The rise of the Communist party in Russia was based on the teachings of Karl Marx. In Das Capital he claimed that one of the ways to enjoy an ideal society was to eradicate religion because it was a form of pre-scientific superstition. "Religion is the Opium of the masses" Marx declared, and followers of his theories in the Soviet Union undertook the task of eliminating the Orthodoxy that had been established in Russia by the Great Prince Vladimir in 988.

In 1917 the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks headed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.  The dogma propagated by Lenin was that people created God because of the fear of capitalism.  He further believed that by diminishing the Church and ultimately abolishing it, society would be fully transformed to Communism. As soon as the new Soviet government was instituted, it created agencies to oversee the destruction of religious affairs in the new revolutionary state.

In order to re-educate its population in anti-religious views the Commissariat of Education was established in 1922. The new agency revoked all control that the Church had over schools and created a new fully secular school system with the aim to instill a materialistic world outlook into the minds of students.  Another government structure, the League of Militant Atheist, created lesson plans focusing on non-religious ideas and enforcing atheistic teachings.

One of the main targets of the Communist party were women of the young Soviet state. Most of early anti-religious propaganda was directed towards them, because the authorities realized the important role that females had within their households and their influence on the upbringing of children. Organizations such as Zhenotdel (Women's Unit) were founded to focus solely on the "betterment" of conditions for women. The purpose of the agency was to penetrate into the lives of ordinary women and to "forcibly advise" them to reject religion and all of its ideals. In the 1920s, to appeal to the female population the Communist Party even legalized abortion and divorce. By the middle of the decade, registered abortions climbed to mere than 55 per 100. By the end of the decade the urban Soviet divorce rate was the highest in the world. In the village the impact was less where the traditional religious prevailed over the Soviet legality.

The Communist Party of the USSR did not reserve to any means while eliminating religion. As the Bolsheviks came into power they not only deprived the Orthodox Church of its status as a legal institution and annulled its rights to teach religion in schools, but also its right to own property, and ultimately to sustain itself. In the 1920s campaigns were launched to seize all church treasures and icons. A "tovarishch" (comrade) could not become a member of the vital organizations of the regime - Komsomol (Young Communist League) or the Communist Party - if he/she was affiliated in any way with the Church. Propaganda campaigns were created to discourage believers from attending parishes. The mock processions were staged to parody Easter and Christmas worship.  In response to the government actions church loyalty among many Orthodox believers was increased. Rallies and conflicts broke out. The bloodiest struggle between supporters of the Church and the Cheka, the newly created secret police (later known as KGB), occurred in 1922 in Shuya. In addition to population massacres, the Cheka carried out bloody terror acts against the Orthodox clergy.

To what degree did this mixture of repression and education produce the desired effect?  Although church and state sources both constantly reported a sharp decline of religiosity in Russia, especially among the young, the census of 1937  showed that 57 per cent of population still identified themselves as believers. Despite all of its attempts, the Communist Party was not able to achieve its ultimate goal of completely eradicating religious beliefs in Russian people. The government found it extremely difficult to diminish two thousand years of traditions and customs that were structured around religion. Neither the initiation of the Cultural Revolution nor the institution of laws prohibiting the attendance of churches, discouraged the Russian people to renounce their faith.