The Clergy of the Kharkiv Region at the Outset of Collectivization (Second Half of 1929 – End of 1930)

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the situation of the clergy of the Kharkiv region in the initial phases of the forced collectivization of agriculture. The analysis is based primarily on archival sources, many of which are introduced for the first time, as well periodicals, published thematic collections of documents, and academic literature on the subject. An overview of the historiography leads the author to argue that this subject has been insufficiently and superficially studied, and a more thorough engagement with it is overdue. The paper discusses the anti-religious and anti-church policy of the Bolshevik state, targeting all denominations and aimed at sharply weakening the influence of religion and ecclesiastical institutions in society during the forced total collectivization. The legal status of clergy and religious communities in these new conditions is analyzed. The methods used by the Bolshevik authorities to achieve the goal set by the Communist Party leadership are considered, including a sharp increase in repressions against clergy, arrests, dekulakization, exile to remote (northern and eastern) regions of the Soviet state, imprisonment in concentration camps, intimidation, abuse of clergy, prohibition (or obstruction) of religious rites, administrative closure of churches and houses of prayer, the so-called “labor mobilizations” of clerics, active use of punitive taxation to economically stifle clergy, a sharp increase in mandatory insurance payments imposed on churches and houses of prayer, exclusion of clerics from any possibility of receiving social assistance from the state and their discrimination on “class grounds”, and more. The paper also sheds light on the varied forms of protest and resistance by the clergy and believers of the Kharkiv region against the anti-church policy of the Bolsheviks in rural areas and on the repressions against clerics.