Visualization of (anti)religiosity in the USSR. Based on archival materials from the 1920s and 1930s

Document publication

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-3-778-797

For citation

Golovnev, I. A., Golovneva, E. V. (2025). Visualization of (anti)religiosity in the USSR. Based on archival materials from the 1920s and 1930s, Herald of an Archivist, no. 3, pp. 778-797, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-3-778-797

Golovnev, Ivan A., Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

Golovneva, Elena V. Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Visualization of (anti)religiosity in the USSR. Based on archival materials from the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

One of the main paradoxes of Russian history – the transformation of Russia from the most religious European country in the early 20th century into an officially atheistic state after the 1917 revolution – has not yet received proper scientific understanding. In particular, an important aspect about the role and formats of visualization of Soviet policy in the implementation of anti–religious programs was overlooked, although it was the figurative system that had a decisive influence on the reform of religious sentiments among the illiterate masses of the people - the target audience of the new government. It is no coincidence that the resources of cinema, which was gaining popularity, were actively used by state ideologists as a screen pulpit – to preach socialist commandments, sacralize proletarian rituals, and iconize party leaders. The presented article focuses on the experiments of constructing "Bolshevism as a religion" in the most revealing projections: science, museum and cinema. The publication meets a range of objectives: the introduction of thematic archival film documents into scientific circulation, their comparison with relevant developments from text archives of scientists and materials from early Soviet periodicals, as well as their historical and anthropological analysis in the key of modern religious studies. The indicator of novelty is the cross-disciplinary issues of the research being undertaken, covering the issues of screen construction of atheistic ideology and the formation of the phenomenon of the "temple museum". In the course of studying the history of the creation, as well as the details of the exposition of the State Anti-Religious Museum, captured in the archival film "In the Anti-Religious Museum" (1938), evidence of the existence of various approaches to religion and the church in post-revolutionary Russian society is examined. The conclusion is made about the importance of visual archives as historical sources, which, together with the corresponding written materials, open up qualitatively great opportunities for effective research of multifaceted and contradictory phenomena of national history. The actualization of the experiences of visual representation of antireligiousness in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s has a variable scientific significance: the documents preserved in the archives allow us to reconstruct scientific and creative approaches to solving ideological problems that remained "behind the scenes" of official chronicles, evaluate the specifics of interdepartmental atheistic enlightenment projects, consider the nuances of reactions to them from groups of the population, see images of a motley atlas of confessions Soviet countries.

Keywords

Archival documentary, Soviet anti-religious film, visual history, anti-religious museum, atheistic enlightenment, socialist commandments, sacralization of proletarian rituals, iconification of party leaders.

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References

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About authors

Golovnev Ivan A., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) RAS, Leading Researcher, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, 8-922-600-46-41, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Golovneva Elena V., Doctor of Philosophy, Saint Petersburg State University, Professor, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, 8-922-152-47-99, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

The article was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant (project No. 25-28-00277), https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-00277/

The article was received in the editorial office on 21.01.2025, recommended for publication on 20.06.2024.