‘No Change in our Party Policy Towards Religion’: Party Reaction to Orthodox Challenges in 1946–1948 (on the Materials of the Molotov Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b))

Abstract

The article is focused on reconstructing political anti-religious practices at the regional level in 1946–1948 on the basis of archival and media sources. The object of the study is the activity of the Molotov Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. The article tests the hypothesis according to which the Russian Orthodox Church was considered in the party authorities as an ideological and political opponent —  a breeding ground for hostile ideology, and in the future as a gathering point for anti-Soviet elements. The key task of the regional committee was to discipline party members and suppress ‘conciliatory’ sentiments towards Orthodox religion and the church. Party documents show the disorientation and confusion of party members from the twists and turns of state-confessional policy and the lack of clear instructions from the centre. During this period, the directive role was transferred to the level of the regional organisation. They were charged with the duty to ‘severely punish’ communists who performed religious practices, as well as with the deployment of anti-religious propaganda. Close co-operation between the regional party committee and the office of the regional representative of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church was found.