Eastern European Baptist History: New Perspectives, 2007

arst- venno-tserkovnye otnosheniia v SSSR v 1939-1964 godakh (Moscow: Krutitskoe Patriarshee Podvore, 1999), p. 94. 101 Socialist Ideas among Latvian Baptists in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Valdis Téraudkalns Introduction ear agaiea along with the greyness of Soviet everyday life, is still alive in the memories of many people in post-socialist countries, creating a large, seemingly irreconcilable mental gap between the terms socialism and Christianity. In addition to tragedies such as deportation and execu- tion, which occurred in almost every family, people in Eastern Europe must also face such issues as collaboration with the previous regime.' Certain high-ranking members of the Orthodox and Lutheran clergy are better known for their attempts to “christianise” the communist ideology than are those from the free-church tradition. However, there were also instances in which Baptist pastors tried to glorify Marxism-Leninism. For example, in the files of the plenipotentiary of the Council for Religious Affairs in Soviet Latvia, a handwritten manuscript has been preserved entitled “Communism evaluated by God, the Bible and Christ's Church’, written by Latvian Baptist pastor Augusts Krauze.* This document states ' Uncritical collaboration of Baptists with the ruling regime is not restricted to the Soviet period. During the authoritarian regime of Karlis Ulmanis (1934-1940), some Latvian Bap- tists, following the state ideology, glorified Ulmanis. For example, a poem written by Alfreds Ludvigs begins: “Oh, glorious Ruler, you are as father to us. We are glad that we are your children”. A. Ludvigs, “Tautas Vadonim’, Kristigd Balss, no. 22 (1939), p. 429. ? Augusts Krauze was assistant to the bishop from 1965 to 1972. Baptist historian Janis Tervits writes in a diplomatic manner, “It was undeniable that he had the ability to find a positive compromise in relations of churches and clergy with Senior Presbyter Nikolay 102 that “true believers cannot be enemies of communism’,’ and claims that God had already inspired communist practices in ancient Israel.‘ Similarly, in Russia in 1930, the Central Council of the Union of Evangelical Chris- tians circulated among congregations a document proposing the exclusion of “counterrevolutionaries’ from membership in local congregations. In the same manner, Russian Baptists prepared an appeal referring to Christ as the first great socialist and communist.’ While at the time it was meant to be an expression of good will towards the new regime, in the hopes of gaining respect of their basic human rights, this now appears to have been an unnecessary step, helping little in the long run, as the state was deter- mined to abolish religion altogether. Any attempt to deal with the relationships between Christians and social- ists in a fresh way, even if done within a historical framework, may trigger negative feelings on the part of the church. However