upon their taking possession of the appropriate records. Parties not wishing to wait until this takes place have the right to issue a new petition for the dissolution of their marriage as described by this decree. ... (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars VI Lenin)
iii) Decree on Civic Marriages, on Children, and on the Introduction of Books or Records, 18 December 1917: The Russian Republic from now on recognizes only civil marriages. ... (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars VI Lenin)
iv) Order of the People's Commissar of Military Affairs No. 39, 16 January 1918, On the prohibition of all powers of religious departments: All religious ministers and practisers currently employed by war departments are discharged. All powers of military clergy are dissolved. War committees have the right to retain religious ministers, providing this is in accordance with the desires of their members. In the above case the support of such a minister will be entirely up to the concerned committees. All wealth and property of military churches, without exception, is to be handed over to the war committees of the units involved for safe-keeping.
v) Order of the People's Commissar of Welfare, 20 January 1918: The distribution of subsidies for the maintenance of churches, chapels, and for the operations of religious orders are to be halted. Governmental support of clergy and teachers of religion is to be halted as of 1 March of this year. ... Church services and the fulfillment of the needs of believers may be continued on the condition of an expressed desire by collectives of believers who must assume the full cost of repairs and maintenance of churches, [and] of all inventory and all servers. (People's Commissar A. Kollontai)
This meant that religious communities from then onward had to rely entirely upon the voluntary support of its laity in order to continue existence.
1918 Legislation
Lenin's important 1918 Decree on the Separation of Church and State was followed by another body of legislation. Lenin's legislative acts would form what would be called the 'Leninist legality' and would be considered a milestone and a reference point for later anti-religious campaigns and thought. Among key legislation passed included:
i) Separation of the Church from the State and the Schools from the Church: Decree of the Soviet of People's Commissars, 12 January 1918:Chamberlin, William Henry (15 September 1929). Soviet Russia: A Living Record and a History. XIII. "THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RUSSIAN SOUL". Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. pp. 306–323.
The Church is separated from the State. Within the territory of the Republic, it is forbidden to pass any local laws or regulations which would restrain or limit the freedom of conscience or which would grant special rights or privileges on the basis of the religious confession of citizens. Every citizen may confess any religion or profess none at all. Every legal restriction connected with the profession of no faith is now revoked. Note: in all official documents every mention of a citizen's religious affiliation or nonaffiliation shall be removed. The actions of the government or other organizations of public law may not be accompanied by any religious rites or ceremonies. The free performance of religious rites is granted as long as it does not disturb public order or infringe upon the rights of citizens of the Soviet Republic. In such cases the local authorities are entitled to take the necessary measures to secure public order and safety.
According to Riho Altnurme, 'disturbing public order' was used as grounds to outlaw religions sects with 'extreme mysticism' such as Skoptsy, Hlysty, Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses.Altnurme, Riho (2002). Religious cults, particularly Lutheranism, in the Soviet Union in 1944-1949. Trames 6.1.
No one may refuse to carry out his citizen's duties on the grounds of his religious views. Religious vows or oaths are abolished. In necessary situations a ceremonial promise will suffice. The acts of civil status are registered exclusively by the civil authorities at the departments for the registration of marriages and births. The school is separated from the church. The teaching of religious doctrines in all state and public schools, or in private educational institutions where general subjects are taught, is prohibited. Citizens may receive and give religious instructions privately. All ecclesiastical and religious associations are subject to the same general regulations to private associations and unions, and shall not enjoy any benefits, nor any subsidies either from the Government, nor from any of its autonomous or self-governing institutions. Religious organizations are prohibited from calling obligatory gatherings for its members, from establishing membership dues, and from disciplining any of its members in any way.
According to Gregory Freeze, church hierarchies and dioceses could not legally exist under Soviet law, and therefore if believers received instruction from priests or bishops as though such people were spiritual authorities, they could be punished along with the offending clergymen. In effect this made it extremely difficult for dioceses to be run except in a chaotic fashion; it also allowed for laity to assert increasing control over their churches and sometimes to have conflicts with the hierarchy as a result (and such conflicts were encouraged by the state).
No church or religious organizations are permitted to own property. They do not have the rights of a legal person. Any and all property that any church or religious organization may in Russia is hereby declared to be public property. Buildings and objects required specifically for religious ceremonies, are to be given only by special decrees by either local or central governmental powers, for free use for the appropriate religious organization. (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, VI Lenin)Chumachenko, Tatiana A.; edited and translated by Edward E. Roslof (2002). Church and State in Soviet Russia: Russian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev Years. ME Sharpe Inc.. p. 3.
ii) Constitution of the Russian Federated Socialist Republic, 10 July 1918:Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R. (1918)
Article Two: General Provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic. Chapter Five:
For the purpose of securing to the workers real freedom of conscience, the church is to be separated from the state and the school from the church, and the right of religious and anti-religious propaganda is accorded to every citizen.Russian Constitution of 1918.
This right to carry out religious propaganda was limited by censorship in 1918 up until the right was later removed. Church presses were confiscated and virtually all church periodicals were shut down; the hierarchy was denied much ability to influence lay opinion in the hope that this would sow discord and confusion in the church.
The Constitution was later modified in 1929, and the right of religious groupings to carry out religious propaganda was taken away, and it was made completely illegal to try to defend religion against atheist arguments or to engage in public discussion on religion. In its place the language read (Article 52) that all citizens had a right to "conduct religious worship or atheist propaganda".
Article Four: The Right to Vote. Chapter Thirteen:
The following persons enjoy neither the right to vote nor the right to be voted for, even though they belong to one of the categories enumerated above, namely: (b) Persons who have an income without doing any work, such as interest from capital, receipts from property, etc.; (d) Monks and clergy of all denominations;Russian Constitution of 1918
iii) Declaration of the People's Commissar of Education, 17 February 1918:
All teachers of religion of all religions are relieved of all of their duties and responsibilities as of 1 January 1918. (People's Commissar AV Lunacharsky)
iv) Declaration by the People's Commissar of Public Property, 14 January 1918:
The Court Clergy is abolished.