Godless Communists - (Niu Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) by William B Husband (Paperback)

About the Book

"Godless Communists" offers a fresh interpretation of early Soviet efforts to create an atheistic, scientific society. Husband shows that religion, contrary to Bolshevik assertions, was not merely an expression of gullibility and ignorance but a firmly entrenched system for ordering family and community relationships. The Bolsheviks' efforts to abolish the Church failed because they underestimated how tightly religious beliefs were woven into the fabric of the Russians' daily lives.

Exploring the confrontation between secularism and the lower classes' traditional beliefs, "Godless Communists" illustrates how developments between 1917 and 1932 shaped the attitudes toward religion and atheism that endure in Russia today.

Book Synopsis

"Godless Communists" offers a fresh interpretation of early Soviet efforts to create an atheistic, scientific society. William B. Husband shows that religion, contrary to Bolshevik assertions, was not merely an expression of gullibility and ignorance but a firmly entrenched system for ordering family and community relationships. The Bolsheviks' efforts to abolish the Church failed because they underestimated how tightly religious beliefs were woven into the fabric of the Russians' daily lives. Exploring the confrontation between secularism and the lower classes' traditional beliefs, "Godless Communists" illustrates how developments between 1917 and 1932 shaped the attitudes toward religion and atheism that endure in Russia today.

Review Quotes

Elegantly written.... A sophisticated, unjaundiced treatment of Orthodoxy after 1917.

The best and most comprehensive treatment of its subject to date.

Valuable. 'Godless Communists' provides an abundance of evidence for belief as a complex and changing cultural phenomenon.

About the Author

William B. Husband is Professor Emeritus at Oregon State University. He is the author of Revolution in the Factory: The Birth of the Soviet Textile Industry, 1917-1920 and the editor of The Human Tradition in Modern Russia.