Origin from 1925
A mass organization established by the Soviet Communist Party to promote atheism and coordinate anti-religious propaganda and enforcement across the Union. Nominally an independent voluntary society, it operated under direct Party control, ran a network of local cells that removed religious images from homes, staged anti-religious demonstrations and lectures and published newspapers and journals in dozens of languages. Its membership and activity crested in the early 1930s, declined sharply during the worst purge years, partially recovered before the German invasion, and the organization wound down its public activity once war began, formally dissolving after Stalin eased religious policy to broaden wartime support.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account FounderSourced to the subject's own accountYemelyan Yaroslavsky, the Bolshevik official who had edited the anti-religious newspaper Bezbozhnik since 1922 and chaired the League throughout its active life. 1 FoundedSourced to the subject's own accountGrew out of Yaroslavsky's Bezbozhnik newspaper, begun in 1922, and was formally constituted as the Union of Atheists at its first congress in April 1925; renamed the Union of the Militant Godless (commonly rendered in English as the League of Militant Atheists) in 1929 as its activity intensified. 1 Organisation
Who May BelongSourced to the subject's own accountReached a documented peak of 5.67 million members in 1931, well short of its own 17 million target; membership fell to about 2 million by 1938 during the worst of the Great Terror before recovering to around 3.5 million by 1941. Nearly half its membership was concentrated in the Moscow and Leningrad metropolitan areas, and the League ran roughly 96,000 local offices across the Union by 1941. 1 Publications
Notable PublicationSourced to the subject's own accountThe newspapers Bezbozhnik and Bezbozhnik u Stanka and the journals Antireligioznik, Ateist and Voinstvuiuschii Ateizm; by 1932 it produced ten anti-religious newspapers and twenty three anti-religious magazines, and its non-serial literature grew from about 12 million printed pages in 1927 to some 800 million by 1930. 1 History
Historical NoteSourced to the subject's own accountIts campaigns are credited with a major share of the fall in registered religious communities of every faith across the Union, from about 50,000 in 1930 to 30,000 by 1938 and 8,000 by 1941, through combined pressure on congregations, mass literature distribution and organized demonstrations rather than through direct police powers, which rested with the state itself. 1 Status
Current StatusSourced to the subject's own accountDefunct. Public activity ended in 1941 as Stalin eased religious policy to widen domestic and Allied support for the war effort and most of its periodicals ceased publication; the organization was formally dissolved in 1947 and never revived. 1 Learn More
The League of the Militant Godless, a Party Organization for Atheism
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
A mass organization established by the Soviet Communist Party to promote atheism and coordinate anti-religious propaganda and enforcement across the Union grew out of Yemelyan Yaroslavsky's Bezbozhnik newspaper, begun in 1922, and was formally constituted as the Union of Atheists at its first congress in April 1925. It was renamed the Union of the Militant Godless, commonly rendered in English as the League of Militant Atheists, in 1929 as its activity intensified. Nominally an independent voluntary society, it operated under direct Party control throughout its life, chaired by Yaroslavsky himself from founding to dissolution.
The League ran a network of local cells that removed religious images from homes, staged anti-religious demonstrations and lectures and published newspapers and journals in dozens of languages. Its campaigns are credited with a major share of the fall in registered religious communities of every faith across the Union, from about 50,000 in 1930 to 30,000 by 1938 and 8,000 by 1941, achieved through combined pressure on congregations, mass literature distribution and organized demonstrations rather than through direct police powers, which rested with the state itself rather than the League.
Publications, Membership and Decline of the League of the Militant Godless
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The League's membership reached a documented peak of 5.67 million in 1931, well short of its own 17 million target, and fell to about 2 million by 1938 during the worst of the Great Terror before recovering to around 3.5 million by 1941; nearly half its membership was concentrated in the Moscow and Leningrad metropolitan areas, and it ran roughly 96,000 local offices across the Union by that final year. Its publishing arm grew at a comparable scale: by 1932 it produced ten anti-religious newspapers, including Bezbozhnik and Bezbozhnik u Stanka, and twenty three anti-religious magazines, among them Antireligioznik, Ateist and Voinstvuiuschii Ateizm, and its non-serial literature output grew from about 12 million printed pages in 1927 to some 800 million by 1930.
Public activity ended in 1941 as Stalin eased religious policy to widen domestic and Allied support for the war effort, and most of the League's periodicals ceased publication that year; the organization was formally dissolved in 1947 and never revived, its own collapse tracking almost exactly the wartime reversal of the state policy that had created it.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Established by the Communist Party and operated under its direct control throughout its existence, with mandatory Komsomol participation, despite its nominal status as an independent voluntary society.
Conducted
The League was the state's principal mass-propaganda instrument for the wider anti-religious campaign, running the local cells and publications through which most day-to-day pressure on congregations was organized.
Sources
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