Soviet Union

Soviet Union
Historical country
National Convention of the Bahá'ís of the Soviet Union, December 1990.
Location of the Soviet Union (1953)
National Assembly		Soviet Union
History: Firsts
-	National Assembly	1991
-	National Convention	1990
Related media
Categories: Soviet Union • People

The Soviet Union, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a political federation of republics that existed from 1917 to 1991. The Soviet Union spanned the continents of Europe and Asia from the Baltic and Black Seas to the Pacific Ocean, roughly corresponding to the territory of the former Russian Empire. For most of its history, the USSR was comprised of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) corresponding to the modern-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Bahá'ís had lived in the Russian Empire for many years prior to the creation of the Soviet Union in 1917, with major centres existing in the Caucasus (Baku), Turkestan (Ashkhabad), and European Russia (Moscow).

Initially spared from significant difficulties following the Bolshevik Revolution that created the USSR, state-sponsored persecution against the Bahá'ís began in earnest in 1928, culminating in the banning of Bahá'í meetings, the dissolution of Spiritual Assemblies, the expropriation of the House of Worship in Ashkhabad, the exile of prominent Bahá'ís to gulags in Siberia, and the deportation of many Persian Bahá'ís to Iran. By 1938, the activities of the Bahá’í community had ground to a halt. Only a handful of groups remained across the USSR, with some isolated individuals scattered across the Union. Bahá'ís were noted as living in "no more than five" Soviet Republics by 1953: the Azerbaijan, Armenian, Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek SSRs.

Some limited expansion took place during the Ten Year Crusade, when additional Bahá'ís arrived in the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Tajik Republics. After slow progress through the 1960s and early 1970s, the late 1970s saw a new phase of growth, beginning with the Byelorussian SSR welcoming its first pioneer, which was followed by the first Bahá'í wedding recorded in the USSR. A wave of new pioneers arrived in Moscow and a number of other cities across the Union. Finally, with the openness brought by the new government policy of glasnost, organized groups began to enter in the late 1980s, introducing Soviet citizens to the Bahá'í Faith on a large scale and sparking rapid growth. In February 1990, the Soviet Union's first Bahá'í conference in 60 years took place, gathering followers from 35 different centres; at Ridvan that year, Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Moscow, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Kiev, and Tallinn, joining the Ashkhabad Assembly which had reformed the previous year. The following year, enough centres had been established to elect the first—and last—National Spiritual Assembly of the Soviet Union, shortly before the Union's dissolution on December 31, 1991. Five National Spiritual Assemblies were formed in 1992, including an independent Assembly in Azerbaijan and four joint Assemblies which were gradually replaced by independent Assemblies for the rest of the former Soviet Republics.

Early years

Between revolution and persecution (1917-1928)

Bahá’ís of Moscow in the 1920s.

Although Bolshevik authorities had passed harsh anti-religious laws soon after the revolution, Bahá’ís discovered that they had been left mostly free, and were allowed to worship, teach the Bahá’í Faith and conduct community activities. Indeed, official accounts printed in Bahá’í World indicated that the Bahá’ís had been "recognized by the government and their religious meetings so far tolerated". Even Lenin himself was believed to be impressed by the Bahá’ís; Mary Hanford Ford related a story claiming that Lenin, having previously threatened to destroy the House of Worship in Ashkhabad, relented when he "discovered how completely it was used and loved by the whole city". Many Bahá’í accounts attributed this freedom to the Bahá’í prohibition on partisan political activity. For instance, a report by Charles Mason Remey on the House of Worship in Ashkhabad reported that "it is understood that [Bahá’ís] are obedient servants of the government and harbor no sedition against the law of the land". On the other hand, several sources indicate that Bahá’ís were initially ignored due to their small numbers. Hassall (1993) argues that the initial brunt of anti-religious laws was borne more by the wealthy Orthodox and Catholic churches than by smaller, less significant groups like the Bahá’ís, while also suggesting that the Bahá’í Faith's connections to Islám may have spared it from greater persecution at the outset.

Russian Turkestan

Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad.

The Bahá’í population of the Central Asian republics of the former Russian Turkistan, centred at Ashkhabad, was reported to number in the "thousands of active workers", with activities being administered with "a high degree of perfection through well-organized committees". Many of these activities concentrated on the education of women; seminars, music classes, literacy classes, and courses for the study of Russian and Esperanto were offered. In addition to the continued upkeep of the House of Worship in Ashkhabad, which was noted as a "potent factor in the promotion of the Cause", the community there had begun publishing a monthly magazine in 1917 (Sun of the East, or Khurshíd-i-Khávar) and possessed a printing press "entirely devoted to the publication of Bahá’í literature". In 1918 a Bahá’í Youth League was formed and a large reference library and reading room established; two kindergartens had also been formed by that time, adding to the boys' and girls' schools that already existed around the House of Worship. The Local Spiritual Assembly in Ashkhabad was recognized by the government in 1920; at the time, regular introductory gatherings about the Faith were held, and the various dependencies that surrounded the House of Worship—including the schools, a medical clinic, and a travellers' hospice—were operating at full capacity.

Although some restrictions still applied—such as the Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad being prohibited from carrying Bahá’í works in their library—collective activities were officially tolerated, and Bahá’ís continued striving to forge good relations with the Soviet government, with a Bahá’í representative from Ashkhabad presenting a statement on "the objects and purposes of the Bahá’í Cause" in later years. When a Bahá’í was murdered by a "fanatic" in the city of Marv, the culprit was apprehended and severely punished.

European Russia, the Caucasus, and the Far East

A Baha'i character-building class in Baku in 1926.

In the relative peace enjoyed by the Bahá’ís during these initial years, the Bahá’í communities of Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg) formed Local Spiritual Assemblies, and several smaller communities arose in towns where teaching was taking place, such as Oryol (Russian: Орёл, some 368 km south of Moscow). A regional administrative institution for the Bahá’ís of the Caucasus was established in 1925 following the growth of the Faith in that area.

Increasing opposition

Despite many positive developments during this period, the pressures against religious communities—including the Bahá’ís—eventually intensified. Hassall (1993) suggests that the Bolsheviks, having emerged victorious from the Russian Civil War in 1923 and having consolidated their rule, felt that "the need for tolerance had passed". They turned to the task of constraining the influence of Islám—along with the Bahá’í Faith, which was seen as residing in its sphere. Moreover, some of the Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad were quite wealthy—thus making them targets of communist class struggle.

Apart from these reasons, Kolarz (1961) suggests another reason for the rising hostility to the Bahá’ís during this time. The vitality and progressiveness of its community not only contradicted communist beliefs about the "backwardness" of religion, but also appeared to rival the communists:

“ Bahá'í beliefs, suggests Kolarz, contradict the communist thesis about the backwardness of religion: its adherents were broadminded, tolerant, and international in outlook. For these reasons, he suggests, the Bahá'í religion "attracted the attention of the Soviet communists to a much greater degree than might be warranted by the numerical strength of its supporters." ” — Hassall (1993), paraphrasing Kolarz

“ ...during the first years of the Soviet régime [the Bahá'í Faith] seemed to prosper. A Bahá'í youth organisation which the communists nicknamed 'Bekhamol' was set up in Ashkhabad. On account of its extensive cultural activities and supra-national tendencies it was a serious competitor of the Komsomol [the communist youth league]. ” — Kolarz, quoted in Hassall (1993)

Momen (1991) suggests that Soviet authorities initially felt confident that debate and polemic would suffice to convince citizens to abandon religion. As early as 1922, Bahá’ís were attacked in the government press, with the claim that "the Bahá’ís were turning the thoughts of the Russian youth from Bolshevism to their own religion and beliefs (and) consequently their efforts should be stopped". Nevertheless, the Bahá’ís defended themselves vigorously. At separate occasions in 1921 and 1925, government-sponsored speakers stopped in Ashkhabad, holding public audiences to denounce religion; on both occasions, Siyyid Mahdi Gulpaygani came forward in the defense of religion as a phenomenon, and the Bahá’í Faith in particular. Reports of these meetings circulated in the national press, which resulted in wider knowledge of the Faith and further conversions.

The year 1926 was noted as "the beginning" of intensified pressure against the Bahá’ís of the Soviet Union, and Bahá’í meetings and activities fell under increased scrutiny. A Bahá’í visiting Moscow to give a public lecture in that year was arrested. A newly-purchased printing press used for the publication of Bahá’í materials, previously installed with government permission, was confiscated; when the Bahá’ís informed the authorities and inquired as to the cause, they received no answer.

Persecution and dispersal (1928-1938)

By 1928, there were extensive moves against all the Bahá’í communities in the Soviet Union. Meetings were disrupted by the authorities, attendees were arrested and interrogated, books and other materials were confiscated, and correspondence was censored. Careful scrutiny by Soviet authorities failed to reveal any subversive or political activity; despite this, official restrictions continued. On one occasion, guests at a meeting in a Bahá’í home were arrested and sentenced to four years' imprisonment and exile. On another, a Bahá’í was imprisoned for seven months, during which his land and property were confiscated, along with $50,000; he was finally deported to Persia with his wife and children. The Bahá’í communities made many representations to the government against these and subsequent persecutions, but these were of no avail.

Baha'is of Ashkhabad, recently released from prison, about to enter the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar prior to their exile to Persia.

Eventually, Bahá’í institutions came under direct attack. After the election of Bahá’í local councils in the Caucasus in April 1928, authorities abrogated their constitutions and eventually imposed new ones that dissolved all Bahá’í committees and put into place harsher restrictions, including the submission of minutes from all Bahá’í meetings, and banning Bahá’í children under 18 years of age from being instructed in their religion. The entire membership of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Ashkhabad was arrested in 1929, along with several more prominent Bahá’ís. After being detained for some time, they were eventually deported to Persia.

The Bahá’í schools for girls and boys were confiscated, with Bahá’í teachers being dismissed and replaced with teachers inimical to the Faith. Eventually, the schools were moved away from the House of Worship, so that students would no longer have easy access to it. Campaigns of harrassment were carried out against Bahá'í students in Russian schools and universities, and restrictions imposed on them; some were expelled, and others deported to Persia. Among these was Hand of the Cause 'Alí-Akbar Furútan, who was exiled in 1930, and many more from Leningrad, Tashkent, Moscow and elsewhere. Throughout this time, Bahá’ís continued to eschew any forms of political activity or agitation and continued to appeal to legal authorities for the restoration of their rights.

Publications appeared attacking the Bahá’í Faith, such as Bekhaizm: Novaia Religiia Vostoka (I. Darov, 1930, Leningrad: Priboi); and Bekhaizm (A. Arsharuni, 1930, Moscow: Bezbozhnik). The Small Soviet Encyclopaedia published in 1933 denounced the Bahá’í Faith for camouflaging itself as "socialism" and stated that it was one of the "fashionable religious philosophical systems which the bourgeoisie uses in its fight against the ideas of Socialism and Communism".

New restrictions and methods of persecution were applied successively over time. In 1937, authorities began refusing to renew residence permits for the Bahá’ís. Having received guidance from Shoghi Effendi that it would be inadvisable to return to Persia, Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad appealed the government's decision, sending a petition citing persecution in Persia and declaring their readiness "to move to any place deemed advisable by the Russian government". As they awaited an official reply, the government began to dismiss Bahá’ís from their jobs—most of which had become government jobs. By the end of January 1938, very few of the Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad remained employed.

In 1938, numerous Bahá’ís were arrested and some of the Bahá’ís from Ashkhabad and other areas of Central Asia and the Caucasus were exiled to various locations within the Soviet Union, including Siberia and elsewhere. All communal Bahá’í activity in the Soviet Union ceased from this date, although many of those remaining at home or in exile continued to hold firm in their faith.

Isolation

Years of Silence (1938-1953)

Visitors view works of art in the former Baha'i House of Worship in Ashkhabad, Turkmen SSR.

Throughout the years that followed, the few remaining Bahá’ís in the Soviet Union were isolated from the rest of the Bahá’í world, and further waves of persecutions and imprisonments occurred. The Baha'i House of Worship in Ashkhabad, the first in the world to be raised, was expropriated and converted into an art gallery. The building would later be damaged in a large earthquake in 1948, and degradation due to poor maintenance led to its destruction in 1963.

Many of the Bahá’ís who were exiled in 1938 were sent to work in savkhozes (collective farms) in Siberia, and of these many died due to the harsh conditions, including the cold weather and malnutrition due to famine. Following World War II, some left and made their way to Iran, others moved to Turkmenistan, and still others remained in Siberia, marrying there and becoming naturalized.

Ten Year Crusade and following Plans (1953-1979)

Shoghi Effendi made the opening of all of the Soviet Republics in Asia (notably the Uzbek, Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Tajik Republics) a goal of the Ten Year Crusade, but no Knights of Bahá’u’lláh were named for these areas as it was found that there were already Bahá’ís living there. Some limited expansion took place during the Ten Year Crusade, when additional Bahá'ís arrived in the Kazakh, Kirghiz, and Tajik Republics. The German Bahá’ís were given the responsibility of trying to strengthen the Bahá’í community in Russia in 1963. Two German Bahá’ís became Knights of Bahá’u’lláh for opening up Soviet republics: Ms Annemarie Krüger for Moldavia and Mr Helmuth Winkelbach for Bielorussia. During the 1960s and 1970s, a small number of Bahá’ís visited the Soviet Union as tourists but no attempt was made to teach the Bahá’í Faith. Mr. Bakhadin Orudzhev of Baku lived in Moscow from 1973 and isolated Bahá’ís were reported in Penza and in a town near Leningrad, but there is little information about such individuals. Although there were occasional Bahá’í visitors to Russia such as Lorol Schopflocher and Muzaffar Namdar, they did not attempt to contact the Bahá’ís there.

Reawakening

Seven Year Plan (1979-1986)

From 1979 onward, a small number of Bahá’í pioneers managed to settle in Russia. Paul Semenoff and his cousin Kathryn Soloveoff, two Canadian Bahá’ís of Doukhobor origin, arrived in Ivanovo to study Russian on 21 August 1979. Soloveoff had to return after four months because of her mother's illness but Semenoff stayed until 1981. At about the end of 1981, Mr. Muhammad Nur at-Tayyib from Sudan came to Leningrad, where he remained until 1988. Mr. Leif Hjierpe of Sweden lived in Moscow in 1980-81. In 1982, Richard and Corinne Hainsworth from the United Kingdom settled in Moscow.

The first Russian to become a Bahá’í in this new phase of growth was Ms Katya Zalenskaya in Leningrad in 1982. Anna Skrebtsova became a Bahá’í in Moscow in 1984. In July 1989, Bahá’ís took part in a Peace Camp at Murmansk resulting in five new Bahá’ís. Among others who became Bahá’ís in that early period were Stanislav Koncebovski, who was the first to translate Bahá’í books into Russian in recent times, and author and educator Maria Skrebtsova.

Glasnost: Early Six Year Plan (1986-1989)

With the openness brought by the new government policy of glasnost, pioneers began to enter the Soviet Union in greater numbers. In 1986 - 1987 resp. 1988 Friedo and Shole Zölzer and Karen Reitz from Germany also came to stay in Leningrad. The Bahá’ís of Moscow were joined by Andrew Bromfield and Vivienne Bogan from Ireland who remained from 1987 to 1993. New enrollments during this period included Dr. Natalya Konstantinova Belisheva in Leningrad in September 1987; and Mrs. Irina Skladnova of Novgorod in 1987. Mr. Zaffarullah Nassim, a Bahá’í from Sri Lanka, opened the city of Krasnodar to the Bahá’í Faith in 1987, and was joined by Mr. Fondem from Ghana in 1989. By the end of 1989, there were already dozens of Bahá’ís in Moscow and Leningrad, over twenty in Murmansk as well as isolated Bahá’ís in Krasnodar, Petrozavodsk and some other cities.

A major event in the Bahá’í opening of the Soviet Union at that time was the International Meeting of Esperantists which took place near the city of Minsk in March 1989. Like in many other lands of Eastern Europe, Esperanto played an eminent role in the dissemination of Bahá’í ideas in the USSR. During this meeting a public lecture about the Bahá’í Religion was delivered by Bernhard Westerhoff of Germany, which was the first open public presentation since the era of open proscription. The majority of the audience present at this lecture became Bahá’ís; if not immediately, then over many years.

Final years of the USSR (1990-1992)

Tour groups and pioneers

Abbas Katirai and his son Foad at the market in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

During the final years of the Soviet Union, much of the growth of the Faith was the result of organized groups of Bahá’ís from Europe, North America, Japan, India, and elsewhere coming to Russia for periods of a few weeks. These groups introduced Soviet citizens to the Bahá'í Faith on a large scale, sparking rapid growth. The first such group, Marion Jack I, came from Hawaii in December 1989 and resulted in five new Bahá’ís in Kazan.

Since 1987, Lynda Godwin had been leading tours organized by the Center for US/USSR Intitiatives. These groups would often have a few Bahá’ís in them. On 1 January 1990, a public meeting on the Bahá’í Faith was organized in St. Petersburg in the course of one such tour. Between February and April 1990, the South American Bahá’í musical group El Viento Canta toured Russia, leading to the emergence of strong Bahá’í groups in Ulan-Ude and Severobaikalsk in Siberia. Many more organized groups came throughout 1990-1992, some staying in one place and others traveling to various centers. In 1990, the Soviet American Cooperation Society was set up in the United States (by Lynda Godwin and Bill Mahoney) and NetEast was set up in Canada to facilitate the flow of Bahá’í visitors from North America. There were also groups drawn from all of the European countries and organized by the German Bahá’ís.

Individuals continued to arise as pioneers to various centres in the Soviet Union. Riaz Rafat from Norway pioneered to Moscow in February 1990, but the nascent Local Spiritual Assembly of Moscow decided to send him further along to support the small group of newly declared Baha'is in Kiev, Ukraine; he moved there in June 1990. In March 1990, Abbas and Rezvanieh Katirai from Japan became the last Knights of Bahá’u’lláh to be named when they pioneered to Sakhalin Island.

Of particular note have been native Bahá’ís from North America and Greenland who went to the native populations of eastern Siberia. A numerous Bahá’í group emerged on the island of Sakhalin where it had at that time hundreds of members. Audrie and Johnny Reynolds pioneered to Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy, (on the Kamchatka Peninsula), and established Bahá’í groups among the indigenous tribes on the peninsula.

Development of institutions

Representatives of 35 communities gather at the first national Baha'i conference of the Soviet Union, February 1990.

In February 1990, the first conference of the Baha'is of the Soviet Union was held in Moscow with representatives of thirty-five Baha'i communities present, twenty-three of these being in Russia itself. There were now over three hundred Baha'is in Russia. By September 1991, there were some eight hundred Baha'is in twenty-three local assembly areas and some thirty-eight other localities.

In April 1990, the Hand of the Cause Mr. Furutan traveled to Russia and was present at the election of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Moscow at Ridván 1990. Further local assemblies were formed later that same year in Ulan-Ude (August), Kazan and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (September), and Leningrad and Murmansk (October). On 8 December-9 December 1990, the first National Convention of the Bahá’ís of the Soviet Union was held in Moscow with representatives of thirty-five Bahá’í communities present, twenty-three of these being in Russia itself. At that time, there were over three hundred Bahá’ís in Russia; by September 1991, there were some eight hundred Bahá’ís in twenty-three Local Spiritual Assembly areas and some thirty-eight other localities.

In April 1991, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Soviet Union was formed at a convention held in Moscow. This newborn institution existed for only a short time, however, due to the rapid political changes occurring in the country. On December 31, 1991, the Soviet Union legally ceased to exist. By Ridván 1992, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Soviet Union was replaced by four new assemblies: The National Spiritual Assemblies of Russia, Georgia, and Armenia; Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova; the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania); and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). As of 1999, most of these regional Assemblies had been dissolved, with each nation forming its own National Spiritual Assembly.