Church and Law 2 (15) 2013, 2: 63-75
Anti-Church Legislation of the USSR Under the Reign of Vladimir Lenin (1917-1923)
Grzegorz Szubtarski
PhD Candidate, Department of Fundamental Christology, Institute of Fundamental Theology, Faculty of Theology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
e-mail: gszubtarski@op.pl
The article examines the problem of anti-Church legislation in Russia during the reign of Vladimir Lenin in years 1917 to 1923. Atheistic Marxist ideology regarded religion as the enemy of progress. Therefore, the Bolsheviks took power after his determined fight against the Church, with a view to its total destruction. The first point shows a short period of reli-gious freedom in Russia after the February Revolution. The second section shows how much the situation has changed after the Bolsheviks came to power. They began to pass laws that restrict the activities of the Church in the country. The third point examines a second wave of attacks on the Church in the early twenties, mainly involving the confiscation of church property. All these activities have begun a period of aggressive policy against the Church, which continued for another decades.
Słowa kluczowe: sytuacja Kościoła w ZSRR, bolszewizm, Rosja, Kościół i państwo
Key words: situation of the Church in USSR, Russia, Bolshevism, Church and State
