861.404/10–2846
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Durbrow) to the Secretary of State
No. 504
[Received November 21.]
The Chargé d’Affaires ad interim has the honor to report that the Komsomol58 magazine Young Bolshevik, No. 5–6, recently received by the Embassy, contains the most openly anti-religious article to appear in the Soviet press since before the war. The article quotes Stalin to the effect that the Communist Party must be anti-religious since its activity is founded on science, and religion is anti-scientific. However, the article also points out that the struggle against religion must be carried on not by administrative measures but by means of propaganda and education.
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Perhaps the most interesting feature of the above item is the sharp distinction which it draws between the relationship of religion with respectively, the state and the Party. It quotes Lenin to the effect [Page 792] that religion is a private matter as far as the state is concerned, but not as far as the Party is concerned. The Party must oppose religion as a prejudice and a “survival of capitalism”, best means of struggle against which is a general uplifting of the cultural level of the population.
The above item is the most significant recent Soviet expression on religion. However, there have been several other indications recently of a stiffening of the line in this question. Komsomol Worker, No. 11–12, June 1946 (released in August) quoted Stalin to the effect that it was “necessary patiently to explain the harm of religious superstitions and to carry on the propaganda of a materialistic world outlook, the only scientific world outlook, among youth”.
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It appears that the foregoing indications mark at least a partial return to the immediate pre-war Party line toward religion. In that period the use of force and administrative measures, and of the cruder forms of anti-religious propaganda had been abandoned. Reliance in the struggle against religion was placed on propaganda and social pressure exerted largely through the Komsomol, and on the teaching of scientific and other subjects in the schools from an anti-religious point of view. During the war all open anti-religious publications ceased to appear and the Society of Militant Godless, while not dissolved, became dormant.
The first harbinger of a revival of anti-religious activity was a flow of articles in 1944 and 1945 on “scientific enlightenment”. These articles combatted “superstitions”, and offered a materialistic, scientific explanation of natural phenomena. It is interesting to note that the answer given by Young Bolshevik to the above query concluded by recommending a list of works on such subjects as the “origin of life” and “awesome phenomena of nature”. This literature it stated would give further information “on the attitude toward religion”. It is thus clear that scientific enlightenment is another term in Soviet language for anti-religious propaganda.
However, it is note-worthy that most of the large mass of scientific enlightenment propaganda published since 1944 is not openly anti-religious. Religion and the church are not directly attacked. It is difficult to find in the Soviet press material which may be labeled as anti-religious propaganda. Even the main item discussed herein appeared in a relatively obscure journal, designed, however, for use by the leaders of Soviet youth.
Present indications are that Soviet policy toward religion, while reverting to a relatively mild and disguised anti-religious line in propaganda for the Party and particularly for Komsomol youth, will [Page 793] also continue the restricted toleration of the Orthodox and some other church groups inaugurated during the war. Recently the Orthodox cathedral at the historic church center of Zagorsk was reopened and redecorated. A seminary is now operating in Zagorsk. Members of the Embassy who attend Moscow churches state that in their opinion church membership has increased during the past year, though it is still concentrated in the age group over forty. A member of the Embassy was told recently by a priest that the Moscow clergy hoped that the number of churches open in Moscow would eventually be increased from its present figure of about twenty-five to about fifty.
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The question of religion in the USSR is perhaps as baffling and paradoxical as any internal problem of the country. The church is certainly the only group with a nation-wide organization and a fundamentally un-Soviet, even if politically conformist, outlook, the existence of which is tolerated by the regime. Religion is the only “survival of capitalism” against which a ruthless campaign is not being conducted.
The explanation of this paradox probably is that the Soviet leaders feel that it is both profitable and safe for them to utilize the church. Profitable because a loyal church helps to maintain the morale and loyalty of a part of the population at home, and lends itself to Soviet policy aims abroad. Safe because the regime feels that time is on its side rather than on that of the church, and that a materialistic outlook engendered by urbanization and by the work of school and Komsomol will capture the younger generation. It is probably hoped that religion will eventually die out along with other “survivals of capitalism”. In the meantime, it has no economic power on which to build independent political or other power; moreover, even if spiritually un-Soviet it is intensely nationalistic and assists the state in consolidating the Soviet people against the outside world.
However, should it appear to the Soviet leaders that religion could again grow into a force which might menace the regime, there can be no doubt that the precarious toleration afforded the church would be abandoned, and patient methods of persuasion would be supplemented by ruthless techniques of eradication.
[The President of the United Press, Mr. Hugh Baillie, submitted on October 21, 1946, a group of 31 questions to Generalissimo Stalin. Stalin’s replies were printed in the Moscow newspapers for October 29, and a translation of the questions and answers was sent to the Department as an enclosure to despatch 516, October 31, from Moscow, not [Page 794] printed (811.20200(D)/10–3146). The text of these questions and answers is printed in the New York Times, October 29, 1946, page 1. Certain questions and replies of particular interest are the following:
1. Question: Do you agree with the, opinion of Secretary of State Byrnes, expressed by him over the radio last Friday,59 about increasing tension between the USSR and the US?
Reply: No.
6. Question: What, in your opinion, represents the most serious threat to peace in the world at the present time?
Reply: The kindlers of a new war, above all, Churchill and his supporters in Britain and the USA.
7. Question: If such a threat arises, what steps should be adopted by the peoples of the world to avoid a new war?
Reply: The kindlers of a new war must be exposed and restrained.
9. Question: Do you think that the four zones of occupation in Germany should in the near future be united as regards economic administration with the aim of restoring Germany as a peaceful economic unit, and thus lightening the burden of occupation for the four powers?
Reply: Not only the economic, but the political unity of Germany, must be restored.
18. Question: Does Russia consider the western frontiers of Poland permanent?
Reply: Yes.
21. Question: What is the attitude of the Government of the USSR to the presence of US warships in the Mediterranean?
Reply: Indifferent.
25. Question: Is Russia still interested in receiving a loan from the United States?
Reply: Yes.
26. Question: Has Russia already got her own atomic bomb or any similar weapon?
Reply: No.
28. Question: How in your opinion can atomic energy best be controlled? Should this control be established on an international basis and in what degree should the powers sacrifice their sovereignty in the interests of establishing effective control?
Reply: Strict international control is necessary.
29. Question: How long will it take to restore the devastated areas of Western Russia?
Reply: Six–seven years if not more.]
- All-Union Leninist Communist Union of Youth, founded in October 1918, with membership between ages 15 and 28.↩
- Report on the Paris Peace Conference, a radio address delivered over a national network from Washington on October 18; for text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 27, 1946, p. 739.↩