Today we talk about what happens when a government tries to create an atheist society. This was attempted at various times in the brief history of the USSR – with surprising results. To help us understand the Soviets’ campaign against religion, we are joined by Dr. Victoria Smolkin. We discuss the Soviets’ struggle against religion, from building a secular administrative state, to militant atheism, to rapprochement, all while learning that the dreaded “godless commies” weren’t quite what they were made out to be.
Victoria’s book, A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism (Princeton University Press, 2018): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691174273/a-sacred-space-is-never-empty
More on Victoria: https://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/vsmolkin/profile.html
Follow Victoria on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SmolkinVictoria
Follow Nathan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathGAlexander
Nathan’s website: https://www.nathangalexander.com/
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