Q:ongrrssional Record United States PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 84th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION of America The SPEAKER. Is there objection to technique. Instead of outright insults to the request of the gentleman from Ten­ the church, Pravda told Communist HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES nessee? propagandists to disguise their insults THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10,1955 There was no objection. with scientific and educational theories. Premier ·Malenkov was taking no The House met at 12 o'clock noon. chances with the type of antireligious The Chaplain, Rev. Bernard Braskamp, RESIGNATION FROM COMMITTEE attacks that took place under Lenin and D. D., offered the following prayer: The SPEAKER laid before the House Stalin, when priests were shot or ar­ God of all grace, as we again unite the following resignation from commit­ rested and church property was confis­ our hearts in the fellowship of prayer, tee: cated. Proving that violence only drove may we be eager and willing to make the FEBRUARY 10, 1955. people to church rather than out of it, a Hon. SAM RAYBURN, 1937 survey by the Union of Militant great adventure of trying sincerely to Speaker, House of Representatives, become the kind of men and women Atheists showed that at least one-third Washington, D. C. of the urban population and two-thirds Thou wouldst have us be. MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: I hereby tender my Wilt Thou give us the wisdom and the resignation as a member of the Merchant of the rural population still clung to re­ desire to trust and cultivate and obey Marine and Fisheries Committee, effective ligion despite the purges. those noble intuitions and instincts immediately. What Moscow Pravda advocated last which Thou hast planted within our Sincerely yours, July was shrewder, more adroit tactics. WALTER M. MUMMA, The campaign was to have a new look souls. Member of Congress. Grant that we may have more of the and a velvet-glove technique and was to spirit of our blessed Lord, whose beauty be placed on a so-called high, scientific of character haunts us and makes us NEW ATHEISTIC DRIVE SWEEPS level. .In this way, the Kremlin hoped to use more subtle measures to take away ashamed of ourselves and fills us, how­ SOVIET ever, with lofty aspirations to be like from the people the belief in God which unto Him. Mr. BOGGS. Mr. Speaker, I ask they refused to give up. May we daily continue to seek and unanimous conEent to address the House Overzealous propagandists, however, follow the ways of righteousness and for 1 minute and to revise and extend deviated from the new party line. Even peace. my remarks. Radio Moscow went so far as to refer to Hear us in the name of the Christ. The SPEAKER. Is there objection to Catholics as "verminous creatures" and Amen. the request of the gentleman from "svoloch"-scum-and all religious rites Louisiana? were subjected to ridicule. The Journal of the proceedings of There was no objection. "Just as cheap alcohol, vodka, dulls Tuesday, February 8, 1955, was read and Mr. BOGGS. Mr. Speaker, the Soviet the mind of individuals, so religion approved. Union today is fighting a battle for weakens and confuses them," said Radio which no weapon of war has yet be~n Moscow. MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE invented. "The Soviet people do not need the aid It is the battle of communism against of miracles and faith in God," chanted A message from the Senate, by Mr. the lesser Estonian network. Carrell, one of its clerks, announced religion-the Kremlin against God. that the Senate had passed without Moscow's war on religion has been go­ And the Soviet children's magazine amendment a bill of the House of the ing on for more than 35 years, but the Pionerskaya Pravda, told its young read~ following title: current crackdown which began last ers: "Belief in God, the church, is a summer has been termed the most in­ legacy of the aged.'' H. R. 587. An act to provide that persons serving in the Armed Forces on January 31, tense and best organized campaign since The Soviet Union turned Leningrad's 1955, may continue to accrue educational 1930. famous Kazanski Cathedral into a shrine benefits under the Veterans' Readjustment The U.S.S.R.'s trump card is propa­ to atheism, and what had been a nation­ Assistance Act of 1952, and for other pur­ ganda, and its ultimate aim, to shatter al religious monument in the days of the poses. the very foundation of every church still Czar now boasts exhibits exposing what The message also announced that the remaining under the Soviet regime. the Communists call the reactionary na­ Senate had passed a joint resolution of Thousands of Communist propagan­ ture of religion. the following title, in which the concur­ dists are spreading the doctrine of athe­ Alarmed over an increase of religion rence of the House is requested: ism from one end of the Soviet Union to among its troops, the Soviet armed serv­ S. J. Res. 14. Joint resolution extending an the other. Communist writers are turn­ ices radio, dema.nded that soldiers be invitation to the International Olympic ing out new atheistic books filled with "convinced that the survival of religion Committee to hold the 1960 Olympic Games scorn against Christian, Jewish, and is humiliating to Soviet citizens, espe­ at Detroit, Mich. other faiths. Publishing houses issue cially to Soviet soldiers." stacks of antireligious pamphlets, and Other broadcasts called religion the Communist agitators are going into the COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS schools, homes, and factories of every enemy of peace and the misfortune of Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I ask town to lecture to people who have no women. Said Radio Lutsk in the unanimous consent that the Committee choice but to listen. Ukraine: on Ways and Means may have until mid­ Moscow's renewed purge on religion Religion has put women in a. subservient night next Monday to file a report on began last July when the Soviet newspa­ position in the family and in society. By viewing her as an inferior creature, unable H. R. 1, and that the same period of per Pravda sounded the keynote for the to act independently, religion offends and time be allowed for the filing of any present campaign. Since the religious humiliates women, harms her intellectual minority, individual, or separate views persecutions and crudities of the past development, and hinders her participation on that bill. had failed, Pravda advocated a different in political and cultural activities. CI--90 1421 1422 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- HOUSE February 10 And Radio Minsk was equally vo· urged by Moscow to wage unrelenting Since the drive was going badly, Soviet ciferous: war against Islam and Moslem practices. leaders began to scold their propa­ Ail religious institutions, and In the first Said Radio Ashkhabad last August: gandists for poor taste. They did so place, the center of the world reactionary With a view to preserving the religious officially on November- 10, when the clergy-the vatican-spare no efforts in poison in the minds of the backward people, Soviet Communist Party Central Com­ order to disguise the social order of slavery, the Moslem clergy call upon the religious mittee issued a decree signed by Party oppression, and imperialist wars. For this people to fulfill the customs in connection Chief Nikita Khrushchev. purpose, catholicism, and all religi?us insti4 with burying the dead, visiting the tombs, The decree stated: tutions abroad are extensively availing them4 and calling the Moslems to prayer. Those selves of prayers, are poisoning the minds of who observe such demands of the Islamic Insulting attacks against believers and the the working people, causing them to lose religion are backward people. clergy can only lead to strengthening and even intensification of religious prejudices confidence in themselves and are diverting In its :_Jropaganda abroad, the Soviet among the people. Instead, patient, well­ them from the struggle for peace, freedom, Union carefully omits any reference to national independence, and democracy. organized scientific athiestic propaganda the Shariat, the Moslem code of laws among the believers will help them finally The outside world listened-and was which governs the ·private life of the free themselves from their religious errors. shocked. The United States ·rnforma- faithful. Today the Shariat no longer At first glance, it looked as though the tion Agency, through its news and exists in the soviet Union. According Kremlin had come up with a new idea in broadcasting . services, reported Mas- to the Soviet political dictionary: "In the present campaign, but to observers cow's latest antireligious activities to its the s. R., now, the Shariat is eradi­ u.s. who have traced the U. s. s. R.'s anti 4 overseas posts which, in turn, relayed the cated.'' religious drives from the beginning, the facts to the people of many countries. Visitors who have penetrated the decree only brought a tighter Soviet grip Obviously, this is not what the Kremlin Soviet screen of misinformation, report on the church and clergy. It again di­ h ad in mind. Abroad, Soviet propa- some interesting facts. Last year, one rected propagandists to employ a more ganda blandly was assuring the world- English clergyman who had recently subtle technique instead of the direct at4 and still does-that peaceful coexistence returned from the U. S. S. R. told his tack, which had failed. And it reem4 of communism and religion is entirely congregation that only 45 out of Mas­ phasized that atheism might be achieved possible and that all .peoples of the cow's 1,600 churches were still in opera­ more quickly through a shrewder cam4 U.