 State atheism in the Soviet Union was known in Russian as "gosateizm", and was based on the ideology of Marxism–Leninism, which consistently advocated has consistently advocated the control, suppression, and elimination of religion.Within about a year of the revolution, the state expropriated all church property, including the churches themselves, and in the period from 1922 to 1926, 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and more than 1,200 priests were killed.Many more were persecuted.