Therole of EmelyanMikhailovich Yaroslavsky in the anti-religious campaign of the 1930s (By the example of the Saratov Volgaregion)

In: Izvestiya of Saratov University. History. International Relations, Volume 22, Issue 4, p. 556-561

Abstract

Based on archival materials, the author of the article analyzes the activities of the Union of Militant Atheists in the Saratov Volga region and the role of the leader of this organization in the 1930s. Examples of the activities of the organization are given, both within the framework of anti-religious agitation and propaganda of the communist ideology, and as an initiator of the closure of churches and prayer houses of all faiths. Emelyan Yaroslavsky is characterized as the main ideologist of state atheism. The practice of closing churches and prayer houses in violation of Soviet legislation, as well as the actions of party and Soviet structures that were contrary to the declared directives, are analyzed. Based on archival materials, the author of the article concludes that the authorities, having suspended the legal activities of all confessions in the Saratov Volga region by the beginning of the 1940s, could not suppress religious life, which took on new forms, and agitation and propaganda, including organizations of the Union of Militant Atheists, made a significant contribution to the formation of an atheistic worldview of the population.