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“Religion Is the Opium of the People”: Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda Posters
No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Art, History, Religion
Atheism – a worldview that rejects religion – was not formally proclaimed as an element of state ideology in Soviet Russia or the USSR; nevertheless, it was actively supported by party and state authorities until 1988.
Lenin once remarked on the struggle against religion: “We must fight against religion. This is the ABC of all materialism, and consequently of Marxism. But Marxism is not a materialism that has stopped at the ABCs. Marxism goes further. It says: one must know how to fight against religion, and to do so, one must provide a materialist explanation for the source of faith and religion among the masses.”
Propaganda was actively employed for this purpose. Below are examples of anti-religious posters that could be seen during the Soviet era.
1. There is no God! (1975)
2. “Bird-catchers” (1930). Inscription on the cage: “Churchmen, Sectarians”.
In village backyards with a golden cross alluring,
All day the trap sticks up on the hill for little birds.
Whispering prayers zealously, eyes rolled to the brow,
Sectarian and fat priest hide in the weeds somehow.
But so far every fowler is daunted by the chase –
In our day the catch proves of little worth or place.
Relics and wild superstitions must be brought to bear,
To pluck the feathers bit by bit from the silly bird there.
Yet the little bird, you see, grows wiser, guards its down with care –
Only an old crone blindly stumbles into the snare.
Even the smallest children know religion is a dope.
For gain the foe of workers and peasants sets the cage and rope!
3. Into the trash pit!
Here he stands – resolute and steel,
The fighter of the rotten past,
Of old stagnation, sloth, and rust!
Behind the proletariat’s mighty back
The past still looms, a swaying shade,
An end to churchly witchcraft’s trash!
To filthy heritage of shameful years –
To icons, crosses, all that “holy” junk,
One path alone remains today:
The dump, the refuse pit, the junk!
Demyan Bedny
4. Not a single absentee on Easter Day.
5. Use the pen of the worker-correspondent and the light of science to expose sectarian tricks!
Inscription on the book: “Bible”. On the ribbon: “Brotherhood in Christ”.
Here’s the sectarian “top brass”…
Don’t rush to join their fold too fast –
They’ll strip you bare with practiced skill
“To save your soul,” they’ll claim at last.
With gentle, downcast, loving gaze,
Their voice as soft as silken thread,
Yet underneath that sheepskin cloak
The vicious wolf still hides its head!
6. Enough of the deception! Inscription on the book: “We are catchers of human souls”.
7. The priest yearns for the old ways – As if he could!
Posters on the building: “Long live the party of Lenin and Stalin.” “Tractor driver training courses.”
8. Against holidays, absenteeism, and drunkenness. For high-intensity work.
9. Priest, Sectarian Preacher, Mullah, Rabbi.
The proverb has it right, as we all know:
“All priests are cut from the same cloth.”
Without exception, they all preach
A “doctrine” alien to communism.
Don’t yield to priests and their deceitful game –
Free yourselves from religion’s stupefying claim!
10. The struggle against religion is a struggle for socialism (1930). Inscription on the flag: “Long Live Cultural Revolution!!!”
11. Religion is poison – protect the kids! (1930). Inscription on the building: “School”.
12. This poster is in Ukrainian: Women! Break free from religious shackles. Build socialism.
13. The Cross and the Tractor.
14. You wait in vain at the church threshold, priest –
Without icons and God, we live just fine!
Inscriptions: “Trade in celestial goods. Holy water. Sacramental wine. Holy communion bread. Weddings, baptisms, funerals – prices significantly reduced.”
Inscription on the building on the right: “1st of May” Collective Farm Club”.
15. Divine Cow.
Some religious preachers urge believers “not to store up treasures for themselves on earth,” yet they themselves grow wealthy from offerings. The income of the Ukrainian diocese alone amounted to 143 million rubles in a single year. (From the newspaper “Smena”).
Without a fee our “father dear”
Won’t even say “Our Father” near.
“A parish,” he insists with pride,
“Exists so income may provide!”
At the same time, there was never a complete liquidation of organized religious life or an official ban on religion in the USSR; indeed, at certain points in its history, the Soviet leadership even provided support to some religious denominations in pursuit of its own political interests.
Tags: posters · propaganda · Soviet past
