Ever since the counter-revolution that proclaimed throughout the length
and breadth of Czarist Russia the dictatorship of the Proletariat, and the
subsequent incorporation of the semi-independent territories of Caucasus
and Turkistan within the orbit of Soviet rule, the varied and numerous
Baha'i institutions established in the past by heroic pioneers of the
Faith have been brought into direct and sudden contact with the internal
convulsions necessitated by the establishment and maintenance of an order
so fundamentally at variance with Russia's previous regime. The avowed
purpose and action of the responsible heads of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics who, within their recognized and legitimate rights,
have emphatically proclaimed and vigorously pursued their policy of
uncompromising opposition to all forms of organized religious propaganda,
have by their very nature created for those whose primary obligation is to
labor unremittingly for the spread of the Baha'i Faith a state of affairs
that is highly unfortunate and perplexing. For ten years, however, ever
since the promulgation of that policy, by some miraculous interposition of
Providence, the Baha'is of Soviet Russia have been spared the strict
application to their institutions of the central principle that directs
and animates the policy of the Soviet state. Although subjected, as all
Russian citizens have been, even since the outbreak of the Revolution, to
the unfortunate consequences of civil strife and external war, and
particularly to the internal commotions that must necessarily accompany
far-reaching changes in the structure of society, such as partial
expropriation of private property, excessive taxation and the curtailment
of the right of personal initiative and enterprise; yet in matters of
worship and in the conduct of their administrative and purely
non-political activities they have, thanks to the benevolent attitude of
their rulers, enjoyed an almost unrestricted freedom in the exercise of
their public duties.
Lately, however, due to circumstances wholly beyond their control and
without being in the least implicated in political or subversive activity,
our Baha'i brethren in those provinces have had to endure the rigid
application of the principles already enunciated by the state authorities
and universally enforced with regard to all other religious communities
under their sway. Faithful to their policy of expropriating in the
interests of the State all edifices and monuments of a religious
character, they have a few months ago approached the Baha'i
representatives in Turkistan, and after protracted negotiations with them,
decided to claim and enforce their right of ownership and control of that
most cherished and universally prized Baha'i possession, the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of I_sh_qabad. The insistent and repeated
representations made by the Baha'is, dutifully submitted and stressed by
their local and national representatives, and duly reinforced by the
action of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia,
emphasizing the international character and spiritual significance of the
Edifice and its close material as well as spiritual connection with the
divers Baha'i communities throughout the East and West, have alas! proved
of no avail. The beloved Temple which had been seized and expropriated and
for three months closed under the seal of the Municipal authorities was
reopened and meetings were allowed to be conducted within its walls only
after the acceptance and signature by the Baha'i Spiritual Assembly of
I_sh_qabad of an elaborate contract drawn by the Soviet authorities and
recognizing the right of undisputed ownership by the State of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar and its dependencies. According to this contract,
the Temple is rented by the State for a period of five years to the local
Baha'i community of that town, and in it are stipulated a number of
obligations, financial and otherwise, expressly providing for fines and
penalties in the event of the evasion or infringement of its provisions.
To these measures which the State, in the free exercise of its legitimate
rights, has chosen to enforce, and with which the Baha'is, as befits their
position as loyal and law-abiding citizens, have complied, others have
followed which though of a different character are none the less
grievously affecting our beloved Cause. In Baku, the seat of the Soviet
Republic of Caucasus, as well as in Ganjih and other neighboring towns,
state orders, orally and in writing, have been officially communicated to
the Baha'i Assemblies and individual believers, suspending all meetings,
commemoration gatherings and festivals, suppressing the committees of all
Baha'i local and national Spiritual Assemblies, prohibiting the raising of
funds and the transmission of financial contributions to any center within
or without Soviet jurisdiction, requiring the right of full and frequent
inspection of the deliberations, decisions, plans and action of the Baha'i
Assemblies, dissolving young men's clubs and children's organizations,
imposing a strict censorship on all correspondence to and from Baha'i
Assemblies, directing a minute investigation of Assemblies' papers and
documents, suspending all Baha'i periodicals, bulletins and magazines, and
requiring the deportation of leading personalities in the Cause whether as
public teachers and speakers or officers of Baha'i Assemblies.