Anti-religious activities and propaganda in the Khakass Autonomous Region in the second half of the 1940s - first half of the 1960s

During the Great Patriotic War, the leadership of the USSR weakened the repressive regime and ideological pressure on believers and religious organizations in the country. Since the late 1940s, this policy has been changing to strengthen the control of religious communities by state and local authorities and the resumption of atheistic propaganda. Based on the analysis of materials from the National Archive of the Republic of Khakassia and local party bodies, the article examines the implementation of atheistic propaganda in Khakassia in the second half of the 1940s - the first half of the 1960s. At that time, in Khakassia, as in the whole of the Soviet Union, propaganda events played an important role in atheistic propaganda, and emphasis was placed on the dissemination of scientific knowledge. The main forms of atheistic propaganda were lectures, collective and individual conversations, film lectures, agitation in the media, etc. Public censure measures are applied to believers for performing religious rites. A significant part of the atheistic work in Khakassia was carried out by the propaganda and agitation departments of the regional executive committee, the regional, city and district executive committees of the CPSU and Komsomol, the Krasnoyarsk Regional and Khakass regional organizations of the All-Union Society “Znanie”, educational and cultural institutions. Despite carrying out atheistic work, local authorities in Khakassia noted constant shortcomings in anti-religious agitation, the nature and effectiveness of its conduct, which in turn did not lead to the disappearance of religious views and beliefs of members of religious organizations operating in the region.

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