ABSTRACT
The number of individuals exempt from military service for religious reasons, based on the decree passed on January 23, 1918, proved to be very small. Based on this fact, the Statute on Exemption from Military Service for Religious Reasons, adopted in 1918, was not included in this new law. Military service became universal. The law, for example, prohibits any religious propagation. However, any liturgy, rite, or ritual is in itself religious propagation. The freedom of religious propagation was soon abolished. It had been guaranteed by the Constitution of the RSFSR in 1918 and then by the Constitution of the USSR in 1924. In 1934, while the USSR Supreme Soviet was discussing a draft of a new law concerning All-Union military service, one important point was clarified. The 1936 Constitution of the USSR, established during Stalin’s rule, granted all citizens equal suffrage as well as the right to profess any religion.
