SOLIDARITY OF THE WORKING PEOPLE OR FIDELITY TO THE CHURCH? ON THE QUESTION OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT OF EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS OF THE ENTITIES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN 1917 – EARLY 1918

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the spread of socialist ideas among the workers and employees of the entities of the Orthodox Church after February 1917. The sources indicate that workers and employees begun actively build their professional committees in the spring of 1917, which became parts of the larger trade unions of workers of other departments. Of course, this conflicted with the principle of fidelity to the church and it harmed its interests. The Bolsheviks used these sentiments of the workers and employees of the entities of the Orthodox Church skillfully at the end of 1917 – early 1918 to carry out their antichurch policy. The article is based on a number of previously unpublished and unknown to researchers archival sources.