THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SOVIET ENTITIES OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA IN THE DONETSK REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 1920S: THE CASE OF THE UNION OF MILITANT UNBELIEVERS

Abstract

An unbiased and objective studying of the history, activities, and development trends of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, namely, studying the relationship between Orthodoxy and state power on the territory of the Donetsk region, an industrial region with its own regional characteristics, is necessary. For a complete and objective study of state-church relations, the relationship between the Bolshevik Party and the Orthodox Church in the Donetsk region it is necessary to input the efforts of more than one generation of domestic historians. Today, when the issues of relations between the Orthodox Church and the state are of great interest to both domestic and foreign researchers, there is a lack of fundamental research in the field on the historical problems of state-church relations in various regions of Ukraine, in particular in the territory of the Donetsk region. The purpose of this study is a comprehensive historical analysis of Soviet entities of anti-religious propaganda in the second half of the 1920s, on the example of the activities of the Union of Militant Infidels in the territory of the Donetsk region. The article is devoted to the study of the problem of the activities of the Soviet entities of anti-religious propaganda in the 1920s. The author analyses and summarizes the peculiarities of the functioning of the Union of Militant Infidels and the repressive anti-religious policy of the Soviet authorities on the territory of the Donetsk region in the second half of the 1920s. The researcher concludes that the influence of the Orthodox Church on the social and political life of the Donetsk region has not yet been the subject of a special study, and therefore the study of the role of Orthodoxy in the 1920s will provide an opportunity to fill the existing factual gaps in the relationship between Soviet anti-religious propaganda entities and the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Thus, in the 1920s, despite the schism and anti-religious actions of the Soviet authorities, the Orthodox Church continued to play a significant role in the religious life of the Donetsk region. The rural population of the Donetsk region which were remaining mostly indifferent to atheistic propaganda actively participated in the construction of churches, the organization of church services and the support of priests. The influence of religion on children remained unchanged – during church holidays schools were empty. Even rural activists maintained their outward religiosity. Religion continued to hold a strong position not only in the villages but also in the cities. But despite this situation, the Bolshevik government constantly resorted to social manipulation by skilful usage of anti-religious agitation and propaganda means. Gradually, the Communist Party was able to change the emphasis so that the huge Orthodox country approached the system of secular beliefs, the sacralization of the party, its leaders and goals, investing in this process all the available potential and skills of religiosity, which were determined by its historical and cultural and civilizational features. On the one hand, the atheism of the population took place under the constant influence of the ideology of hostile counter-revolutionary activities, which the Orthodox Church and its ministers supposedly carry out; on the other hand – due to the active affirmation of communist ideology through the organization of debates, lectures, reading huts, anti-religious circles, schools, trade unions, Komsomol, anti-religious literature, etc.