Alexander Yakovlev claims in "A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia" that 110,200 Orthodox priests were shot in 1937-1941 in the USSR. He provides no source. I was a bit uncertain about this, since in the entire world in 1940 there were only ~400,000 catholic priests. Is this accurate?

While the number itself isn’t accurate, the USSR did carry out a massive campaign of violence against religious leaders in 1937-38 which killed or imprisoned the majority of those who had survived earlier, less systematic campaigns of violence.

The exact reasons why 1937 was the year violence escalated so radically tie into the overall rationale behind the Great Terror’s turn toward mass violence. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War heightened Stalin’s fears of internal counterrevolution and disorder if war broke out. Rising tensions with Nazi Germany and Japan made that conflict appear imminent. Nikolai Yezhov, the chief of the NKVD from Fall 1936 and a firm believer in major conspiracies, supported more serious measures against potential enemies. (1) Ironically, this happened just a year after the newly crafted “Stalin constitution” guaranteed freedom of worship and returned the right to vote to previously disenfranchised religious leader

Throughout the Spring-Summer 1937, religious leaders and other “sectarians” were identified as a serious threat to the regime, actively organizing conspiracies to undermine it.

In the February-March 1937 Plenum of the Central Committee, a number of speakers noted the risk of enemies of the people, naming specifically “sectarians”, penetrating the lower rungs of Soviet power by running in, disrupting, or otherwise interfering in the upcoming 1937 elections. (2) On March 27, an NKVD circular ordered the strengthening of investigative work against clergymen, emphasizing the need to protect upcoming elections and to destroy any and all anti-Soviet religious organizations and practitioners. (3) The NKVD of Ukraine issued materials on this topic in April related to regional “sectarian” subversion. (4) Across the board, regional Party and NKVD leaders harped on religious leaders as counterrevolutionary masterminds.

By the end of June 1937, the steady stream of materials on counterrevolutionary groups led Stalin to order a final, decisive blow against all groups perceived to be enemies simultaneously. On July 2 all regional leaders were invited to submit lists of “Kulaks and criminals” from their respective territories, dividing them into categories to be shot or imprisoned 8-10 years. (5) The open-ended nature of this request invited a wide variety of clarifications and additions, including about religious leaders. Many responses included requests to include clerics, mullahs, and other “sectarians” in the compositions to be punished. (6)

Because of this, NKVD Operational Order 0047 issued on July 30th after the collection of regional materials specifically mentioned religious leader multiple times, explicitly naming them as targets of the first of many “mass operations” to begin in early August. Per Stalin’s instruction, all those arrested were to be “tried” by Troikas in absentia, usually only with cursory review of their cases – more often than not the Troika simply signed off on “albums” of cases each day. (7)

In his September 8th report on the initial wave of arrests, Yezhov included an entire section on religious “conspiracies” uncovered during the operation: (8)

Church-sectarian counter-revolutionary underground

The presence of a broad church-sectarian insurgent underground, which is now being revealed, deserves serious attention. A large number of church-sectarian counter-revolutionary formations are being revealed in the Western, Gorky, Moscow, Sverdlovsk and other regions.

As the investigation establishes these formations, consisting of priests, sectarians, monastic elements, former kulaks and White Guards, for many years conducted active insurrectionary work, organized former kulaks, created sabotage and wrecking groups from them on collective farms, prepared the commission of terrorist acts, carried out a wide counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation.

In the Western region, a large insurgent organization of Baptist antiwar members was discovered, created by a sectarian preacher POLUFAKIN, associated with German intelligence. The organization had its branches in 10 districts of the region. In the case of this organization, 102 people were arrested.

In the Gorky region, the church-monarchical organization of the former kulak of the monk SAVIN is being liquidated. The organization covered several districts of the region and consisted of former kulaks, wandering priests, monks, "wanderers", etc. Communication between the members of the organization was maintained through itinerant nuns. The organization conducted counterrevolutionary propaganda and agitation, distributed anti-Soviet leaflets, worked on the preparation of terrorist acts and amassed insurgent cadres.

In the Chelyabinsk Region, in the course of the investigation into the cases of the arrested, an insurgent-terrorist organization of churchmen, representing a bloc of representatives of various religious movements, was uncovered. According to the testimony of the arrested Bishop Vyatkin, the organization has illegal rebel nests, with more than 300 members, in a number of districts of the region. The organization is headed by a rebel spiritual council headed by a priest, a former white officer Bormotov. In the largest districts of the region there are district headquarters. The organization set itself the task of conducting sabotage work and organizing an uprising at the time of the outbreak of hostilities.

The organization was associated in Moscow with Metropolitans VITALIY and SERGIY.

A church-sectarian insurgent organization of the same nature, uncovered in the Syksunsky district of the Sverdlovsk region, closed in its counterrevolutionary work with elements of the Trotskyites and Rights. In general, Yezhov’s report stressed the need for further arrests and investigation into all target groups, including religious officials.

Throughout Fall 1937, Stalin continued to emphasize to Yezhov the importance of repressing religious leaders: (9)

Comrade Yezhov. It would be necessary to press the churchmen.

Sources:

(1) Oleg Khlevniuk’s article “The Reasons for the “Great Terror: The Foreign-Political Aspect” is still the best summary of this interpretation.

(2) Koshelevoi, L.P., Naumov, O.V., and Rogovoi, L.A., Материалы февральско-мартовского пленума ЦК ВКП(б) 1937 года. See also Yezhov’s summarized speech from the June 1937 Plenum in Jansen, Mark, and Petrov, N.V., Сталинский питомец — Николай Ежов, Pages 293-312.

(3) Khaustov, V.N. and Samuelson, Lennart, Сталин, НКВД и репрессии. 1936 — 1938 гг., Page 68.

(4) Binner, R., and Йunge, M. «Через трупы врага на благо народа». «Кулацкая операция» в Украинской ССР 1937-1941 гг., Pages 539-540

(5) Khaustov, V.N., Naumov, V.P., and Plotnikova, N.S., ЛУБЯНКА: Сталин и Главное управление госбезопасности НКВД, Pages 234-235.

(6) Kurlyandskii, I.A., “Власть и религия в годы «Большого террора» (1937-1938 гг.). По новым архивным документам”, Pages 270-271. See also Binner and Йunge, 74-76 for the Ukrainian NKVD’s own inclusion of religious groups.

(7) The order can be viewed here. Binner and Йunge, 175-198 have a description of the process of the Troika.

(8) Khaustov, ЛУБЯНКА, 340-341.

(9) Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RGASPI) F. 558, Op. 11, Del. 421, Page 6.