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Multimedia Histories
Section |
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The
Russian Revolution through the Prism of Propaganda
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Reasons
for Revolution
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Though
atheists, the Bolsheviks did not overthrow the Provisional Government
for religious reasons. However, after the Revolution, the Bolsheviks did
attempt to eliminate religion from public life. In the cartoon "Labor,"
the propagandist presents the priest as an exploiter in league with the
feudal lord, the capitalist manager, and the tsar. In the cartoon above,
published in 1924 in the Soviet journal Bezbozhnik u stanka (the
godless at the workbench), Allah, God the Father, Jehovah, and Buddha
are all depicted as puppets manipulated by the capitalist puppeteer. |
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The
image above from a 1923 edition of Bezbozhnik reveals very vividly
the intent of the Bolsheviks' anti-religious propaganda and policies:
even as capitalism and the tsarist autocracy had to be overthrown, so
religion had to be overthrown. To this end, the Bolsheviks destroyed and
desecrated many churches. The most notorious victim of their anti-religion
campaigns was the Cathedral of Christ our Savior in Moscow. Consecrated
in 1887, the Cathedral took over forty years to build, but in 1931, it
was quickly demolished. |
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 Drawing of Cathedral (1832) |
 Demolition in 1931 |
 Desecretion of images (1931) |
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Stalin
planned to build a grand Palace of Soviets in its place, and in 1934 architects
submitted their plans. However, the Palace of Soviets was never built.
The site remained a gaping hole in the ground until Khrushchev ordered
it filled with concrete, after which he acclaimed the creation of the
world's largest swimming pool. During the Orthodox Church's restoration
in the 1990s, the Cathedral of Christ our Savior was rebuilt. |
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 Drawing of the Palace of the Soviets (1934) |
 The World's Largest Swimming Pool |
 The Cathedral Restored |
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Image
credits: |
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