Sergey Sergeevich Boyko,
Postgraduate Student, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Anti-Religious Propaganda on the Pages in the Magazine “Krasnaya Sibiryachka” (1920–1930s)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2023-2-20
The article is devoted to the antireligious propaganda of the Soviet power in magazine “Krasnaya Sibiryachka” in 1920–1930s. The author analyzes reasons for the magazine’s creation and emphasizes the importance of involving women in the process of socialistic society building which was connected with refusal from religious outlook. The author of the article provides a brief survey of existing studies devoted to the journal and various aspects of the articles it publishes. The article identifies the main genres of antireligious propaganda: poems, short stories, essays, journalistic articles, news reports, letters, and excerpts from public speeches. Proceeding from the character of materials and their frequency of publication the author underlines four stages in the development of antireligious propaganda: 1) “Religious NEP” 1922–1929; 2) “Great Turn” 1929–1932; 3) The period of calm in 1932–1937; 4) New round of aggressive propaganda in 1937–1939. It is determined that these stages were connected with changes of political course of the country, which was reflected in the contents of materials and in using of concrete methods and propaganda means. The anti-religious propaganda types, such as: the use of repulsive archetypical images of “pop” (priest) and “sectarian”; the opposition of religion to the scientific world-view; the pointing out of the social reactionary nature and backwardness of the church; the ridiculing of the powerlessness and uselessness of religious rites and rituals; the incompatibility of religious views with the new economic relations in the village; the accusing of the church and religious minorities of anti-state activity, kulakism, sabotage, espionage. A conclusion is drawn about the predominantly anti-clerical and crude nature of the anti-religious propaganda, the gradual change in the rhetoric of the magazine from more tolerant and diverse in content to more intransigent and directed towards social hatred, and the dependence of editorial policy on the current political interests of the authorities.
Publishing: 28/02/2023
The article has been received by the editor on 27.01.2023
How to cite: Boyko S.S. Anti-Religious Propaganda on the Pages in the Magazine “Krasnaya Sibiryachka” (1920–1930s) // Historical Courier, 2023, No. 2 (28), pp. 243–256. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2023/ISTKURIER-2023-2-20.pdf]
The article was made on the topic of the state assignment “Memory of the Past in Written Sources of the 16th–20th Centuries: Updating Events, Broadcasting Cultural Traditions, Research Practices” (FWZM-2021-0005).
Links: Issue 2 2023
Keywords: “Krasnaya Sibiryachka” magazine; church; “pop”; sectarian; atheism; anti-religious propaganda; believers; anti-clericalism