The Influence of Atheist Propaganda of the Communist Regime on the Lives of Believers and Their Children (1946-1991)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the antireligious policy of the Soviet government, which was carried out by the communist regime in Ukraine in the cultural and educational spheres to completely eradicate religion from the lives of the Soviet people. The main purpose of atheistic propaganda was to convince ordinary people that religion and its bearers were enemies of the communist state. Atheistic propaganda was carried out in the form of lectures on natural science and atheistic topics, atheistic evenings of questions and answers, and demonstrations of scientific and feature films. Punitive and repressive methods of atheistic propaganda were used to punish opposition believers who failed to cooperate with the authorities. Special officers of the State Security Committee, Komsomol, and party activists, researchers, teachers, artistic, and creative intelligentsia took part in the atheistic propaganda. Although the Khrushchev campaign continued to spend a lot of money on films to promote atheism, most of them were not very successful, so the communist regime failed to end religion in a short time, especially at the domestic level. The communist regime organized educational work among pupils and students in the spirit of militant materialism in schools, secondary schools, special educational institutions, and higher education institutions. Atheistic propaganda for children and youth was carried out systematically in the form of popular lectures on natural sciences, atheistic topics, demonstrations of scientific films, and through group and individual conversations. In order to prevent the penetration of religious ideology in the minds of children and to influence their feelings, one of the means of this influence was scientific, popular science articles, and works of art directed against religion and its adherents. Children and young people brought up in the spirit of militant materialism were involved together with teachers, lecturers, Communist Party, and Komsomol, pioneering activists in the re-education of children from religious families. It was children whose parents belonged to opposition religious communities or were serving sentences for religious beliefs who found it most difficult to socialize without renunciation of their parents and religion.