Anti-Religious Propaganda in Ivanovo-Voznesensk Province. May 15, 1923

Original Source: Moskovskaia pravda, 15 May 1923.

The Ivanovo-Voznesensk Governorship Committee of the Russian Communist Party is giving sufficient attention to anti-religious propaganda. During the last period a large anti-religious campaign was carried on, disputes and lectures were held, reports and references given, in which the Governorship Administration of Political Education took an active part.

But the results were not always the same: the disputes which were held in the industrial districts and among the workmen yielded splendid results, but among the peasants and the small bourgeoisie the results were not always positive, and even in some cases negative. The Russian clergymen, profiting by the simplicity of the' audience, used all sorts of demagogic devices to very good effect.

At Boniakhal, for instance, during the dispute, where peasants, old women and men were present, a clergyman moved the assembly to tears, when complaining of the present and past persecution of the Church. The impression and effect of this touching discourse was enormous.

It is obvious to say, the disputes among the simple peasants will provoke feeling in favor of the church and the popes. There were cases when the speaker could not finish his conclusions. But such disputes made quite a different impression among the workmen and especially among the youth. The audience was entirely on the side of the Communists and the disputes had a real success in all factories and in the town.

Lectures had more success among the peasants, not to speak of the population of the town. It is true, you can hear sometimes from an old peasant: "However, let us have our God, don't touch this."' But that is all. The attitude towards the clergy is becoming definitely unfavorable.

The anti-religious circles of the Governorship Committee took into consideration these experiences, and decided to stick to the following methods: Each lecturer must first of all take into consideration his audience and the manner and matter of the report or lecture must conform to the respective audience. There is one manner and matter for Red Guards, for the youth; other methods are to be used with peasants and with workmen. Disputes should no longer be held among the simple peasants and the uneducated classes of the population, but serious reports and lectures, not hurting the religious feeling of the audience.

Splendid results are obtained by anti-religious evening meetings, devoted to Bruno, Galileo and Copernicus. Such meetings were arranged by the Committee of Union of Youth, and thousands of members of Worker-Peasants youth circles and of Red Guards attended these meetings.

There is no more doubt that youth has escaped the sphere of religious and clerical mystification.

The agitation committee of the Governorship Committee is paying great attention now to the choice of the agitators and lecturers to be sent to the different districts. Anti-religious circles are formed by the Governorship and District Committees and in the larger areas.

Source: Boleslaw B. Szczesniak, ed. and tr., Russian Revolution and Religion; a collection of documents concerning the suppression of religion by the Communists, 1917-1925 (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1959), pp. 153-154.