NEWLY NEPRINTED Dr. ADRIAN FORTESCUE’S Great Book THE ORTHODOX EASTERN CHURCH Demy 8vo. xxiv and 452 pages Price Five Shillings net (Post free 8s. 64.) WHAT THE “TABLET” SAYS: Four years after Gnishing his book on The Orthodox’ Eastern Church, Dr, Adrian Fortescue wrote a Note for the Third Edition of his work, beginning with the words, “* Sinco this book was written many things have happened that affect the Orthodox Church.” If be were still with us, Father Fortescue would indeed have materials for new chapters. Without, as well as within, the great country ‘once known as Holy Russia, the fall of the Tsardom has brought about immense changes in the status and exercise of Orthodoxy ‘Still, the substance of his work remains as valuable as ever, and therefore we are delighted to find the Catholic Truth Society re- issuing the book for popular circulation. It makes a handsome demy octavo of xxxiv and 452 pages and is bound in dignified gilt lettered cloth boards. ‘The price—five shillings —brings a worl of lasting usefulness within the reach of every Catholic library. WHAT THE “UNIVERSE” SAYS; “This now famous work passed through three editions in four years and has taken ifs place as the authoritative book upon the subject in the English language. The enterprise of the Catholic Truth Society in now re-issuing it at the extremely cheap price of 5/- places the whole Catholic public in the Society's debt, Nothing seems more. extranrdinary ta a Catholic journalist than ta come across from week to week the abysmal ignorance of so many Catholics about Eastern Christendom, Uniate or Schismatical. There is no excuse for stich ignorance when a work of such importance and authority as this is obtainable at so low a price. CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, 72, VICTORIA STREET, $.W.1 1H, 196 HE ANTI-GOD FRONT OF BOLSHEVISM A Statement of Fa By Rey. G. J. MacGillivray, M.A. Jan Mostanee London, National Gatery CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY 72 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W.1 ‘And at Liverpoo}, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Brighton, Newcastle and Derby Price TwopenceBoards, 2s. 3d. ; Cloth, 3s. 4d, (Post Free) The Pope and the People Select Letters and Addresses on Social Questions BY POPES LEO XIII, PIUS X, BENEDICT XV and PIUS XI NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION IN this Edition the most important social pronouncements of Pope Leo XIII have been supplemented by those of succeeding Popes. ‘The famous “Ubi Arcano Dei” by Pope Pius XI is incladed. The whole series has been carefully revised throughout by. Rev. A. Keogh, S.J, and forms the most complete collection, at @ popular price, of Papal Encyclicals on vital questions of the day, CONTENTS ‘The Evils affecting Modern Society Concerning Modern Errors, Socialism, &c. Christian Marriage ‘The Christian Constitution of States Human Liberty ‘The Right Ordering of Christian Life ‘The Chief Duties of Christians as Citizens ‘The Condition of the Working Classes (Rerum Novarwm) © Christian Democracy Christian Social Action (2) On the Outbreak of the European War ‘The Pope's Peace Proposals ‘The Re-Establishment of Christian Peace On the Troubles left by the European War CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, 72 Victoria St., London, S.W.1 THE ANTI-GOD FRONT OF BOLSHEVISM A Statement of Facts By Rev. G J. MACGILLIVRAY, MA LONDON : CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY 72, VICTORIA STREBT, S.W.TPREFATORY NOTE For most of the facts mentioned in this pamphlet, and for the quotations from Soviet newspapers and other documents, the Author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the following — ussian Central Executive Com- mittee and the Council of People’s Commissar: -respecting Religious Associations.” (Eng. trans— British Government White Paper: Cmd. 3511). Russia under the Red Flag,” by G. M. Godden. “The Bolshevist Persecution of Christianity,” by F. McCullagh. “The Mind and Face of Bolshevism,” by Réné Filop-Miller, “Moscou sans Voiles,” by J. Douillet. Dieu chez les Soviets," by Georges Goyau. “Le Front Antireligiewx en Russie Soviétique,” by Mgr. M. d’Herbigny. “La Guerre Antireligieuse en Russie Soviétique,” by ‘Mgr. M. d’Herbigny. “The Bolshevist International against Religion,” by Mare Cramer. “Bolshevism and Religion,” published by the Entente Internationale contre la Tife Internationale, “La Documentation Catholique,” March 5, 1930. “The Catholic Mirror,” March, 1930. “4 Catholic Survey,” Vol. I, No. 8. “Per la Russia Martoriata,” published by the Giunta Centrale dell’ Azione Cattolica Ttaliana. Articles by G. M. Godden in the Tablet, June 25, Sept. 7, Dec. 10, 17, 1927; March 31, May 12, Dec. 22, 1928; Jan. 23, Nov. 2, 1929; Jan. 25, Feb. 13, 1930. Reports in the Times and the Daily Mail of various dates. “Decree of the All THE ANTI-GOD FRONT OF BOLSHEVISM A Statement of Facts By Rev, G. J. MACGILLIVRAY, M.A. THE SOVIETS AND RELIGION On the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady, 1930, our Holy Father the Pope called upon the whole Christian world to join with him in prayer for the persecuted Christians of Russia. He was moved to this, he told us, “by the horrible and sacrilegious ‘imes that are repeated every day with increasing wickedness against God and against the souls of the vast population of Russia,” and by the failure of his repeated efforts, by diplomatic means, to put an end to that persecution, or to persuade the Governments of Europe to take such steps as might have caused it to cease. ‘The letter of the Holy Father was published as a pamphlet* by the Catholic Truth Society. The present pamphlet is an attempt to supplement it by a brief statement of the facts about those “horrible and sacrilegious crimes.” After the abdication of the Tsar in May, r917, a Provisional Government was set up under the premiership of Kerensky. This was a real attempt at a genuine democracy, and under it there was complete religious freedom. It did not, however, last long. Lenin was already at work, and it was not long before © The Soviet Campaign against God. CTS. te4 The Anti-God Front he established a régime of an entirely different kind. In November the All Russian Congress of Soviets, under Lenin’s leadership, announced that the Provisional Goverament had been- deposed. In January, 1918, the Constituent Assembly was dispersed by sailors of the Red Fleet, and it was announced that all legislative and administrative powers had been takep over by the Congress of Soviets. All real power, however, was in the hands of Lenin and seventeen others, who were called the “ People’s Commissars.” Liberty was at an end, Since then Russia has deen ruled by a little group of men, who are the Ieaders of the Communist Party. It is called the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat,” but it is in fact the Dictatorship of the People’s Commissars, who maintain their power by terror. They do not attempt to disguise the fict. Lenin, in a speech at the meeting of the Third International at Moscow in July, 1920, declared openly that “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat is unthinkable without terror.” The terrorizing of the people is carried out by the notorious secret police organisation formerly ‘known as the Cheka, now called the OGPU. The OGPU has an immense number of secret collaborators and agents provocateurs, called seksots, whose duty it is to spy upon the people everywhere, and report anyone guilty of “ counter-revolutionary ” acts or talk. The prisons are crowded with the unhappy victims of the OGPU, and every week numbers are shot or transported to the.terrible prison camps of Siberia or Solovetsky Island in the Arctic. From the first the Soviet Government declared war on religion, It is idle for anyone to deny this, because it is made perfectly clear in innumerable of Bolshevism 5 Soviet publications. For example, the ‘“‘ ABC of Communism,” an official publication of the Soviet Government, says that “ the Soviet power must exert the most fervent propaganda against religion.” \“AlL religions are one and the same poison, intoxicating and deadening the mind, the will and the conscience ; a fight to the death must be declared against them.” “ Our task is not to reform, but to destroy all kinds of religion, all kinds of morality.” Bukharin declared in 1923, that “Religion and Communism are incompatible, both theoretically and practically.”* Lounatcharsky, the Commissar of Public Education, in a speech at Moscow, said: “ We hate Christianity and Christians ; even the best of them must be looked upon as our worst enemies. They preach the love of our neighbours and mercy, which is contrary to our principles. Christian love is an obstacle to the development of the revolution. Down with the love of our neighbours ; what we want is hatred. We must learn how to hate, and it is only then that we shall conquer the world.” A circular of the Russian Communist Party says: “ Revolutionary Marxism asserts that it is the duty of the State to wage war without mercy on religion.” The Pravda, a Government organ, announced that “Local authorities must, without loss of time, throw all the necessary forces on to the Anti-God Front. They must declare anti-religious propaganda to be compulsory, and that such work will be considered party work, . . . We must declare a war to the death on all forms of religion. The fight against religion is the task of the day." * Pravda, April, 1923. + Prasda, 8th April, 1928,6 The Anti-God Front The Bolshevik attack on religion is no mere accident. It necessarily follows from the fundamental principles of Bolshevism. The root idea of Bolshevism is the creation of the “ collective man,’’ who is to take the place of the individual. It is the worship of the machine. Its ideal of human society is a vast machine, the only purpose of which is the production of material security and well-being for the community as a whole. It is éssentially materialistic, The individual counts for nothing. He is to be an automaton with no will of his own, Therefore everything that fosters the “illusion” of the importance of the individual, especially all idea of a soul, must be destroyed. And so all idea of a future life must be eliminated, for hope of salvation in a future life hinders men, they think, in their efforts to create an earthly paradise. “ Religion,” they are never tired of repeating, “ is the opium of the people.” THE FIRST PERSECUTION ‘The attack on religion began with a violent and bloody persecution. Between r918 and 1920 twenty- six bishops and 6,775 priests of the Orthodox Church were put to death. The Archbishop of Perm was buried alive, after having had his eyes put out, and his face brutally slashed. The Archbishop of Tobolsk, after sufiering two months of penal servitude, was drowned, The Bishop of Belgarod was thrown into quicklime. The Bishop of Youriew had his nose and ears cut off, was repeatedly stabbed with a bayonet, and finally cut to pieces. The Archbishop of Varoneje was hanged before the altar of the church of the Monastery of St. Mitrofan, In the Government of Cherson three priests were crucified. At Teherdin, in of Bolshevism 7 the cold of the Russian winter, a priest was stripped naked and then sprinkled with water until he became a pillar of ice. In February, 1922, a new method of attack was begun. The All-Russian Central Committee published a decree that within a month all valuable objects made of gold or silver, or containing precious stones, must be removed from the churches and handed over to the Government. ‘The pretext was that they were to be sold to provide funds for the relief of the famine, But that this was a mere pretext is evident from the fact that the Government had in its possession the crown jewels, estimated at a milliard of gold roubles, and not one of these was sold to relieve the famine. Moreover, although they had no money to buy grain for the starving peasants, they had plenty for subsidising communist agitators in India, Persia, Great Britain, and other countries, and they were actually exporting grain to Germany and Italy. Moreover, when Archbishop Nikander advised the people not to resist, but to send petitions to the Government begging it to exclude consecrated vessels, and to offer unconsecrated objects of equal value, the Government's only answer was the wholesale arrest of the priests of Moscow. And similarly it paid no attention to Cardinal Gasparri’s offer to pay cash for the confiscated. vessels of the Catholic churches of Petrograd. The Government lost no time in carrying out this decree, and naturally there was resistance in some places, and blood was shed. Priests and laymen who resisted the spoliation were arrested. At Sudensk four laymen who resisted were condemned to death. At Rostov Bishop Arsenius was condemned to death,8 The Anti-God Front but the sentence was commuted to ten years’ imprison- ment. Then came the “Trial of the Fifty-Four,” which ended in the condemnation to death at Moscow of eight priests and three laymen. In December, 1922, a circular was issued authorising ‘the use of all churches in Russia for lectures, concerts, balls, and theatrical performances.* In many cases soldiers were employed to drive the congregations out of the churches, which they did with great brutality, In 1923 the Soviet authorities turned their special attention to the Catholic Church. On 2rst March began the famous trial, or rather mock trial, of ‘Archbishop Cieplak, Mgr. Budkiewicz, thirteen other priests and a layman. They were charged with opposing the spoliation of the churches, teaching religion to persons under eighteen (which had been made illegal), and preaching without first submitting their sermons to the Government censor. The hostility of the court toall religion was made abundantly clear. The Government prosecutor, Krylenko, said: “I spit on your religion, as I do on all religions—on Orthodox, Jewish, Mohammedan, and the rest.” And again he directly asked the accused : “Will you stop teaching the Christian religion ?”” “ We cannot,” was the answer, “it is the law of God.” “ That law does not exist on Soviet territory,” replied Krylenko, “ you must choose.” To this we have the testimony of persons present at the trial, Fr. Edmund Walsh, S.J., and Capt. Francis McCullagh. Circular of the Soviet Government 200, Par. 1 + Article by Fr. E. Walsh in the Catholic Mirror, March, 1930. “The Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity,” by Capt. Francis ‘MeCullagh. of Bolshevism 9 The trial closed on the night of Palm Sunday, Archbishop Cieplak and Mgr. Budkiewicz were sentenced to death, and the others to various terms of imprisonment up to ten years of solitary confinement. ‘As a result of protests from the Vatican, England, France, Italy, the United States, Germany, Spain, and almost every civilised country, the life of Archbishop Cieplak was spared. But ‘the protests did not avail to save Mgr. Budkiewicz, On the night of Good Friday he was brutally murdered in prison. Everything was done to make his death as ignominious as possible. He was stripped naked and pushed along a dark corridor into a cellar. As he entered, this cellar was suddenly lit up by a powerful electric light which made him blink and stagger. Before he could recover himself he was shot through the back of the head.* In the summer of 1923, fifty-six Archbishops and Bishops were in prison. In 1924 all the most prominent Baptist ministers were arrested, charged with religious propaganda, and sent to unknown destinations. The halls of the Salvation Army were also closed, On xst January, 1925, the Council of Commissars issued a decree ordering the immediate closing and liquidation of all monasteries. In July of the same year eight priests were sentenced to solitary confinement for having arranged religious processions. NEW METHODS ‘These violent methods, however, were not found to be successful. The Soviet authorities soon dis- covered that they only strengthened religious zeal, as martyrdom always does. They therefore began to adopt new methods. They tried the plan of weakening * F. McCullagh, 0p. cil, p. 286.10 The Anti-God Front the Church by creating schisms, For this purpose they supported the “Living Church.” This was started in the spring of 1922. They got men of straw, headed by Bishop Antonin, to start a reforming movement, which was vigorously supported by the Government. For example, on 8th June all the Deans of Moscow, twenty-two in number, were summoned to the Supreme Church Administration and asked whether they would join the Reformed Church or not. When they arrived, they found a large motor-car ready to carry them all off to prison, if they refused, and inside the members of the Supreme Church Adminis- tration were accompanied by a number of young laymen in leather jackets with revolvers strapped to their belts. The Deans wavered from 7 p.m. until 2a.m., and then gave way. In May, 1923, the Red Congress, that is a synod of the “ Living Church,” met in Moscow. It deposed the Patriarch Tikhon, and declared its adherence to all the principles of Karl Marx and the whole Communist programme. It declared that “by methods proper to the State the Government of the Soviets, alone in the world, realises the ideal of the Kingdom of God. The “ Living Church,” thus created, failed to obtain the adherence of the mass of the Russian people, but it served its purpose in weakening the whole ecclesiastical organisation. The present methods of attack on religion may be summed up under three heads :— (2) Systematic anti-religious propaganda, and protection of all attacks on religion, especially on the part of the “ Young Communists.” (2) Legislative and financial pressure. (3) Direct persecution by the OGPU. of Bolshevism, 1 ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA ‘The propaganda takes various forms. A flood of anti-religious literature is issued under Government auspices. There are two Government newspapers devoted to this work, the Atheist for more educated readers, and the crude and disgusting Bezbojnik for the masses, In one of the first numbers of the Bezbojnik, Lounatcharsky, the Commissar of Public Education, wrote: “With all my heart I wish the Bezbojuik every success in its warfare against the revolting spectre of God, who throughout the whole of history has caused such diabolic evil to mankind.” ‘The cartoons in this paper, ridiculing religion, of which the present writer has seen reproductions, are often of too revolting a nature to be described. Propaganda is also carried on by lectures, theatrical representations, the cinema, posters, and street pro- cessions. In 1922 an Anti-religious Seminary was opened in Moscow for the training of anti-religious speakers and teachers. A performance was given at the Moscow Garrison Club, in the presence of Trotaky and 300 soldiers, called the Trial of God. Figures representing the Persons of the Holy Trinity were placed in the dock, Among the posters exhibited was one showing a Proletarian climbing up a ladder to Heaven to attack Christ, Moses, and Mohammed. In the street processions young men dress up as bishops, priests, monks, rabbis, and mullahs. Figures of Christ, Our Lady, Moses, Mohammed and Buddha are paraded with every circumstance of mockery and derision, and then publicly burnt. In r923 an order was issued for the inspection of public libraries, and the removal of all “counter-revolutionary literature,” which includes all books on religion except those of an anti-religious nature,12 The Anti-God Front In April, 1927, a circular was issued by the Soviet Trade Union authorities, under the presidency of Trotzky, calling upon local unions “to revive the compuisory anti-religious agitation which must occupy an important place in all trade-union educational work.” In April, Pravda wrote : “It is essential to appoint, in every undertaking, a number of the best party workers for anti-God activities. . . . It is essential to create a special style of scenery, to stage anti-God plays and spectacles, It is essential to create a special film organisation, so that anti-God films shall be successfully shown. It is time to leave the anti-God work in clubs and circles, and to carry it to the masses, making of it mass propaganda. Young people, teachers, agricultural engineers, the medical staf, must be dragged into the ranks of the anti-religious organisations . . . the joining in the anti-God Front must be made compulsory on all.’* But the worst feature of this propaganda is the perversion of the children. Not only is it illegal to teach religion to any person under eighteen, but atheism is systematically taught in all the schools. Lounatcharsky wrote in the Jzvestia, under the title “The Anti-Religious Fight in the School”: “The school, which forms an important link in the system of public instruction, must not remain indifferent to the struggle against religion in all its forms, as well as against the sects which at present exist. Our school is better armed than in the time of Lenin, and that creates for us the duty of beginning a much more decisive attack, The school must enter into the struggle with religion by explaining the falsehood of * Pravda, 13th April, 1928. of Bolshevism B its morality, and showing the little influence that religion exercises upon the high morality of mankind.”* ‘A specimen of this teaching is given by M. Douillet. He was himself present in the school at Tikhoretzkaya, when the following dialogue took place. “The teacher asked a child whether he prayed to God, and the answer being given in the affirmative, he told the child to pray to the good God to give him some bread. The child with a certain hesitation made the sign of the cross and began to pray. ‘ Well,’ said the teacher, ‘has your God given you any bread?’ The child, with tears in its voice, not understanding what was wanted of him, said ‘No, God had not given him anything.’ Then said the teacher: ‘You see what your good God is. Instead of asking bread from him, ask it from your Communist comrade.’ The child obeyed, asked the teacher, and immediately received a piece of white bread.’ But they do not confine themselves to mere teaching. The children are obliged to take part in anti-religious processions and demonstrations. At Easter, 1929, they were forced to participate in the most outrageous masquerades, ridiculing the Feast, In many places there were processions of children dressed up as geese, donkeys, monkeys, and pigs, and all wearing sacerdotal vestments or religious habits. Failure to attend was punished by the withholding of their parents’ bread tickets or their imprisonment. The second Congress of Militant Atheists, in June, 1929, resolved to lower the age at which children could enrol themselves in the League of Militant Atheists to fourteen, But even that did not satisfy » Tevestia + Douil March, 1920. “Moscow sans Voiles, p. 10014 The Anti-God Front them, They proceeded to form the Group of Young ‘Atheists for still younger children, from six to fourteen. ‘And thisis how Jaroslavsky addresses them : ““ Pioneers for the struggle against religion, against the priests, against the class of the priests, against all those who need religion in order to dominate the working class, be ready! . . . To the youngest Atheists! Here are your duties. The pioneer must be in the front rank of the fighters against religion, He must be instructed in all the evils that religion produces, He is a true disciple of Lenin just in so far as he fights against religion. Pioneer, stand up for the fight against religion, stand up to put down religion in your family, in the school, among your comrades, stand up to create groups of atheists. Be brave, have no fear of persecutions, Glory in your atheism before adults, even the most learned, befogged by religion. Your enemy is the Orthodox priest, the Catholic priest, the mullah, the rabbi, and all religions. Remember,— Religion, that is the enemy! It brutalises your parent and your brother. No more religion, no more fairy-tales, no more hell, no more bogeys * But the schools cannot get at the children early enough. And so at the General Conference of Orphanages at Leningrad we find one of the directors laying down the principle that “ it is too late, if we wait until the school age, to tum away the children from religion, We must get at them from the earliest age, accustom them to irreligion, take them away from the savage influence of the family, prevent their grandmothers from taking the little ones to church, or terrifying them with stories of devils and hell, or poisoning their minds with devilries like Christmas * Tevestia, August, 1920. of Bolshevism 15 trees or St. Nicholas’ Day presents.” Consequently children, when it is found that their parents are having @ religious influence upon them, may be taken away and interned in these orphanages. Indeed the break-up of the family is one of the avowed objects of Bolshevism. Thus Mme, Leliana, a specialist in the new education, known as Proletoult, wrote as follows: “‘We must remove the children from the baneful influence of the family; to put it plainly, we must nationalise them, From the earliest days of their life they must be reared in the beneficial atmosphere of the Communist kindergarten and school. ‘The task before us is to force the mothers to give up their children to the Soviet State.”” Nor is it only religion in the dogmatic sense that the Soviets would destroy. All hitherto accepted standards of morality must be destroyed too. A writer in Pravda says: “ It is necessary not merely to fight against bourgeois morality, but to trample it under foot.’* Trotzky declared that “ Revolutionary morality dethrones all absolute standards.” It is the accepted theory that whatever is useful to the Communist Party is moral, and whatever is unfavourable to it is immoral. And this is what is taught in the schools. Thus Mme, Smidovich wrote in Pravda that “ where a Proletcult school is established, the boys and girls are taught that everything is allowed.”t The effects of this teaching can be readily imagined. In one district there is a maternity hospital near one of the Government schools, where in eighteen months more than roo girls from these schools were admitted * Prasda, 7th May, 1925. { Troteky ! “ Between Red and White,” p. 52. } Pravda, March, 192516 The Anti-God Front as patients, Again, in all the towns are swarms of abandoned children, who gain their living by begging, stealing and prostitution. M. Douillet describes how “there are crowds of little girls who sleep anywhere— in the railway stations, in empty railway carriages, in the porches of houses, in caves along the rivers, and so forth, They are clothed in rags, or more often quite naked, At Rostov on the Don there is a square near tlfe station, where in the evening dozens of little girls, of twelve or thirteen, crowd round the passers-by and offer themselves for a piece of bread or a few sous. ‘They share their gains with the police according to an agreed tarifi.”* Comrade Berezner, writing about these abandoned children in Moscow in 1924, said: “Fifty per cent. of these children under fourteen years of age are afflicted with acquired syphilis, poison germs, drunkenness, and all kinds of contagious diseases.” Equally horrible is the same writer's description of the Krylenko Orphanage: ‘The children smoke, call each other names and fight. They have not the slightest respect for the directors, and do not obey their teachers. They remain for months without washing themselves. The rooms are dirty, especially the bathroom, which besides is out of order. The boys have open sexual intercourse with the little girls They do not, and will not work. A great number of the children are cocaine takers. It is not astonishing that the children only seek to fice from this hell ; in fact, in 1924, 270 out of the 287 boarders at the Krylenko left if * Douillet : Op. cit. p. 107. t Tovestia, 25th December, 1924. of Bolshevism y M. Douillet confirms all this in his accounts of State orphanages which he visited. The open and shameless immorality of the boys and girls he saw with his own eyes, and there was no attempt to stop it. He also describes how bands of hooligans, often armed with knives and revolvers, made the streets of the towns at night quite impossible for decent people. But perhaps the best account of the new “ morality” is given by Mme. Smidivich, who wrote thus in Pravda: “Our young people have certain principles in affairs of love. All these principles are governed by the belief that the nearer you approach to extreme and, as it were, animal primitiveness, the more communistic you are. Every Komsomolets, even every member of a labour faculty, whose aim is to raise the intelligence of the working classes, every student, man or girl, considers it as axiomatic that in affairs of love they should impose the least possible restraint upon themselves. A second main proposition in these axioms of love is as follows: ‘Every Komsomolitsa, every Rabfaka,* every woman student, on whom the choice of one of these young men of strong principles has fallen, must obey unquestioningly '.” Of course, abortion is regularly practised, and operations of that kind are performed free of charge in every Soviet hospital.+ LEGISLATIVE AND FINANCIAL PRESSURE An important “ Decree of the All-Russian Executive Committee and the Council of the People’s Commissars respecting Religious Associations ” was published on + Woman student at a labour faculty.” } Decree No, 259 of the Soviet Commissariat of Health and Justice,18 The Anti-God Front 8th April, 1929. A translation of this document was presented to the British Parliament by His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Atticle 13 of the Constitution of. zgth July, 1918, which authorised equally religious propaganda of all religions and anti-religious propaganda, is repealed, Henceforth no religious propaganda is allowed. And this includes every manifestation, public or private, capable of inducing other persons to religious acts, So parents can be punished, if they persuade their children to go to church, or to say their prayers And the children may in that case be withdrawn from their parents, Any priest or minister is liable to imprisonment who exhorts his parishioners to go to church, No Church or géneral religious body is recognised by the Government, but only local associations. No place of worship can remain open unless a committee of at least twenty persons presents a petition and renews it every year. The effect of this is to render the jurisdiction of any hierarchy impossible. It is clearly aimed at making impossible any common bond among the faithful of the same religion, and so at the ultimate disappearance of every organised Church. The committee of a church is responsible for all ‘the expenses of carrying on the worship, and for the payment of exorbitant taxes. As an example of these taxes may be quoted the case of the Cathedral of Rostov on the Don, which had a tax imposed on it of 70,000 roubles, which is about £7,000, The church of All Saints, which is that of a small parish in the same city, had to pay 20,000 roubles, or £2,000. ‘The committee is also responsible for the upkeep of the building and of all the furniture, of which an of Bolshevisyn 19 exact. inventory must be kept. For it must be remembered that these are regarded as national property. So, if anything is damaged, for example if the windows are broken by children (and they are often deliberately incited to break them), they must be instantly replaced. If one of the committee dies or removes, his place must be taken immediately. If there is a day’s delay, the church may be closed. And of course all members of these committees are suspect persons, and are constantly exposed to arbitrary arrests. Churches are closed on every sort of pretext. This can always be done, if there is a “ demand of the workers” for the use of the building for another purpose. All that is necessary is for a group of workers or peasants to sign a petition demanding the use of the building for a club or cinema or other “centre of culture.” They need not even sign personally. The petition of a club of atheists is sufficient, and children may be enrolled in these clubs. ‘The petitioners may be a mere handful of the population. The wishes of the rest are merely ignored. Or their adhesion to the demand may be secured by depriving them of their bread cards or the right to work, if they refuse to sign. ‘An illustration of these methods is found in the testimony of the members of the German colonies who have been obliged to leave Russia. They say that they were arrested and shut up in a narrow enclosure, and told that they would only be set free after they had signed a demand for the closing of the church. ‘They all refused. But at last, about five o'clock in the morning, four of them gave way. They were all set free, Next day they signed a unanimous20 The Anti-God Front protest against the closing, but it was announced that “the men of the village had spontaneously demanded the closing and liquidation of the church.”* Another device is to declare that the church is in need of repairs, and especially that the foundations are unsafe, That means that it must be demolished at the expense of the faithful. And then, when the work is so far advanced that it is no longer recognisable asa chiirch, the discovery is made that the foundations are quite good after all, and the building is adapted to other purposes. Every week the Bezbojnik gives a list of churches closed or transformed into clubs, For example, the issue of r6th January, 1930, says: ““ By desire of the masses of Makeevchina the Cathedral has been closed and transformed into a central house of culture, In the district of Rossochanski the churches of Krasnaya, Sverda, Klioutchi, Kourgan, Protassovo, and Sofisno have been closed. In Krasnaya Svezda the church has been transformed into a cinema ; in Peskij in the district of Nikolaievskij in Ukraine the poor people have decided to transform the church into a school for children of seven. In Dretelye in the same district the peasants have transformed the church into a club, and have given up the bells for industrial purposes.” Eight more churches are named, and about fifty synagogues are mentioned as having been closed and transformed. An official note of rath February, 1930, gives a report of the Commissar of the Interior, Jakimovich, according to which from 1924 to 1929 in-the Ukraine alone 174 churches, r78 synagogues, and 15 other places of worship were closed. Some were destroyed, © D'Herbigny: "La Guovre Antireligieuse,” p. 17 of Bolshevism ar and in the others were installed 20 reading-rooms, 30 schools, 76 study circles, and many Communist clubs, During November and December, 1929, there were closed in Russia 540 Orthodox churches, tr Pro- testant churches, 63 synagogues, and 18 mosques. ‘The total of churches closed in 1929 was 1,200.* Between 15th December, 1929, and 2sth January, 1930, 2,000 more churches were ordered to be closed or demolished.t ‘Another means for the suppression of religion is the abolition of Sunday and the institution of a week of five days, It is always, of course, announced that the “ masses of the people” have demanded it. But these “demands” are obtained in the same way as those for the closing of the churches. Workers or peasants who fail to come to work on Sunday are expelled from the workshops or from their lands, and punished with a fine so heavy that it is equivalent to the complete ruin of the family, PERSECUTION BY THE OGPU Open persecution, with public trials and executions of priests and others, is no longer in favour. It was found merely to stimulate religious zeal. The new watchword is :, “No martyrs, but apostates.” Every effort is made, not merely to detach people from the practice of religion, but to persuade them to public acts of blasphemy and sacrilege. The hope is that they will then think that their sin is too great for forgiveness, and will be driven to despair. And then they must be transformed into active propagandists of anti-religion and atheism. * Daily Mail, 1st February, 1930. . } Ditlerbigny : "La Guerre Antireligieuse” p. 13.22 The Anti-God Front But the arrest, imprisonment and execution of priests and others for religious activities has by no means ceased. In the diocese of Kamenez-Podolsk, towards the end of 1929, the parish priest, Nicholas Stepanik, was sentenced to penal servitude, and his church transformed into a Communist club. In January, 1930, three more priests of the same diocese were imprisoned. In the town of Bogorodsk in the Government of Moscow many citizens who opposed the closing of the churches were imprisoned, and a priest who tried to defend his church was killed. In the same month death sentences were carried out on fifteen of the leaders of a religious movement among the peasants, and others were imprisoned. They are said to have described the Soviet Government as the embodiment of Anti-Christ. Two priests were sen- tenced to death in Kashin in the province of Tver.* At Petrozadovsk two doctors were imprisoned for performing circumcision, a rite which is forbidden, The German socialist paper, Vorwarts, states that among the 247 persons condemned to death in Russia in October and November, 1929, were thirty-three “religious activists.” In February, it was announced that the Lutheran Bishop of Leningrad had been imprisoned in the Solovetsky prison camp, Pastor Hansen and Pastor Muss of Leningrad and their wives were arrested and disappeared.t Practially all the members of the Committee of the Jewish religious community, including three rabbis, were arrested. Other religious teachers were arrested for conducting a Talmudical school. © The Times, sist January, 1930. {The Times, 70h Februaty, 1950 } The Times, Fe February, 1330. of Bolshevism 23 But these are only a few examples, which happen to have been reported in the English newspapers. It is certain that there are many others of which the reports never reach us, for reliable witnesses inform us that in most cases arrests are carried out very quietly. The victims simply disappear. ‘According to Fr. Edmund Walsh, writing in March, 1930, “fifty per cent. of the Catholic clergy of Russia have disappeared since the Revolution, through judicial murder, starvation, exile, or imprison- ment,” The following priests “still remain on Solovetsky Island, undergoing the agony of slow execution”: Mgr. Boleslav Sloskan, Paul Chomicz, Adolph Filip, Vincent Igin, Joseph Iuawik, Casimir Siwicki, Miecislas Szawdinis, John Troigo, John Versocki, Nicholas Alexandrov, Potapi Emilianov, Leonid Feodorov, Caesar Feodorovitch, Victor Krivent- shouk, Basil Styslo, Paul Ascheberg, Joseph Kolch and John Furch, besides many others undergoing a similar agony in distant parts of Siberia, Turkestan, and the Caucasus. “Many of these martyrs and confessors of the faith,” he adds, “I knew personally, and can testify that their only crime is the daily crime of Cardinal Hayes of New York City, of Bishop Manning and of Rabbi, Stephen Wise. They believed in God and taught His revelation and the moral law as God gave them the light to see it.” THE ANTI-CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN, 1929 The Ivestia of 2gth August, 1929, published an article under the heading “Let us intensify the religious struggle.” It complained that sixty per cent. of the parents of Moscow still have their children baptized, and that ninety per cent. of the children are24 The Anti-God Front still influenced by religion. The League of Militant Atheists must therefore work more effectively.“ This passive atheism,” the article continues, “ is particularly intolerable among the workers, and in the ranks of the Red Army. ... We must put an end to this dispersing of our forces on the anti-religious front. Tolerance with regard to religious obscurantism cannot be allowed. Every Bezbojnik must pass from a passive attitude to an active struggle ; activity on the whole front against religion. Village Soviets, co- operative societies, communities of peasants, unions in the factories must show a militant atheism, not only in words but in actions.” ‘This “intensification of the struggle” was seen particularly in the “Anti-Christmas Campaign.” At that season large numbers of churches were closed, as has been already stated. But there were also special features. It was determined to compel everyone to work on Christmas Day. And the Izvestia of 8th January gives triumphant news of successes. A telegram from Lougansk says: " To-day, the first day of Christmas, old style, full work is going on in ‘the workshops. The workers are all at work, a hundred per cent. They have understood the challenge: Whoever does not come to work will have to give an explanation to the whole community.” That, of course, means that whoever does not come to work loses for himself and his family the means of subsistence, since food, work, and lodging are all at the disposal of the State. Another feature was the removal of: the church bells. Reports were published in Izvestia from all sides that the Soviet of this, that or the other place, “on the demand of the workers,” has decided to | of Bolshevism 25 remove all the bells of the town or village, and hand them over to industrial purposes. For example : “ The whole region of Samara wishes to replace the bells with tractors. The peasants of Vassilievsky and Ermanovsky, in the district of Oulianovsky, and those of Arnievky in the district of Kouznievsky, have removed the bells from all the churches, and have given them up to the factories to buy tractors. Five hundred peasants in the district of Stavropol have done the same.” + Then there were bonfires of ikons. For example, Beabojnik of 21st January, wrote: ‘Among the atheists and the members of the League of Militant ‘Atheists of the town of Volokolamsk they are talking of nothing but the destruction of the ikons by fire. During the Holy Night an enormous bonfire lit up the town, ‘The cantonal Soviet of the League of Militant Atheists worked hard to collect all the ikons, ‘A large proportion of these ikons were brought by the owners themselves, the rest were given by the komsomols and the school children, who are carrying on the atheist propaganda in their families and among their believing friends. In the villages round about the same is being done.” For having taken the initiative in the bonfires of ikons the workers in the mines of Gorlovsky were honourably mentioned by all the Soviet Republics. ‘They were reported to have burnt 4,000 ikons in one day. And on this the Velchernaya Moskva, of a7th December, comments as follows: ‘This news which proves the high revolutionary consciousness of the miners of Gorlovsky has been published in all the newspapers. The workers of Gorlovsky have given an example to be followed by all the workers and26 The Anti-God Front peasants in every comer of Soviet Russia,” Details follow of how in one place after another, “ by order of ‘the popular masses,”’ the ikons were burnt in public, There were ‘also special Anti-Christmas Carnivals, One example will suffice, as reported by the Raboichaya Moskva of 24th December, 1929: “The Soviet of Atheists of the South Bank of the Moskva is organising for 6th January a torchlight procession, a grandiose carnival, for the burial of religion. At the head of the procession lorries will carry models of churches, synagogues, mosques, and Christmas trees. All these will be burnt in one of the squares of the town. On the way the procession will collect ikons, Bibles, prayer-books, etc. The terminus of the carnival will be the Culture and Repose Park.” Nor were the children forgotten. The Antiveligioznik of December, 1929, gives the programme to be followed for perverting the children : “It is very necessary to occupy the children during the times of recreation and during the Anti-Christmas and Anti-Easter campaigns, in order to turn away the children from the deleterious influence of, the clergy and the sectaries. The times of recreation must be filled’ with anti-religious thoughts. . . . Games, dances, carnivals, walks, unexpected events, etc.—all must be anti-religious. Everything must be developed, which in any way can give the child an anti-religious consciousness.” There follow detailed suggestions for making the children take part in all kinds of buffoonery miaking fun of religion, . ‘The sale of Christmas trees was forbidden, and on Christmas Eve the OGPU made house to house searches in the villages, and confiscated or destroyed Christmas of Bolshevism 27 dinners, wherever they were found. In the shops of Moscow, instead of the former Christmas displays, there were anti-Christmas displays. For example, one of the largest stores exhibited in its window a gigantic figure of a working man with huge feet kicking downstairs the Christian God, the Jewish God and the ‘Mohammedan God. In 1930, an anti-Easter campaign of a similar kind ‘was carried out. THE WORLD REVOLUTION The Holy Father has urged us to pray for the unhappy Russians, But it must not be forgotten that the Anti-God Campaign threatens ourselves as well as the Russians. It is by no means the intention of the Bolshevik leaders to confine their operations to Russia, Their aim is a “ World Revolution,” and this means the abolition of all religion throughout the world. This is a necessary part of their programme. They realise that the prolonged existence of Communism in Russia alone is impossible. To make it a success the western world must join in. This was clearly explained by Bukharin in Pravda of roth January, 3926, And this means the extension of the anti- religious campaign to all countries. So Stepanov, in his“ Aims and Methods of Anti-Religious Propaganda,” published in 1923 by the Soviet Government, writes : * The anti-religious campaign of the Soviet Government must not be restricted to Russia; it must be carried on throughout the whole world. The war must also be extended to Mussulman and Catholic countries with the same object, and in employing the same methods The only difference consists in the fact that the struggle will be longer in some countries than in others.”28 The Anti-God Front And at the close of the Congress of the League of Godless there was an appeal To all workers, peasants, and red soldiers of the U.SS.R.” “Atheists of all countries,” it says, “ unite, Our movement is not the movement of a narrow sect, but the advance-guard of a mass of many millions of Godless that is to be organised. We are internationalists against God as against Capital.” Again, Lounatcharsky wrote: “ We must know how to hate, for only at this price can we conquer the universe... The anti-religious campaign must not be restricted to Russia; it should be carried on throughout the world.” And this is no mere academic expression of an ideal, for the Bolsheviks have a very efficient organisa- tion, which is carrying on their abominable propaganda in every country of the world. In fact they have three authorities—the Government of the Soviet Republics, the Russian Communist Party and the ‘Third International, otherwise known as Komintern. ‘The Russian Government professes to be quite distinct from the Komintern, but it is well known that they are very closely connected, being both organisations of the Bolshevik Party, having the same ends and methods, and being ruled by the same men. __ How widespread the organisation of the Komintern is may be seen from the following statement of M. Douillet : “At Moscow in tenement No. 2 of the Loubianka, where are the headquarters of the OGPU, on the fifth floor, there is room No. 186. A large detailed map of Europe hangs on the wall of this room. Every country is covered with little numbered flags ; each one corresponds to a region in which an instructor delegated by the OGPU works. I have seen this map | of Bolshevism 29 with my own eyes, and I can judge of the power of this organised network which covers the whole of Europe like a deadly spider’s web. I have seen the registers of the agents and spies who are working, designated by the number on these flags. I have felt a. chill in my heart in seeing with what intensity this network envelopes Europe. There is not a town, and hardly a village, where there is not one of these Communist agents. In each one of these regions a future Cheka already exists secretly. It collects information, multiplies its espionage, undermines the power of the country, draws up blacklists of those who must be dealt with on the great day. This power works without uselessnoise, silently, secretly, destroying | the roots of the existing state of things, It is a real work of ants, who are preparing the way for the dictatorship of blood.”"* In England there are numerowf$ Communist organisations, all either wnder the direction of Komintern or inspired by it. There is not only the Communist Party of Great Britain, which is the British section of Komintern, but the Friends of Soviet Russia, and quite a number of other allied societies. They have numerous publications, daily weekly, monthly, and occasional. And in all these the hostility to religion is manifest. For example, the paper called Russia To-day, recently started by the Friends of Soviet Russia, in its first number glorifies the Red Army, derides religion, and speaks of the world-wide protest against the Russian persecution as “vile propaganda of capitalist newspapers.” The Daily Worker, in its issue of 26th February, 1930, says: “ Our party must take up the offensive against * J. Douillct: op.. cit.30 The Anti-God Front religion at this very moment.” The Red Dawn published a manifesto addressed to young people, which ended with these words : ““ By leaving all myths behind you, in burying Gods and dead Christs, by creating a new world, and in waving the Red Flag you will become a child of life.” , RAYS OF HOPE The picture, which the above facts and quotations from Bolshevik publications show, is dark enough. Fortunately, however, there is a brighter side. In spite of their elaborately organised tyranny, the Bolsheviks are not having everything their own way even in Russia. They have themselves to admit the failure, to a great extent, of their diabolic efforts. They cannot stamp out the religion of the Russian people. In fact there is a growing reaction and increasing refigious zeal, which is showing itself in many ways. A few facts and quotations are enough to prove this. In February, 1930, the official number of atheists for the whole of Russia, including children, was given as 2,500,000—still a very small minority ont of 150 millions. _The Review, Revolution and Culture (No. 7 of 1929), writes: “There are numerous organisations formed by the Orthodox Church and by the sects, who enrol young people under the very nose, so to speak, of the Party and of Komsomol, and we have not yet found the means of fighting against these hostile organisations. . . . According to approximate calcula tions they number more than six millions of members, * of whom about a quarter are young people. So that there are in our country a million and a half of young of Bolshevism 3t people poisoned by an ideology which is hostile to us. It is almost a rival Komsomol. In many working class districts they are zealously building new churches, and sometimes close to the factories. We could mention dozens of examples.” Count W. Kokovtzofi, writing recently in the Reowe des Deux Mondes, states that all the Germans, who have arrived in Germany from Russia, say that faith grows just in proportion as the conditions of life become more tragic. They say that thousands, who were indifferent, have returned to the practice of religion. ... Thousands of priests have been killed or deported, but the Soviet press admits with consternation that others arrive, who know how to speak to the people and who dare to stigmatize the ‘Atheists as impious and ignorant... . They are persecuted, deprived of bread and lodging, forbidden to approach within 30 kilometres of certain towns, but the faithful follow them, and fill the churches in crowds. The Soviets organize atheist teaching in the schools, but the parents continue to teach the children to pray.”* ‘And René Filép-Miller writes: “It is not only the masses, who at first joined the ranks of Bolshevism in the hope of a millenium, and later in their disillusion turned all the more passionately to the old religion ; the majority of the intelligentsia is also flocking back to Orthodoxy. Even young people who have completed their education at the Bolshevik schools and the Red University, who have, that is, been educated entirely in a materialistic spirit, frequently adopt the revived faith in the Church, Just as formerly the * Revue des Deux Mondes, rst February, 1930.32 The Anti-God Front of Bolshevism great emphasis laid on religious teaching in the schools drove the young people to free thinking and atheistic convictions, so now young people who have been educated on materialistic lines are largely turning to religious mysticism. The wholly unsuccessful educa- tional system of the Bolsheviks may one day recoil on itself, for this materialistically drilled younger generation will later produce the most reactionary partisans’ of Orthodoxy.”* The same writer also says that, owing to the chaotic state, to which the Orthodox Church has been reduced, increasing numbers of Russians are turning their eyes hopefully to the Catholic Church. And, although not a Catholic himself, he even suggests that “it might quite easily happen that the propaganda of the Soviet Government against the Church may ultimately bring about the ruin of the Byzantine Church only to replace it by Roman Catholicism."} And so we May well hope that it will be in that way that God will ultimately bring a greater good out of all this appalling evil, and that the Russian people will not only gain freedom for the practice of religion, but will at last be united with us in the one Body of Christ. Meanwhile, however, the persecution goes on, and we must not slacken in the prayer to which the Holy Father urges us. + The Mind and Face of Bolshevism,” p. 257. + Op. cit, p. 25; Published by the Catholic Truth Society Printed in Enelend, Vietorla St, London, S.Wer WK. July, 2930. SELECTED PAMPHLETS PRICE TWOPENCE ON RUSSIA H. 176, The Early Russian Church and the Papacy. By Mgr. H. K, Mann, D.D. H. 177, Bast and West in the Unity of Christ. By Mgr. ‘d'Herbigny, Bishop of Hium. H, 150, Eastern Catholics. By W. L. Scott, K.C. H.189, ‘The Soviet Campaign against God. ‘The Protest of Tis Holiness Pope Pins SL By POPE PIUS XI 8. 99, Christian Education of Youth. Do.111. True Religious Unity. SOCIAL QUESTIONS 'S. 90, Modern Communism. By Kev. Lewis Watt, S.J. S. 79. The Catholic Church and the Principle of Private Property. By Hilaire Belloc. S. 94. Birth Control: Its Medical and Ethical Aspects. By a Doctor and by a Priest S. 93, Purity, By Rev. Bede Jarrett, 0.P. S. 70. ‘The Things that are Caesar's. By Rev. J. Keating. DOCTRINAL Do, 44, Does the Catholic Church Persecute? By Rev. J Keating, S.J Do, 83, Antichrist. By Rev. C. C, Martindale, S.J. 0.105. At Mass. By the same. Do. 70. Words of Life: 2 Handbook of the Gatholic Faith By the same. Do. 73. The Problem of Evil. By Rev. M. C. D'Arcy. R. 41. Tho Existence of God. By Rev. R. F. Clarke. R. 89, Evolution and Gatholicity. By Sir Bertram Windle, M.D, RRS. KS.G, \GRAPHY B, 204, St, Teresa of Lisieux. By Rev. Allan Ross. CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, 72 Victoria St., London, S.W.1