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The Soviet Communist Party, with help of the secret police, attempted to completely eliminate religion from Soviet society by, in part, imprisoning believers and attempting to "re-educate" them in the labor camps of the infamous Gulag.
Finding God in the Gulag tells the story of how imprisoned Christians nevertheless found ways to pray, read scripture, sing hymns, celebrate Easter, and commune with their fellow believers.
List of contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Section I: The Early Soviet Era, 1917-1929
- 1. Separating Church and State in Bolshevik Prisons
- 2. The Spiritual Life of Solovki
- Section II: The Stalin Era, 1929-1953
- 3. The War against Religion in the Gulag
- 4. Belief and Disbelief from the Great Terror to Stalin's Death
- 5. Western Worshippers and Gulag Gangsters
- Section III: The Post-Stalin Era, 1953-1991
- 6. Khrushchev's Reforms and the Camp for Sectarians
- 7. Religious Dissidents under Brezhnev
- 8. Christianity as a Re-educational Program
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Jeffrey S. Hardy is Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University. He is the author of
The Gulag After Stalin: Redefining Punishment in the Post-Stalin Soviet Union, 1953-1964 and
The Soviet Gulag: History and Memory.
Summary
A core tenet of the Soviet Communist Party's ideology was the belief that religion was an oppressive tool, wielded by the exploiting classes. With help of the secret police, they attempted to eliminate it completely from Soviet society by, in part, imprisoning believers and attempting to "re-educate" them in the labor camps of the infamous Gulag. However, the aims of the Gulag were conflicted, and anti-religious activities were rarely prioritized. In their absence, religious practices became important to inmates and played integral roles in their lives. Imprisoned Christians found ways to pray, read scripture, sing hymns, celebrate Easter, and commune with their fellow believers.
Finding God in the Gulag tells the story of how these inmates saw their suffering as part of God's will or as a sign of the coming Apocalypse. The struggle between good and evil felt real to many, although for some, the dire struggle to survive the brutalizing world of Soviet labor camps prompted doubt, despair, and ultimately the abandonment of their beliefs. Many were also converted in the camps through the proselytizing efforts of fellow prisoners, finding in Christianity a source of hope, comfort, and community.
This tension between atheism, faith, repression, doubt, and conversion endured throughout the Soviet Union's existence. Remarkably, in the last years of Soviet power, Christianity flourished in the remnants of the Gulag system and was even used by guards as a method of re-educating their inmates.
