I don’t usually use 20th century material in these historical notes, but I’m going to make an exception today.
On this day in 1928, Nikita Isaevitch Voronin made the following public statement: “During the sixty years of its existence in Russia our brotherhood (The Baptist Union of the U.S.S.R.) has achieved wonderful results with which can be compared the achievements of no other religious movement. We can boldly state, that already in 1905… among the so-called sects in Russia, the Baptists were the foremost in point of numbers, the firmest in defense of the purity of their teaching, the bravest during the heavy recession of the Tzarist regime and the most ardent in zeal of spirit and soul in the great work! And that is what we are now!”
That declaration was made before the Toronto meeting of the Baptist World Alliance. Voronin was a Baptist Communist, and the BWA was one of the most liberal religious organizations in the world. Voronin’s words echo the “we Russians are better than everyone else” which was common among the Communists for more than 75 years.