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Video: Freemasonry in the USSR
2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55
The Soviet totalitarian regime opposed religion and various occult teachings. It can be assumed that there was simply no place for Freemasons in Soviet Russia. For a long time, the first 10-15 years of the formation of the new regime remained a blank spot for the study of Freemasonry in the USSR. Their lodges were banned and allegedly did not exist at all.
But access to various archival information made it possible to shed light on some facts, often very curious. For example, in the 1920s, there were at least 11 Masonic lodges, and the activities of some of them deserve special attention.
Leningrad "Martinists"
Previously, this lodge of "free masons" was an integral part of the French Order of the same name, but as a result of the split in 1912 it began to operate as an independent organization. Its members were students, artists, lawyers and members of the press. They studied "secret knowledge", the history of religion, magic, sought to develop occult abilities in practice.
The activities of the organization were supervised by G. Mebes and B. Astromov (Kirichenko), the latter being its general secretary. Due to the disagreements that arose, Astromov had to leave the lodge in 1921, and a year later he created the "Russian Autonomous Freemasonry" - a new organization not associated with the "Martinists".
All the same Astromov and ruined the Order, offering the government "valuable information" in exchange for the opportunity to leave the state. He did not receive permission, but the Chekists became seriously interested in the activities of secret societies, which led to their mass closure in 1926. Many members were arrested. It is noteworthy that Astromov was among the first to be sent to the colony.
Templars
The first organization on the territory of Russia related to the European "Order of the Knights Templar" was opened by A. Karelin together with A. Bely in 1920. It included several lodges at once, including the "Temple of Arts", "Order of Light", "Brotherhood of Mercy" and others. Members of the organization studied history, philosophy and cosmology.
The Moscow "Templars" functioned under the leadership of A. Solonovich, who worked as a teacher at the Moscow Higher Technical School. Bauman. He is known for his teachings on "mystical anarchism" and criticism of Bolshevik ideals. Such activity, which was undesirable to the Soviet authorities, could not be ignored by the government. In 1930, many members of the lodges were arrested and sent into exile for 3 years. More severe punishment awaited the leaders of the organizations - 5 years of work in the camps.
Were the Bolsheviks "free masons"?
Some scholars draw parallels between the Bolsheviks and the Freemasons, pointing out that supposedly even Soviet symbols are directly related to the secret society. Some data, the reliability of which has not been established, suggests that many leaders of the "councils" were members of Masonic lodges. Among them are Bukharin, Trotsky, Sverdlov and even Lenin himself.
Modern researchers believe that Leo not only studied the basics of Freemasonry, he himself became an adherent of one of the directions of this teaching. Trotsky in the circles of initiates was called the Red Bonaparte.
It is believed that one of the most influential Masons in the world, a millionaire Charles Crane, sent Trotsky to support the revolution in 1917.
Presumably, one of the members of the "United Labor Brotherhood" was the Chekist G. Bokiy, who was later appointed head of the 9th UGUG NKVD, and the government considered him an authorized specialist in Freemasonry. In 1937 he was "lucky" to be arrested for, oddly enough, organizing the Order of the Freemasons.
Why did the Bolsheviks themselves, being members of secret societies, exterminate Masonic lodges? All the persecutions began with the coming to power of Stalin, who was never a Freemason. Some facts even testify to the artificial creation of orders by the Soviet government in order to disclose all existing ones. Most likely, in the "free masons" they saw some "foreign agents" with views hostile to the new state system, since they were all natives of Western orders.
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