According to the Wikipedia entry on Communism and homosexuality:
In 1917 in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Vladimir Lenin decriminalized homosexuality, and allowed openly homosexual people to serve in the government. Joseph Stalin re-criminalized homosexuality in 1933 (Stalin’s criminal code punishing gay men by up to five years in prison with hard labor) and the law withstood through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was only repealed in 1993 under Boris Yeltsin.
According to the Wikipedia entry on LGBT history in Russia:
Through the abolishment of old Tsarist laws, the Russian Communist Party effectively legalized no-fault divorce, abortion and homosexuality.
…
In 1933, Article 121 was added to the criminal code, for the entire Soviet Union, that expressly prohibited only male homosexuality, […] The precise reason for the new law is still in some dispute. Some historians have suggested that Joseph Stalin’s enactment of the anti-gay law was, like his prohibition on abortion, an attempt to increase the Russian birthrate and build a better relationship with the socially conservative Eastern Orthodox Church. Some historians have noted that it was during this time that Soviet propaganda began to depict homosexuality as a sign of fascism, and that Article 121 may have a simple political tool to use against dissidents, irrespective of their true sexual orientation, and to solidify Russian opposition to Nazi Germany, who had broken its treaty with Russia.
Thus, we see an affinity between Stalinism and monotheism, as suggested by Jean Soler in his books QUI EST DIEU ? (WHO IS GOD?) and La violence monothéiste (Monotheistic Violence).
Reference:
AFT Forum
AFT on Twitter
Amis et amies de Libres penseurs athées
Atheist Alliance International (AAI)
Humanist Perspectives
Libres penseurs athées
LPA-AFT on Heylo
LPA-AFT Youtube Channel
Rassemblement pour la laïcité (RPL)
Homosexuality and abortion were not criminalized under the Provisional Government. No action was taken to recriminalize them until 1933 and 1934 (when Stalin was in power)
Mark, I do not understand the reason for your comment. You have simply repeated what is already said above: The Bolsheviks decriminalized homosexuality & abortion. Stalin recriminalized them.
To look to the Bolsheviks as an example of inspiration is naive as well as absurd. The Bolsheviks promised everything to everyone in the hope of marxist world revolution.
The reality is they had little support so took power by force. The reality of their equality manifesto meant killing and imprisonment of millions in pursuit of power to the select few (some are more equal than others).
Only in the west do we hear this bullshit and ignorance of history. When being transported to Siberia or shot into pits, everyone was equal.
Katie, your comment is off base. The purpose of this post is not to “look to the Bolsheviks as an example of inspiration”. It says nothing of the sort. One purpose is simply to explain a historical fact that many people may not know: that the Bolsheviks in 1917 were more progressive on some issues than a couple of decades later under Stalin. The situation degraded horribly under Stalin. (Which is not to say it was idyllic before Stalin.)
The other purpose of this post is to draw a parallel between totalitarianism and monotheism, as theorized by author Jean Soler.