Pope Pius XI called for a world-wide day of prayer, to be held on 16 March 1930, on behalf of the persecuted believers in Russia. This action led Stalin to suspend temporarily the antireligious campaign, according to Roy Medvedev
Lynne Viola, Peasant Rebels Under Stalin: Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance
communism, pius-xi, pope, stalin, ussr