p In the Soviet Union the Church is separated from the state and the school from the Church. This means that the Church has no right to interfere in state affairs and influence the content and organisation of education. On the 385 other hand, the state does not interfere in the performance of religious rites.

p The Communist Party, however, has never regarded religion as the private affair of’its members. We demand, Lenin wrote, that religion be a private affair with regard to the state, but we can in no way consider religion a private affair with regard to our own party. The Communist Party constantly urges its members to combat every kind of spiritual oppression, including religion. Moreover, it ties up the struggle against religion with the general tasks of the proletariat’s struggle for socialism and communism. It considers that the main requisite for the withering away of religion is to eliminate its class roots, namely, capitalist society with its exploitation and oppression of the people.

p The victory of socialism and abolition of the exploiting classes in the USSR tore out the social roots of religion. The spontaneous character of capitalism’s development which instilled fear and uncertainty of the future in the hearts of the working people gave way to the planned administration of society on the basis of cognised laws. The cultural level of the Soviet people, their political consciousness and activity rose. As a result, the overwhelming majority of the Soviet people parted ways with religion and now firmly adhere to a scientific world outlook.

p Nevertheless, under socialism, too, there are. people who are imbued with religious views. Belief in God, in life in the next world distracts people from solving the grandiose tasks of communist reorganisation of society and prevents the believers from actively participating in public affairs. Religious rites, superstitions, quackery, etc., seriously impair the health of the believers. Very often the observance of religious holidays in villages prevents the timely performance of field work and thus causes harm to the economy. Religious morality which preaches non-resistance to evil blunts the class awareness of the believers and their vigilance. That is why the CPSU attaches great attention to scientifically conducted atheistic education as part of communist education.

p The aim of science-based atheistic propaganda is to spread scientific, materialist knowledge in the masses and emancipate believers from the influence of religious prejudices. At the same time the struggle against religious 386 prejudices is regarded as a consistent struggle of the scientific, materialist world outlook against the anti-scientific religious world outlook. This process is conducted from positions of dialectical materialism, on the basis of the achievements in natural science and socio-historical practice.

Religious survivals will gradually wither away with the aid of properly organised atheistic upbringing in the family and in the school, systematic scientific, atheistic propaganda and a constant rise in the material and cultural level of the people, their consciousness and activity in building communism.