A Practice Against Islam in the Soviet Kazakhstan: The League of Militant Atheists

Abstract

AbstractIn our study, the history of anti-Islamic politics in Soviet Kazakhstan at 1928-1940 was given.Although secular reforms started to be implemented after the establishment of the Soviet Union,Muslims did not experience any problems in the first ten years. The soft policy of the Soviets, whowanted to gain the support of Muslims in the Turkistan region, was effective in this. Although theSoviet Constitution gives the individual freedom of belief, the Communist Party saw “religion” assomething that should be destroyed. In the middle of the 1920s, the League of Militant Atheists, ananti-religious organization, was established in the country and an anti-Islamic propaganda started.The organization, which was supported by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, started topublish several anti-religious magazines and newspapers. With the new policy pursued, de factointerventions against religion increased in the mid-1930s. Most of the places of worship were illegallyclosed, Muslim clergy were oppressed, even sent to camps, and an anti-religious museum wasopened. After the Second World War began, the religious policy of the Soviet government changed.In our study, the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Presidential Archive ofthe Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as archive documents published in Russia were used as sources.Keywords: Soviet Union, The League of Militant Atheists, Islam in Turkistan, Muslims in SovietKazakhstan, Oppression Against Religion