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agriculture.
May, 12 Ukraine became the UNESCO member
1954 (United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization).
November, 10 The CPSU regulation about intensification
1954 of anti-religious propaganda, which put the
beginning of wide anti-church campaign of
Khrushchyov management. Administrative
interference of authority in activity of
religious organizations intensified
considerably. Opportunities of opening new
churches were restricted, the procedure of
their closing was simplified greatly. The
solution of the closing was passed to the
responsibility of oblast executive committees
from Council of Ministers. Local organs of
power set the severe control of clergymen,
religious communities, financial and
economic activities of church. In autumn,
1954, Council of Ministers of the USSR
adopted a few regulations directed at
elimination of monasteries. 8 monasteries and
hermitages were closed in Ukraine. In 1958,
the regulation was adopted, which introduced
the tax on candle production in church
workshops. It weakened the economic basis
of the church existence. In 1958 64 churches
were closed in Ukraine, in 1959 – 260, in
1960 – 747, in 1961 – 997, in 1962 – 1144.
Only 9 monasteries left out of 32. All those
facts reflected a new attack against church,
which M. Khrushchyov called “an agent of
bourgeois ideology”.

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