"Godless Communists"
Atheism and Society in Soviet Russia, 1917–1932

William B. Husband (Author)

9780875805955

Paperback / softback, published 18 October 2002

258 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.454 kg

Valuable. 'Godless Communists' provides an abundance of evidence for belief as a complex and changing cultural phenomenon.

"Godless Communists" offers a fresh interpretation of early Soviet efforts to create an atheistic, scientific society. William B. Husband shows that religion, contrary to Bolshevik assertions, was not merely an expression of gullibility and ignorance but a firmly entrenched system for ordering family and community relationships. The Bolsheviks' efforts to abolish the Church failed because they underestimated how tightly religious beliefs were woven into the fabric of the Russians' daily lives. Exploring the confrontation between secularism and the lower classes' traditional beliefs, "Godless Communists" illustrates how developments between 1917 and 1932 shaped the attitudes toward religion and atheism that endure in Russia today.

Introduction
1. Belief and Nonbelief in Prerevolutionary Russia
2. Revolution and Antireligious Policy
3. Materialism and the Secularization of Society
4. Soviet Family Values
5. Resistance, Circumvention, Accommodation
Epilogue