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A Case Study in Soviet Political Religion: Modernism, The USSR in Construction , and Stalin’s Russia
Author(s) -
Feldman Matthew
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
religion compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.113
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1749-8171
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00320.x
Subject(s) - politics , communism , soviet union , realism , faith , nazism , utopia , modernism (music) , face (sociological concept) , economic history , political science , socialism , law , sociology , history , philosophy , social science , theology , epistemology , art history
The following article provides a case study in political religion theory via exploration of a neglected Soviet journal, the USSR in Construction [ SSSR na Stroike ]. This journal, which appeared between January 1930 and June 1941, was ultimately published in five languages, and represented an important, propagandistic face to the non‐communist world. Despite the entrenchment of Socialist Realism at the time, this avant‐garde publication continued to be published monthly by Stalin’s regime – until the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. Contributors may be seen as propagandists, strangely enough, in an etymological sense: propagators of a faith – in this case a ‘political theology’– on behalf of a Stalinist utopia that they believed was currently ‘under construction’.