Samson

SOVIET ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA A subscription broadside for the journals "The Atheist" Bezbozhnik and "The Antireligious" Antireligioznik by the Central Soviet of Atheist Unions of the U.S.S.R. Tsentral'nyi sovet soiuza bezbozhnikov S.S.S.R

rif. P6364 — Moscow: Tip. "Sovremennaia kul'tura" 1928. Single leaf printed to recto with partial text to lower verso once folded measuring 35 × 21 cm. Very good. This prospectus addressed to heads of public educational institutions and educational inspectors announces the new subscription year of two chief publications of the League of Militant Atheists a volunteer based organization that served as the spearhead of Soviet anti-religious activism. Founded in 1925 the organization counted three million members by 1940. The League held educational congresses and workshops at schools factories and in the countryside published periodicals such as Bezbozhnik and Antireligioznik. Its activities also enabled the persecution and exile of clergy and religious communities by the Soviet government throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The sternly worded memo notes that despite a number of recent educational decrees many educational institutions still do not subscribe to the publications "which causes a disruption of anti-religious work" and advises that all educational institutions comply with the new directives. The memo is signed by the head of the organizational division of the union one Oleshchuk. Fedor Nesterovich Oleshchuk himself a son of a priest joined the party in 1921 and headed the committee for many years. The memo also provides all relevant subscription information. unknown