A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism

by Victoria Smolkin

When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Soviet power used a variety of tools―from education, to propaganda, to terror―to turn its vision of a Communist world without religion into reality. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion and creating an atheist society.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty presents the first history of Soviet atheism from the 1917 revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews with those who were on the front lines of Communist ideological campaigns, Victoria Smolkin argues that to understand the Soviet experiment, we must make sense of Soviet atheism. Smolkin shows how atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the “sacred spaces” of Soviet life was not enough. Then, in the final years of the Soviet experiment, Mikhail Gorbachev―in a stunning and unexpected reversal―abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into Soviet public life.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty explores the meaning of atheism for religious life, for Communist ideology, and for Soviet politics.

Genres: History, Religion, Atheism, Soviet Union, Politics, Nonfiction, Russia

339 pages, Hardcover

First published May 8, 2018

Reviews

[Tim O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great overview of the evolution of Soviet thought about atheism and the changing ways the Communist regime tried to impose its anti-religious ideology from 1917 to 1991. From the early optimistic assessment that religion was a symptom of the oppression of the proletariat and would simply collapse of its own accord, through the murderous anti-religious campaigns of Stalin prior to 1942 to the eventual effective abandonment of the whole enterprise of "atheist work" under Gorbachev, Smolkin shows that Soviet atheism was always a core tenet of Soviet Marxist-Leninism, but was never a central concern. The bafflement of the atheist cadres as to why their efforts seemed to be so fruitless is, at times, slightly amusing. There are also parallels between their lack of comprehension of religious impulses and their naïve faith in scientism and the power of worthy but boring lecturing of believers and the recent New Atheists' similar misunderstanding of their opponents.

[Ocean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic window into the era of Soviet state atheism. This book illustrates some of the failures that came with state atheism and the challenges that come with anti-theism as a government policy, even through a variety of strategies. The book details not only the failures but the successes and interesting approaches to state atheism in the Soviet Union, including the promotion of science and wide availability of lectures on religion and atheism. This was an incredibly useful and insightful read.

[Scott Bielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting and enjoyable book. Smolkin chronicles the evolution of Soviet Atheism's campaign (political, ideological, spiritual) to stamp out religion. While holding itself out to be a kind of humanism, this atheism fails to recognize its kinship with religion/religious sentiment, causing it to fail (quite hilariously, per Smolkin's account), much to the chagrin of Soviet elites. Though it is a little dry, that's to be expected in a book that's mostly historical with a little analysis. On the whole, Smolkin did an admirable job. You should read it!

[versarbre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo first book! Really well-written book that historicized atheism within SU.

[One · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information is absolutely excellent but more of the historical detail to the religious oppression could've been given.

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book that analyses, perhaps too academically and therefore dully sometimes, the fight that the Soviets took to religion during their long regime. From Lenin to Stalin to Khrushchev, etc - all these leaders and their subordinates tried various tactics and strategies to neutralise the power (both spiritual and political) of the Orthodox Church and faith in God, in general. In the end, they realised that it was a lost battle. Gorbachev conceded and ultimately when he allowed the millenial celebrations of the Church in Russia in 1988 to be celebrated openly, the general sense in the party was that the game was up. These sanctioned millenial celebrations, of course, were in stark contrast to the persecutions, massacres, etc. that the Church suffered (on and off at times) throughout the 20th century.

This quote summarises the reason why the long campaign of the Soviets against religion failed: "In its battle against religion... Soviet atheism struggled to fill the sacred spaces it had cleared. Atheism's inability to address existential questions, meet spiritual needs... created the perception that atheism was an empty space rather than a meaningful category".

I must also underline here that the author did a really good (academically-sound, let's say) job in presenting all facts and analyses as they are: in their unblemished form. Even after reading through the entire book, I still cannot work out wether the author is an atheist herself or not. Well done on this, Victoria.

[Abdullh · Rating 4 out of 5]

منذ اللحظة التي وقعت عيني فيها على عنوان الكتاب، اجتاحتني حماسة غريبة. فالاتحاد السوفيتي، تلك الدولة المترامية الأطراف التي شكّلت ما يقارب 15٪ من مساحة في العالم، والتي لم تتورع يومًا عن سفك الدماء سواء بدافع عرقي أو ديني وجدت نفسها أمام خصمٍ من طراز مختلف: الدين.
وهنا، الحديث لا يدور عن دينٍ آخر، بل عن الأرثوذكسية، التي تشكل جذور الأغلبية السكانية، مما يجعل الحلول التقليدية التي اعتادت الدولة استخدامها كالقمع والتطهير والتهجير غير مجديه

يسرد الكتاب هذه المواجهة منذ بداياتها، حين حاولت الدولة أن تستند إلى أدبيات مفكريها الكبار، من أمثال لينين وماركس، فلم تجد في أطروحاتهم سوى هراء مفاده :أن الدين ظاهرة ناتجة عن ظروف اقتصادية وسياسية معينة، وبمجرد زوال تلك الظروف، سيزول الدين تلقائيًا!


وفي النهايه حين شارك غورباتشوف في احتفالات الألفية للكنيسة عام 1988، بدا أن النظام قد توصّل إلى قناعة مختلفة تمامًا، وهي عنوان هذا الكتاب،
“الفضاء المقدّس لا يعرف الفراغ.”

القراءة كانت ممتعة وسلسة، ولم أشعر بالملل قط، رغم أن الإلحاد نفسه لا يهمّني كثيرًا، بقدر ما شدّني الموضوع كتجربة اجتماعية

[Joseph Sverker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mostly read books about the church during the Soviet era and they in the main emphasise the immense hardship the church came under, particularly during the first decades after the revolution. From the perspective of the promotion of atheism the Soviet state was not as successful as it might sound, at least when it comes to people's habits. Smolkin makes a good and interesting point. The book is not exactly captivating and quite dry at times. For the person (like me) who is interested in the question of Soviet communism and religion it is something of a gem, and very nice to read something as up to date as this.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Fairly easy to read and well organised. I was struggling to find anything on this rather niche subject and this book was perfect for my essay!