Alexandra Cotofana (editor) - Religion and Magic in Socialist and Post-Socialist Contexts II: Baltic, Eastern European, and Post-USSR Case Studies

We wish to thank the contributors to the volume and the authors of the volumes prefaces, Patrick Michelson, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington and Anita Stasulane, Director of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Daugavpils University in Latvia. We also wish to thank the ibidem -Verlag Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society Series editor Andreas Umland and Valerie Lange for their assistance, advice, and enthusiasm. We wish to thank Aziz Fatnassi for the cover art of both volumes.

Anita Stasulane

This volume explores perspectives and foundational issues, and their implications in the study of religion and magic in socialist and post-socialist contexts. As religion in the former Soviet Union is usually interpreted as a uniquely post-atheist phenomenon, [but it is] inseparably linked with the Soviet past (Menzel 2013, 269), in the following pages I would like to discuss what the religious policies were in the USSR and how religion and magic were able to survive under the Soviet regime.

After WWII, a specific political and cultural situation developed in Europe, which directly impacted religion, as well as other areas of life. German National Socialism was defeated in 1945, which freed Western European countries, but many Central European nations, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe ended up under communist regimes. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were already occupied by the Soviet army in 1940, remained part of the USSR, while Central European and Eastern European countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) became part of the Soviet sphere of influence. The Communist Party in each of these countries became the sole political formation to govern, all parties adopting Marxism-Leninism. Behind the Iron Curtain, religion was framed as a relic of the past and an opium-like escape for the poor from economic misery and oppression. As late as the 1980s, scientific atheism in USSR universities taught antiquated theories about the evolution of religion: religion progressed through various evolutionary stages of development, beginning with the most primitive expression (animism), while subsequent development found expression in ancestor worship, polytheism, and finally in monotheism. Monotheism was postulated as the belief in a masculine, paternal deity developed with the rise of patriarchal culture .

In order to eradicate religion, the Communists first repressed the leaders of religious organizations and the most active members of congregations. How this was implemented can be shown through a specific example: In Latvia (19441965), there were two authorities responsible for religious matters: (1) the Council Representative for the Affairs of Religious Cults and (2) the Council Representative for Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Council for Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was created in 1943. Because other Christian denominations and religions (Judaism, Islam and Buddhism) also operated in the territory of the USSR, the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults was created in May 1944. In nearly every Soviet republic (except the Armenian SSR), the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults was established, subordinating separate institutions. (Krmia-Kokova 2015)

Because the USSR cared, to some extent, about its image in the eyes of Western democracies, the main goal of the communists religious policy was to create the illusion of religious freedom (Spasov 1951). Consequently, the communists decided not to close religious organizations, but to tightly control them and to ban the creation of underground religious groups (Talonen 1997). The representatives of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults operated in the Soviet republics according to a single instruction issued in early 1945, which indicated that the representative was to inform the government about religious cults and their position and activities within each republic; to provide opinions on issues related to the operations of religious organizations; to monitor correct implementation of Soviet legislation; to carry out record-keeping and registration of operating religious associations and groups, churches, houses of worship, as well as clerics. The Government Commission for KGB Research conducted these investigations. The instruction was secret, which is why it was forbidden to refer to it in the representatives discussions with clergy and all reports, letters, or any other kinds of documents from the representative mentioning the instructions, were also kept secret (Krmia-Kokova 2015). The representatives discussions with clergy had to be secret as well: when various organizational issues were established, the provision of any written directions, memoria or instructions was also forbidden, meaning there would be no material evidence of the state interfering in the internal affairs of the religious organization. This in turn implied that the separation of state and religion would be kept in place long after occupation.

The activities of the Church were controlled, information on the political views of priests and their activities during the Nazi occupation were collected, and this evidence was used to identify priests who were seen as anti-Soviet elements. In 1949, each congregations and clergy member in Latvia was been registered by the regime. Each priest was tracked through a personal file, which contained information on his activities: a form with important biographical information, their life story, complaints, various proceedings, references, and press publications which were usually meant to reveal a priests vices, anti-Soviet sentiments and other compromising information. The intent here was to help discredit an anti-Soviet priest in front of their congregation and society, which was often aided through publishing defamatory articles about them in the national press. These practices were an attempt to cleanse clergy of anti-Soviet elements, and continued until the death of Stalin (1953). The post-Stalin Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR eventually issued an amnesty decree. This allowed many sentenced individuals to be released from detention, to have their sentences reduced by half, their criminal records erased, the restrictions on their rights revoked, or their criminal procedures terminated. The amnesty did not apply to those who had been sentenced to five years or more for counter-revolutionary crimes, so it often did not apply to clergy or political prisoners.

The attitude towards religion did not change when Nikita Khrushchev came to power (18941971) or under the Khrushchev Thaw (1950s to 1960s). The only thing that changed were the methods by which the Soviet authorities tried to eliminate the Churchs influence on society: physical violence against clergy was mostly replaced with psychological intimidation and propaganda campaigns. Regardless of the difficult post-war Soviet economy and the arrest of many clerics, as part of the attempt of Soviet authorities to repress religion, the work of the largest Christian denominations and various religious organizations continued. The Communist Partys decree On Large-Scale Deficiencies in Scientific Atheist Propaganda and on Measures for itsImprovement (1954) documented the fact that the activities of the Church and various religious sects had increased and so did the number of USSR citizens who carried out religious rituals (Krmia-Kokova 2015). The Communist Party instructed Komsomol, trade unions and educational institutions to undertake anti-religious work, and to systematically and steadily re-educate believers individually. It should be emphasized that this was not a short-term campaign, but a systematically implemented long-term policy meant to control, if not eradicate, religion. To help ensure this, Latvia, for example, issued a decree entitled