USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1987)
| Mass repression in the Soviet Union |
|---|
| Economic repression |
| Political repression |
| Ideological repression |
| Ethnic repression |
A new and more aggressive phase of anti-religious persecution in the Soviet Union began in the mid-1970s after a more tolerant period following Nikita Khrushchev's downfall in 1964.
Yuri Andropov headed the campaign in the 1970s when it began to rise.
This new persecution was following upon the 1975 amendments to the 1929 anti-religious legislation and the 25th Party Congress. The Central Committee resolution in 1979 would play a key role in this period as well. The intensification of anti-religious activities had continued since the early 1970s; between 1971 and 1975 over 30 doctoral and 400 magisterial dissertations were defended on the subjects of atheism and criticism of religion. In 1974 there was a conference in Leningrad dedicated to 'The Topical Problems of the History of Religion and Atheism in the Light of Marxist–Leninist Scholarship'.
This persecution, like other anti-religious campaigns in the USSR's history, was used as a tool to eliminate religion in order to create the ideal atheist society that Marxism–Leninism had as a goal.