Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T11:26:28.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Fear no evil: schools and religion in Soviet Russia, 1917–1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2009

Sabrina Petra Ramet
Affiliation:
Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim
Get access

Summary

‘In practice, no less than in theory’, the ABC of Communism declared in 1919, ‘communism is incompatible with religious faith’. In the ensuing struggle against religion, the Party assigned schools a critical role. They were to replace religious instruction with teaching designed to counter religious sentiment among children and parents.

It was much easier said than done. Rhetoric was cheap and plenty of it followed throughout the period under study. Designing an appropriate curriculum, creating a mechanism to transmit it to the school, and implementing it in the classroom proved difficult and fraught with controversy. At the top, the Commissariat of Enlightenment, the state agency responsible for schools, found itself embroiled in a rivalry with the League of Militant Atheists, an organisation loosely associated with the Communist Party. At the middle of the educational apparatus, regional and local departments of education, especially during the 1920s, exercised an independent voice, modifying instructions from above. Finally, below, teachers, parents, and pupils resisted orders from above. They had their own reasons, some unavoidable, others laudable, and still others hardly praiseworthy.

This study examines the extent to which authorities in the Russian Republic expected primary and secondary schools to attack religion and the degree to which those schools did so. It turns out that, notwithstanding loud talk to the contrary, schools in the 1920s and 1930s were not suitable instruments for the eradication of cardinal tenets of popular belief. Active and passive resistance by officials, teachers, parents, and pupils blocked efforts at change from above. Indeed, the shoe often was on the other foot. Resistance from below contributed to a reshaping of official policy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×