Russia and the Soviet Union - Revision history

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How to Cite This Article

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	First version, 24 July 2026. Main: Brons, Lajos. Other: (none).		First version, 24 July 2026. Main: Brons, Lajos. Other: (none).
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	Brons, Lajos (~~2026~~). "Russia and the Soviet Union". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of ~~24 July 2026~~. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union</nowiki>.		Brons, Lajos ({{REVISIONYEAR}}). "Russia and the Soviet Union". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y \| {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union</nowiki>.

	== Notes ==		== Notes ==

Lajos: /* The Kalmyks */

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The Kalmyks

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	The catastrophe that befell the Kalmyks went beyond the destruction of their religious institutions. In 1943, the Soviet state deported the entire Kalmyk people to Siberia and the Urals on the accusation of collaboration with the German occupation, abolishing the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic and dispersing the population across the USSR; most Buddhist cult objects were lost in the process, and the social space in which Buddhist ritual could function contracted to the purely domestic sphere for more than a decade.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 75.</ref>		The catastrophe that befell the Kalmyks went beyond the destruction of their religious institutions. In 1943, the Soviet state deported the entire Kalmyk people to Siberia and the Urals on the accusation of collaboration with the German occupation, abolishing the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic and dispersing the population across the USSR; most Buddhist cult objects were lost in the process, and the social space in which Buddhist ritual could function contracted to the purely domestic sphere for more than a decade.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 75.</ref>

			The 1943 deportation was not the end of the story. Some Kalmyks — many of them already anti-Communist as former White Russian soldiers or their descendants — had volunteered for the German-organized Kalmyk Cavalry Corps after the Wehrmacht reached Kalmykia in 1942, and it was this collaboration that Stalin cited in ordering the deportation.<ref>Lopez, Donald S. (2025). ''Buddhism: A Journey Through History''. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 404–405.</ref> Retreating westward with the German army after Stalingrad, a group of Kalmyks eventually surrendered to American forces in Austria in 1945 and spent six years in a displaced-persons camp in Bavaria; barred from the United States under the 1948 Displaced Persons Act because they were not classified as European, they were admitted only after Alexandra Tolstoy intervened on their behalf, and in 1951 some two hundred Kalmyks settled in Freewood Acres, New Jersey, where they converted a garage into what is considered the first Tibetan Buddhist temple in North America. Four years later the Kalmyk monk Geshe Wangyal (1901–1983) arrived as temple priest; he went on to train Robert Thurman and Jeffrey Hopkins among the first generation of American Buddhist Studies scholars and to arrange the Dalai Lama's first visit to the United States in 1979 — an unlikely legacy of the Soviet destruction of Kalmyk Buddhism.<ref>Lopez (2025), ''Buddhism: A Journey Through History'', pp. 413–414.</ref>

	=== Institutional history: congresses, the "golden age," and repression ===		=== Institutional history: congresses, the "golden age," and repression ===

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Lajos: /* Notes */

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Notes

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	== Notes ==		== Notes ==
	<references />		<references />

			[[category:Russia/USSR]]
			[[category:Country Profiles]]

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	~~{{Under Construction}}~~
	{{Awaiting Review}}		{{Awaiting Review}}
	At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk [[Agvan Dorzhiev]] (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.		At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk [[Agvan Dorzhiev]] (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.

Lajos: /* Literature in English */

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Literature in English

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	== Literature in English ==		== Literature in English ==

	* Kaplonski, Christopher (2014). ''The Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty, and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia''. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. {{annotation\|Concerns Mongolia rather than Russia directly, but provides essential comparative context for the destruction of Buddhist institutions elsewhere in the Soviet orbit; see the companion entry [[Mongolia]].}}
	* Andreyev, Alexandre (2003). ''Soviet Russia and Tibet: The Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918–1930s''. Leiden: Brill. {{annotation\|A detailed diplomatic history of Soviet-Tibetan relations that situates Dorzhiev's activity within the broader context of Soviet Central Asian strategy; the fullest English-language account of the geopolitical calculations behind Soviet tolerance of the renovationist movement.}}		* Andreyev, Alexandre (2003). ''Soviet Russia and Tibet: The Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918–1930s''. Leiden: Brill. {{annotation\|A detailed diplomatic history of Soviet-Tibetan relations that situates Dorzhiev's activity within the broader context of Soviet Central Asian strategy; the fullest English-language account of the geopolitical calculations behind Soviet tolerance of the renovationist movement.}}
	* Snelling, John (1993). ''Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev, Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar''. Shaftesbury: Element Books. {{annotation\|The standard English-language biography of Dorzhiev, reproducing his 1926 written theses in translation and offering a detailed narrative of the renovationist movement's rise and destruction.}}		* Snelling, John (1993). ''Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev, Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar''. Shaftesbury: Element Books. {{annotation\|The standard English-language biography of Dorzhiev, reproducing his 1926 written theses in translation and offering a detailed narrative of the renovationist movement's rise and destruction.}}

Lajos: /* Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union */

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Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union

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	At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk [[Agvan Dorzhiev]] (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.		At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk [[Agvan Dorzhiev]] (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.

	== Buddhism in Russia ~~and~~ the ~~Soviet Union~~ ==		== Buddhism in Russia before the October Revolution ==

	Buddhism was formally recognized as a legitimate faith of the Russian Empire's eastern subjects by imperial rescript of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1741. By the early twentieth century it was deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and intellectual life of both the Buryats and the Kalmyks, each of whom maintained extensive networks of monasteries, Buryat datsans and Kalmyk khuruls, respectively, a substantial clerical class, and traditions of Buddhist scholarship conducted in Tibetan and Mongolian. By 1917, there were more than 11,000 Buddhist clergy in Buryatia and more than 2,000 in Kalmykia.<ref>Sinitsyn, Fedor L. (Синицын Ф.Л.) (2013). "Советское государство и буддисты (1917–1946 гг.)" [The Soviet State and the Buddhists, 1917–1946]. ''Российская история'' 1: 62–76, p. 63.</ref>		Buddhism was formally recognized as a legitimate faith of the Russian Empire's eastern subjects by imperial rescript of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in 1741. By the early twentieth century it was deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and intellectual life of both the Buryats and the Kalmyks, each of whom maintained extensive networks of monasteries, Buryat datsans and Kalmyk khuruls, respectively, a substantial clerical class, and traditions of Buddhist scholarship conducted in Tibetan and Mongolian. By 1917, there were more than 11,000 Buddhist clergy in Buryatia and more than 2,000 in Kalmykia.<ref>Sinitsyn, Fedor L. (Синицын Ф.Л.) (2013). "Советское государство и буддисты (1917–1946 гг.)" [The Soviet State and the Buddhists, 1917–1946]. ''Российская история'' 1: 62–76, p. 63.</ref>

Lajos: /* Radical Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union */

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Radical Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union

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	Before the October Revolution, no antireligious propaganda had been conducted in the traditionally Buddhist regions of the empire, and no antibuddhist literature existed.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref> As in [[Mongolia]], the near-total absence of any rival confession, secular philosophical tradition, or antireligious current meant that Buddhism was not merely the dominant religion among the Buryats and Kalmyks but the entire institutional and intellectual framework of their societies, a fact that would decisively shape both the possibilities and the limits of accommodation with Soviet power after 1917.		Before the October Revolution, no antireligious propaganda had been conducted in the traditionally Buddhist regions of the empire, and no antibuddhist literature existed.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref> As in [[Mongolia]], the near-total absence of any rival confession, secular philosophical tradition, or antireligious current meant that Buddhism was not merely the dominant religion among the Buryats and Kalmyks but the entire institutional and intellectual framework of their societies, a fact that would decisively shape both the possibilities and the limits of accommodation with Soviet power after 1917.

	== ~~Radical~~ Buddhism in ~~Russia and~~ the Soviet Union ==		== Buddhism in the Soviet Union ==

	The October Revolution confronted Buryat and Kalmyk Buddhist leaders with an acute dilemma, since the new Soviet state was formally committed to atheism and to the eventual abolition of organized religion. During the Civil War, part of the Buryat clergy took an actively anti-Soviet position: lamas participated in the 1919 Chita congress of pan-Mongolists, and the lama L.-S. Tsydenov led a theocratic quasi-state in the Khori steppe from 1919 to 1922 that was hostile to both Reds and Whites alike. Among the Kalmyks, the head of the Buddhist community, shadjin-lama Ch. Baldanov, supported the White movement outright, and Kalmyk émigrés later founded a "Union for the Aid of Buddhists in Russia" in Istanbul.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", pp. 63–64.</ref>		The October Revolution confronted Buryat and Kalmyk Buddhist leaders with an acute dilemma, since the new Soviet state was formally committed to atheism and to the eventual abolition of organized religion. During the Civil War, part of the Buryat clergy took an actively anti-Soviet position: lamas participated in the 1919 Chita congress of pan-Mongolists, and the lama L.-S. Tsydenov led a theocratic quasi-state in the Khori steppe from 1919 to 1922 that was hostile to both Reds and Whites alike. Among the Kalmyks, the head of the Buddhist community, shadjin-lama Ch. Baldanov, supported the White movement outright, and Kalmyk émigrés later founded a "Union for the Aid of Buddhists in Russia" in Istanbul.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", pp. 63–64.</ref>

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Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union

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	In the absence of secular scientific, educational, medical, and cultural institutions suited to nomadic pastoral life, the Buddhist clergy functioned as something close to a national intelligentsia for both peoples, and monasteries served as the only permanent centers of intellectual and spiritual life. Soviet diplomats and ethnographers of the 1920s, examining this situation with some bewilderment, described the Buryats' relationship to Buddhism as "not only a national faith, but an attractive calling that elevates a simple person to a height unattainable in other circumstances."<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 62.</ref> Buddhist belief permeated Kalmyk daily life to a comparable degree; a Kalmyk congress in 1917 declared that Buddhist teaching helped ordinary Kalmyks make sense of their lives.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref>		In the absence of secular scientific, educational, medical, and cultural institutions suited to nomadic pastoral life, the Buddhist clergy functioned as something close to a national intelligentsia for both peoples, and monasteries served as the only permanent centers of intellectual and spiritual life. Soviet diplomats and ethnographers of the 1920s, examining this situation with some bewilderment, described the Buryats' relationship to Buddhism as "not only a national faith, but an attractive calling that elevates a simple person to a height unattainable in other circumstances."<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 62.</ref> Buddhist belief permeated Kalmyk daily life to a comparable degree; a Kalmyk congress in 1917 declared that Buddhist teaching helped ordinary Kalmyks make sense of their lives.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref>

	Before the October Revolution, no antireligious propaganda had been conducted in the traditionally Buddhist regions of the empire, and no antibuddhist literature existed.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref> As in ~~Mongolia (see~~ [[Mongolia]]), the near-total absence of any rival confession, secular philosophical tradition, or antireligious current meant that Buddhism was not merely the dominant religion among the Buryats and Kalmyks but the entire institutional and intellectual framework of their societies, a fact that would decisively shape both the possibilities and the limits of accommodation with Soviet power after 1917.		Before the October Revolution, no antireligious propaganda had been conducted in the traditionally Buddhist regions of the empire, and no antibuddhist literature existed.<ref>Sinitsyn (2013), "Советское государство и буддисты", p. 63.</ref> As in [[Mongolia]], the near-total absence of any rival confession, secular philosophical tradition, or antireligious current meant that Buddhism was not merely the dominant religion among the Buryats and Kalmyks but the entire institutional and intellectual framework of their societies, a fact that would decisively shape both the possibilities and the limits of accommodation with Soviet power after 1917.

	== Radical Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union ==		== Radical Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union ==

Lajos at 04:51, 24 July 2026

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	{{Under Construction}}		{{Under Construction}}
	{{Awaiting Review}}		{{Awaiting Review}}
	At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk Agvan Dorzhiev (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.		At first glance, "Russia and the Soviet Union" may seem an unlikely entry for a project concerned with Buddhism. In fact, this article concerns two Mongolian Buddhist peoples incorporated into the Russian state: the Buryats of Transbaikalia, around Lake Baikal, and the Kalmyks of the lower Volga steppe, a Western Mongol people whose ancestors migrated there in the seventeenth century. Buddhism had been an officially recognized confession of the Russian Empire since 1741, and by the early twentieth century it remained the central institutional and intellectual framework of Buryat and Kalmyk life. Radical Buddhism in this setting took the form of the renovationist movement (обновленческое движение), led above all by the Buryat monk [[Agvan Dorzhiev]] (Агван Доржиев), which argued for the compatibility of Buddhist teaching with Soviet power and briefly secured official toleration before being destroyed, along with the rest of Soviet Buddhism, in the Stalinist terror of the late 1930s.

	== Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union ==		== Buddhism in Russia and the Soviet Union ==