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Religious Dissent in the USSR in the 1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

William C. Fletcher
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With some justification, the 1960s may be called the decade of dissent. This is true even with regard to the Soviet Union, where broad sectors of the population have resorted to increasingly vociferous expressions of dissatisfaction with present conditions. If, when the decade began, overt alienation from the system was a relatively unusual phenomenon, the past ten years have given rise to an increasing stream of dissent in the Soviet populace. Among the intelligentsia, almost every rank and profession has been involved in oral, written, and organizational protest. Considerable attention has been devoted to this development by Western scholarship and journalism, and rightly so, for the voices of dissent provide an immediate insight into the tensions and conflicts within the rapidly changing society. One area of dissent, however, has received rather less attention in the West. This paper will attempt to survey the religious portion of the Soviet population, in an endeavor to illustrate the degree to which religious dissatisfaction during the past decade has been consonant with the general current of dissent within Soviet society.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , June 1971 , pp. 298 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1971

References

1. As yet there has been no exhaustive treatment of the antireligious campaign, but brief summaries may be found in Lowrie, Donald A. and Fletcher, William C., “Khrushchev's Religious Policy, 1959-1964,” in Richard H. Marshall, Jr., ed., Aspects of Religion in the USSR, 1917-1967 (Chicago, 1971)Google Scholar; Harry, Willetts, “De-opiating the Masses,” Problems of Communism, November-December 1964, pp. 32–41Google Scholar; and Robert, Conquest, ed., Religion in the USSR (London, 1968), esp. pp. 47-64.Google Scholar

2. A. Veshchikov, “Milestones of a Great Journey,” Nauka i religiia (hereafter cited as NiR), 1962, no. 11, translated in Religion in Communist Dominated Areas (hereafter cited as RCDA), Dec. 24, 1962, p. 2; cf. the interview with G. G. Karpov, New York Times, June 7, 1945; Fletcher, William C., “Statistics and Soviet Sociology of Religion,” in Hans Mol, ed., Sociology of Religion in the Western World (Canberra : Australian National University Press, in preparation)Google Scholar. It should be noted that at various times twenty to thirty thousand churches were claimed, and as late as 1961 the Moscow Patriarchate officially claimed to have twenty-two thousand churches (Time, May 5, 1961, p. 57).

3. See the Eshliman-Iakunin letter, translated in RCDA, May 15/31, 1966, p. 76.

4. Spravochnik propagandista i agitatora (Moscow, 1966), pp. 149-50, translated in Research Materials, October 1969, p. 1.

5. Ibid.; F. Fedorenko, Sekty, ikh vera i dela (Moscow, 1965), p. 166; cf. Bratskii vestnik (hereafter cited as BV), 1966, no. 6, p. 17.

6. Alexander, Veinbergs, “Lutheranism and Other Denominations in the Baltic Republics,” in Marshall, Aspects of Religion; ELTA Information Service (New York), July 20, 1967, p. 8.Google Scholar

7. Zvi Gitelman, “The Jews,” Problems of Communism, September-October 1967, p. 93.

8. P aul, Roth, “L'Islam nell'URSS,” Russia Cristiana, no. 88 (June 1967), p. 21.Google Scholar

9. Cf. Komsomol'skaia pravda, Jan. 5, 1964; Vasilov, V. N., “Etnograficheskoe issledovanie religioznykh verovanii sel'skogo naseleniia,” in A. I. Klibanov, ed., Konkretnye issledovaniia sovremennykh religiosnykh verovanii (Moscow, 1967), p. 159.Google Scholar

10. V. F. Milovidov, “Staroobriadchestvo i sotsial'nyi progress,” in Academy of Sciences of the USSR (hereafter cited as AN SSSR), Voprosy nauchnogo ateisma (Moscow, semiannually since 1966), 2 : 221; Fedorenko, Sekty, p. 235.

11. Komsomol'skaia pravda, June 14, 1963.

12. V. Chertikhin, “What Are the Orthodox Preaching?” NiR, 1961, no. 11, pp. 28-33, translated in Joint Publications Research Service, Dec. 12, 1961, pp. 6—15; M. I. Shakhnovich, “Vestiges of Religious Mysticism and How to Remove Them,” Voprosy filosofii, 1964, no. 2, translated in RCDA, May 31, 1964, pp. 77-78.

13. Kryvelev, I. A., O dokasatel'stvakh bytiia bozhiia (Moscow, 1960), pp. 32–33 Google Scholar; Isvestiia, Feb. 18, 1961; Literaturnaia gazeta, Apr. 10, 28, 1962; Pravda, Aug. 18, 1963.

14. Literatura i zhizn', Feb. 21, Nov. 23, 1960; Kazakhstanskaia pravda, Apr. 13, 1962; Uchitel'skaia gazeta, Feb. 16, 1963; NiR, 1964, no. 9, p. 90.

15. A. Valentinov, “Sovetskoe zakonodatel'stvo o kul'takh,” NiR, 1961, no. 10, p. 92.

16. M. K. Tepliakov, “Materialy k issledovaniiu religioznosti naseleniia Voronezha i Voronezhskoi oblasti,” in Klibanov, Konkretnye issledovaniia, p. 150.

17. Gudok, Feb. 23, 1964; Krasnaia zvezda, Feb. 14, 196S; Kazakhstanskaia pravda, Nov. 4, 196S; N. P. Alekseev, “Metodika i rezul'taty izucheniia religioznosti sel'skogo naseleniia,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma, 3 : 138; N. Rozenberg, “Lektorii na domu,” Agitator, no. 23 (December 1966), p. 45.

18. Dimitry, Konstantinov, Religioznoe dvizhenie soprotivleniia v SSSR (London, Canada : SBONR Publishing House, 1967), p. 46.Google Scholar

19. Chertkov, A. B., From God to the People : Confessions of a Former Priest (Moscow, 1962)Google Scholar, as translated in RCDA, June 3, 1963, p. 94; Z. A. Iankova, “O nekotorykh metodakh konkretno-sotsial'nogo izucheniia religii,” in Klibanov, Konkretnye issledovaniia, p. 113.

20. Andrianov, N. P. et al., Osobennosti sovremennogo religioznogo soznaniia (Moscow, 1966), p. 213.Google Scholar

21. NiR, 1961, no. 7, p. 25.

22. Izvestiia, Jan. 24, 1960; cf. Isvestiia, Nov. 23, 1937.

23. Sovetskaia Rossiia, Sept. 27, 1962; NiR, 1963, no. 3, p. 26; M. Barykin, “Pustosvet na dvere zhizni,” NiR, 1961, no. 9, p. 48; N. Lazarev, “Teni proshlogo,” NiR, 1963, no. 8, pp. 88-89.

24. Shestinsky, O, “Pauki na mal'vakh,” NiR, 1960, no. 3, p. 53 Google Scholar; Dubkovka, A, “Kto iz detei verit v boga?” NiR, 1963, no. 2, p. 75 Google Scholar; cf. Nikita, Struve, Christians in Contemporary Russia (London, 1967), p. 303–10.Google Scholar

25. No single, convenient source for data on underground Orthodoxy is available as yet. Fairly extensive treatment may be found in L. N. Mitrokhin, “Reaktsionnaia ideologiia ‘istinno-pravoslavnoi tserkvi’ na Tambovshchine,” in AN SSSR, Sovremennogo sektantstvo, vol. 9 of the series Voprosy istorii religii i ateizma (Moscow, 1961), pp. 144-60; Z. A. Nikolskaia, “K kharakteristike techeniia tak nazyvaemykh istinno-pravoslavnykh khristian,” ibid., pp. 161-88; and, with regard to the subgroupings within the movement, by consulting the index of Fedorenko, Sekty.

26. Detailed treatment of this period may be found in the unpublished typescript of documents originating in the USSR and smuggled to the West shortly after 1930, Delo Mitropolita Sergiia, and in Archimandrite loann (Snychev), “Tserkovnye raskoly v russkoi tserkvi 20-kh i 30-kh godov XX stoletiia—grigorianskii, iaroslavskii, iosiflianskii, viktorianskii i drugie : Ikh osobennost’ i istoriia” (unpubl. magister's diss., Moscow Theological Academy, Zagorsk, 1965). The latter, based on the private archive of the late Bishop of Kuibyshev, was reviewed in Zhurnal Moskovskoi Patriarkhii, 1966, no. 8, pp. 7-10, and was generously made available to this author by the Moscow Patriarchate.

27. A. I. Klibanov, “Sovremennoe sektantstvo v Lipetskoi oblasti,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy istorii religii i ateisma, 10 : 166-67.

28. For example, A. S. Onishchenko, “Tendentsii izmeneniia sovremennogo religioznogo soznaniia,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateisma, 2 : 98; I. A. Aleksandrovich et al., “Sektantstvo v voronezhskoi oblasti i rabota po ego preodoleniiu,” in AN SSSR, Ezhegodnik muzeia istorii religii i ateizma (Moscow, annually since 1957), 5 : 66, 74; P. Vdovichenko, “Reaktsionnaia sushchnost1 religioznogo sektantstva,” Kommunist Belorussia, 1964, no. 11, pp. 56-62; M. Semenov, “Eto proizoshlo v Mud'iuge,” NiR, 1966, no. 2, p. 29; cf. the sources listed in Nadezhda Teodorovich, “The Catacomb Church in the USSR,” Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of the USSR, April 1965, p. 12.

29. Kazakhstanskaia pravda, Apr. 28, 1968.

30. M. K. Tepliakov, “Pobeda ateizma v razlichnykh sotsial'nykh sloiakh sovetskogo obshchestva,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma, 4 : 156.

31. Komsomol'skaia pravda, May 22, 1964.

32. Kazakhstanskaia pravda, Feb. 27, 1968.

33. A. Vasin, “Nachalo polozheno,” NiR, 1968, no. 7, p. 17.

34. Ibid., p. 20.

35. Data on the Silence movement may be found in Nikolskaia, “K kharakteristike techeniia,” pp. 173-77. Incidentally, it would appear that it was the problem presented by these Molchal'niki which first induced the state to devise deprivation of parental rights to deal with recalcitrant believers. This measure proved so effective that it was quickly applied to other groups as well, and it has been employed continually throughout the sixties; see the appeal of two Baptist children, Posev, 1969, no. 11, p. 12.

36. The most detailed information concerning the Wanderers grew out of the trial of leaders of the movement apprehended in Alma-Ata in 1963; see Kasakhstanskaia pravda, Dec. 8, 1963, Feb. 8, 9, 1964, and the report of Alia Trubnikova, “Tainik v taburetke, “ Oktiabr1, 1964, no. 9, pp. 161-77. Considerable insight into the dynamics of the movement may be gained from the fictional, but in many respects credible, treatment of Lev. Ovalov, “Pomni obo mne,” serialized in NiR, 1966, nos. 1-6.

37. Fedorenko, Sekty, p. 108.

38. Sovetskaia kultura, Sept. S, 1959; L. Smirnov, “Iavlenie bogomateri—s pomoshch'u nozhits i kleia,” NiR, 1965, no. 1, p. 95; A. Shysh, “The End and the Means,” Liudyna i svit, 1967, no. 4, pp. 46-48, translated in Digest of the Soviet Ukrainian Press, 1967, no. 7, p. 23. 39. Ibid., p. 24; Molod’ Ukrainy, Nov. 12, 1965; O. Chaikovskaia, “Pochemu ushel topol',” NiR, 1966, no. 6, pp. 5-6.

40. Teodorovich, “The Catacomb Church,” p. 13.

41. Khronika tekushchikh sobytii, Apr. 30, 1969.

42. See Fedorenko, Sckty, passim.

43. M. V. Vagabov, “Bol'she vnimaniia sovetskomu islamovedeniiu,” Voprosy filosofii, 1966, no. 12, p. 173; cf. I. A. Makatov, “Kul't sviatykh v islame,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateisma, 3 : 164; Geoffrey Wheeler, “The Muslims of Central Asia,” Problems of Communism, September-October 1967, p. 78.

44. M. Khalmukhamedov, “O chem govoriat musul'manskie propovedniki,” NiR, 1969, no. 6, p. 58.

45. NiR, 1969.no. 5, p. 35.

46. See Geoffrey, Wheeler, “National and Religious Consciousness in Soviet Islam,” in Max Hayward and William C. Fletcher, eds., Religion and the Soviet State : A Dilemma of Poiver (New York, 1969), pp. 187–98 Google Scholar; Conquest, Religion in the USSR, pp. 76-80.

47. Komsomol'skaia pravda, Oct. 6, 1964; A. Avksentiev, “Aksakaly reshaiut,” NiR, 1967, no. 2, p. 55; L. I. Klimovich, “Bor'ba ortodoksov i modernistov v islame,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma, 2 : 67.

48. G. Karaev, “Islam i doislamskie kcul'ty,” NiR, 1967, no. 6, p. 74.

49. Palvanova, B, “Ob ateisticheskoi rabote sredi turkmenok,” in AN SSSR, Voprosy nauchnogo ateizma, 3 : 241–42.Google Scholar

50. Makatov, “Kul't sviatykh v islame,” p. 164; cf. Karaev, “Islam i doislamskie kul'ty,” pp. 44-45.

51. O. Petrash, “Sufizm, chemu on uchit?” NiR, 1969, no. 2, p. 69.

52. The Baptist protest has been examined by Michael, Bourdeaux, Religious Ferment in Russia (London, 1968)Google Scholar. Briefer treatments of the movement may be found in Fletcher, William C., “Protestant Influences on the Outlook of the Soviet Citizen Today,” in William C. Fletcher and Anthony J. Strover, eds., Religion and the Search for New Ideals in the USSR (New York, 1967), pp. 62–82 Google Scholar; Michael Bourdeaux and Peter, Reddaway, “Church and State and Schism : The Recent History of the Soviet Baptists,” in Hayward and Fletcher, Religion and the Soviet State, pp. 105–41Google Scholar; and Michael, Bourdeaux, “Reform and Schism,” Problems of Communism, September-October 1967, pp. 108–18.Google Scholar

53. Detailed lists of imprisoned Baptists were compiled in 1966 and late in 1968 by the Committee of Relatives of Prisoners, and were attached to appeals sent to the West. Each list contained over two hundred entries. See Harris, Rosemary and Howard-Johnston, Xenia, Christian Appeals from Russia (London, 1969), p. 92–143.Google Scholar

54. In addition to Bratskii listok and Vcstnik spaseniia, copies of which have reached the West, the movement also issues Evangel'skii prisyv. See I. Braznik, “Novoiavlennye apostoly baptizma v spekulatsiiakh antisovetchikov,” NiR, 1969, no. 12, p. 55.

55. Examples of these appeals may be found in translation in Harris and Howard- Johnston, Christian Appeals; Problems of Communism, July-August 1968, pp. 96-102; RCDA, Feb. 15/29, 1968, pp. 21-41, May-June 1969, pp. 86-92, July-August 1969, pp. 127-33, November 1969, pp. 197-200; cf. London Times, Nov. 6, 1969 (this document had 1, 453 signatures).

56. For recent events see BV, 1970, no. 2; Baptist Times (London), May 14, 29, Oct. 1, 1970.

57. Braznik, “Novoiavlennye apostoly baptizma,” p. 57.

58. See Michael, Bourdeaux, Patriarch and Prophets (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Nikita Struve, “Dissent in the Russian Orthodox Church,” in Hayward and Fletcher, Religion and the Soviet State, pp. 143-57; Peter Reddaway, “Freedom of Worship and the Law,” Problems of Communism, July-August 1968, pp. 21-29; Michael, Bourdeaux, “Dissent in the Russian Orthodox Church,” Russian Review, 28, no. 4 (October 1969) : 417–27 Google Scholar. Unlike the Baptist Initsiativniki, the Orthodox protest has not as yet been subjected to extensive attack in the Soviet press. Eshliman and Iakunin were mentioned in passing by V. Kuroedov, “Leninskie printsipy svobody sovesti v SSSR,” NiR, 1968, no. 6, p. 10, and Kurochkin, P, “Evoliutsiia sovremennogo russkogo pravoslaviia. Ill : politicheskaia orientatsiia,” NiR, 1969, no. 4, p. 52 Google Scholar, while Levitin was attacked by G. Vasiliev, “Bogoslov-podstrekatel1,” NiR, 1966, no. 10, p. 25, and by Semenkin, N, “Ot anafemy— k priznaniiu ?” NiR, 1969, no. 8, pp. 34–35.Google Scholar

59. Bourdeaux, “Reform and Schism,” p. 116.

60. Vestnik Russkogo studencheskogo khristianskogo dvizheniia, 1967, no. 4, p. 75; Problems of Communism, July-August 1968, p. 112.

61. Cf. the protests from Gorky, Russkaia mysl', June 19, 1969.

62. A. E. Levitin, “Drama v Viatke,” Posev, 1969, no. 10, pp. 6-7 (Talantov was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in September). On Levitin's arrest see the New York Times, Sept. 16, 1969.

63. ELTA Information Service (New York), 1969, no. 6, p. 4; 1969, no. 9, pp. 7-8; 1969, no. 10, p. 1.

64. Washington Post, Nov. 11, 1969; cf. the appeal circulated by the Institute of Jewish Affairs (London) in May 1970.

65. BV, 1963, no. 6, pp. 21, 37; Fedorenko, Sekty, p. 171; Aleksandrovich, “Sektantstvo v voronezhskoi oblasti,” pp. 65-69; L. A. Serdobolskaia, “Reaktsionnaia sushchnost' ideologii sovremennogo baptizma,” in Eshegodnik muzeia istorii religii i ateisma, 7 : 117-20. 66. Cf. Fedorenko, Sekty, p. 159. 67. Mikhail, Polsky, Novye mucheniki rossiiskie (Jordanville, N.Y., 1949), 1 : 169–77 Google Scholar; Anderson, Paul B., People, Church and State in Modern Russia (New York, 1944), p. 106–10.Google Scholar

68. Fletcher, William C., A Study in Survival : The Church in Russia, 1927-1943 (New York, 1965), pp. 67Google Scholar, 114; S Evans, tanley G., The Russian Church To-Day (London, 1955), p. 8 Google Scholar; Alec, Horsely, Russian Journey, 1954 (New York, 1954), p. 15.Google Scholar

69. It should be noted that continued frustration can lead to social alienation, as illustrated in the case of the thirty-two Siberian Christians who early in 1963 sought to leave the USSR entirely (.Newsweek, Jan. 14, 1963, p. 32, Jan. 28, 1963, pp. 45-46).

70. See Nikolskaia, “K kharakteristike techeniia,” p. 174.

71. Problems of Communism, July-August 1968, pp. 60, 67, 69; July-October 1969, p. 105; New York Times, Aug. 21, 1969; RCDA, November 1969, pp. 201-2; Novoe Russkoe Slovo, Oct. 9 and 19, 1969; A. E. Levitin, “Svet v okontse,” Vestnik RSKhD, 1969, no. 3 (93), pp. 97-106.

72. Problems of Communism, July-August 1968, p. 113; cf. Vestnik RSKhD, 1967, no. 4, p. 74.

73. Zhurnal Moskovskoi Patriarkhii, 1960, no. 10, p. 4.

74. Of particular interest is the appearance of the All-Russian Social-Christian Union for the Liberation of the People, which came to light in 1968 and had branches in several cities. This group, inter alia, had worked out a political structure to replace the present regime which, in theory, would involve the cooperation of an established Orthodox Church in ruling the country, basing their formulations on study of Berdiaev and so forth (Neiv York Times, Apr. 18, 1968). As yet there is no indication of direct connection between this organization, which is illustrative of increasing political alienation among the intelligentsia, and the religious protest, whether of the Eshliman-Iakunin genre or the more exotic movements of the Orthodox underground.