The Connecticut labor news., 1923-04-13
And So They Shoot Them
"If Religion Doesn't Defend Communism, We'll
 Kill the Priests," Is Soviet Doctrine.


By WILLIAM EN( Tn my opinion there has been no persecution of reigion."- Senator William E. Borah, in his speech for the recognition of the Russian Soviets in the United States Senate.
 Since the killing of Father Butch kavitch, the Catholic Vicar General l by the Soviets-in spite of the pro- tests of civilized mankind-the cor
 respondents have forwarded to America considerable amount o1 matter on the current persecution o1 religion by the Soviet distators. This material is not new The newspapers
 have printed during the last fou1 years enough items from Soviet pub l lications and the speeches of Soviet dealers to fill volumes.
 l Observe this:
 l Any attempt to realize the posi- ton of the fact that the Communist party is openly and avowedly anti religious No member of the party can take part in religious exercises and any member who marries in church or has his children baptized is expelled.
 "The Greek church, seven years ago, the richest and numerically strongest Christian national church, now stands with it's power gone, it's riches vanished, deprived of the own ership of it's old buildings and with it's ecclesiastical machinery taken over by the malcontents.
 "A1l forms of religion are suD- jected to the same treatment. In practice, however, Christians and Jews are chiefly affected The cor respondent cannot discover that Mohammedan mosques have been seized or that Mohammedan educa- ton of children has been stopped. No religious practices are allowed in the schools or in public institutions such as orphanages or hospitals. Sun day schools are illegal except for persons more than IS years of age.
 "The Communist government re- gards religion as the main force be- hind reaction. n."-Moscow dispatch of F. A. Mackenzie in the Chicago Daily News and the pro-Soviet New York Globe
 What Soviet Thinks of All Religion.
 Another Moscow correspondent, cabling to the Chicago Tribune, says:
 'Chief1y concerned in the move ment is the League of Communist Youth, which Lenin, Trotzky and Bukharin have called the hope of the world The members are largely university and upper school students and they held their first large anti religious demonstrations last Christ mas.
 ''Rut what is really back of the situation? Probably the best answer is given by MT. Bukharin, editor of the Pravda, who, taking Karl Marx s axiom, Religion is the opium of the people, explains further:
 The Communist who rejects the commandments of religion ceases to be one of the faithful, and on the other hand any one calling himself Communist who continues to cling to religious tenets ceases thereby to be Communist
 "Such are the tenets of the Com nunist Party, which is, an interna- tional party with branches through out the world, including America. These necessarily are the tenets of any national joining the Communist Party. While race, color or nation ality will not bar any one from par ticipating in the Russian Government, religion is a different matter. That is why Trotzky and other leaders ire quently ask for a house cleaning whereby those protesting comnun- ism, but through their action betray ing some religion or other, are ex- pelled.'
 From Friday, March 30, to Mon day, April ?, the Soviets vigorously censored or delayed all dispatches in the hope that the agitation over the killing of Butchkavitch would blow over But the only result was that the correspondents. managed to