Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
When discussing the state of religion during the Soviet period, those following the traditional historical interpretation have held that the Communist Party successfully eradicated religion, particularly Russian Orthodoxy. While vestiges may have remained in rural areas, the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution was destroyed. Churches and monasteries stood in ruins as testaments to the victory of atheism over religion.
1. Such interpretations were primarily found in work of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Curtiss, John S., The Russian Church and the Soviet State, 1917–1950 (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965). Although this is a very well-researched work, its author did not have access to the archival resources that are now available.Google Scholar
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6. A term describing a person deprived of his or her civil rights, such as the right to vote and the right to live in a city.Google Scholar
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22. The League of the Militant Godless was a state-sponsored anti-religious organization dedicated to spreading anti-religious propaganda throughout the Soviet Union. It was formed in 1922 under the direction of Emelian Yaroslavsky and disbanded in 1941.Google ScholarFor more on the League, see Peris, Daniel, Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998).Google Scholar
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29. Much has been written about the Constitution of 1936. For a full English translation of the Constitution, see “The New Soviet Constitution“ (New York: Soviet Russia Today, 1936).Google ScholarFor the text in Russian, see Istoriia sovetskoi konstitutsii v dokumentakh, 1917–1956 (Moscow, 1957), 345–59.Google ScholarFor a full text of Stalin's speech, see Stalin, J. V., On the Draft Constitution of the U.S.S.R. (Moscow, 1936).Google ScholarFor Western contemporary commentary, see Barnes, Kathleen, “The Soviet Constitution of 1936,“ in Research Bulletin on the Soviet Union 1, no. 9, 30 Sept. 1936;Google ScholarStarr, J. R, “New Constitution of the Soviet Union,“ American Political Science Review, 1936, 1143–152;CrossRefGoogle ScholarBeatrice, and Webb, Sidney, Soviet Communism: A New Soviet Constitution: A Study in Socialist Democracy (New York: H. Holt, 1937).Google Scholar
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31. Kalinin, , quoted in article in Izvestiia, 7 June 1936.Google Scholar
32. The results of the 1937 census were not published. Only recently has the information been made available to the public. For a full account of the 1937 census in English, see Poliakov, I. A., Zhiromskaia, V. B., and Kiselev, I. N., “A Half-Century of Silence: the 1937 Census,“ Russian Studies in History 31 (1992): 3–98.Google ScholarFor a more general guide to the methodology of Russian and Soviet censuses, see Clem, Ralph, ed., Research Guide to the Russian and Soviet Censuses (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1986).Google ScholarFor works in Russian, see Poliakov, I. A., Vodarskii, E., eds., Vsesoiuznaia perepis' naseleniia 1937: Kratkie itogi (Moscow: Akademia Nauk, 1991).Google Scholar
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34. The Tablet, Dec. 1995, 168. The Tablet is a British Jesuit publication that covers religious issues around the world.Google Scholar
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