State policy on church and religion: the first years of the Soviet power

The article discusses the program settings of the RKP(b) in relation to religion, relations between the state and the church, approaches to their implementation by the Soviet state in the first years of its existence. The punitive policy of the state towards the Russian Orthodox Church in the period of the formation of Soviet power, due to the counter-revolutionary activities of the latter, is opposed to a balanced policy towards religion.