Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

ly anti-. communist.’ Would this trip simply serve as a vehicle of Soviet propa- ganda? The Soviet Baptist delegation traveled the length and breadth of America, attended numerous Baptist conventions, also met with Men- nonites, and in general made a good impression. Alexander Karey, in his turn, reported that “we like the American people . . . their feelings of love and joy in meeting were genuine, and above all we feel their strong, friendly handshakes.” 4 The second delegation was an ecumenical delega- tion returning the visit of an American delegation to the Soviet Union.® Now began regular participation of Soviet delegates on international Baptist committees. Zhidkov attended a BWA council session in Toronto in 1957.6 In 1958 the AUCECB joined the European Baptist Federation, an organization that had been established in 1947.17 By 1962, young Michael Zhidkov (who until them had held no significant position at home) was elected to the EBF executive committee.’ When the next World Baptist Congress took place in Rio de Janeiro, five Soviet delegates attended; Zhidkov was reelected as a vice-president, Arthur Mitskevich became a member of the executive committee. ® In contrast to the early efforts of Rushbrooke and Lewis to establish links based on clearly articulated goals, by 1960 the active contact involved Soviet initiative and it was the Soviet Baptists who articulated their goals most clearly. The detailed reports on visits to churches always included an emphasis on the vigorous religious activity foreign visitors found, the enjoy- The Foreign Connection 363 ment of fellowship and preaching, and that the visitors came away con- vinced that the Soviet people wanted peace. Following the visit of a Swedish delegation in 1956 (which included Erik Ruden, who became responsible for increased links with the Baptists when he served as Eu- ropean secretary of the BWA), Jacob Zhidkov stated: “We think that the confusion which there might be among believers in Sweden, due to un- friendly rumors about religious life in the USSR, have finally been dissi- — pated and have vanished.,”’2° This attempt to use visits as image-builders for Soviet Baptists and for the Soviet state became most pronounced during the period when Soviet Baptists were under the greatest pressure from the Soviet authorities. The number of visits abroad increased dramatically in 1960, whereas Western Baptists did not become aware of the Reform Baptist movement until 1964 and remained poorly informed for a number of years subsequently. They were reassured by the AUCECB that this was an internal matter, not very significant, and that they would be hurting the AUCECB if they discussed it in public. In 1968 Michael Bourdeaux published the first major history of the split and quoted extensively from Initsiativniki documents.2! One major document from the Council of Prisoners’ Relatives listing the persecutions which Baptists had ex