Socialist Appeal’s ongoing campaign to spread the christmas spirit today publishes Lenin, who wrote in 1905 that: "Those who toil are taught by religion to be submissive and patient while here on
earth, and to take comfort in the hope of a heavenly reward. But those who live
by the labour of others are taught by religion to practise charity while on
earth, thus offering them a very cheap way of justifying their entire existence
as exploiters and selling them at a moderate price tickets to well-being in
heaven."

This article analyses the relationship between the Soviet state and the Russian Orthodox Church. There was a clear dividing line between Lenin’s approach to this question and the zig-zag policy later adopted by Stalin. First published in Workers International News, October 1945.

In the build up to Christmas, Socialist Appeal is contributing to the festive spirit by issuing some articles by Marxists  on the origins and significance of Christianity, which in its early period was a revolutionary movement of the oppressed. This article deals with the person of Christ and the historical evidence for his existence, which is taken from the first chapter of the ‘Foundations of Christianity’ by Karl Kautsky.