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· Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Art , History , Religion

The following book “Anti-Religious Alphabet” was published in Leningrad in 1933. The author of the pictures was Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh (1890-1962) – a Soviet graphic artist, cartoonist, book illustrator.

Each word in the poetic phrases accompanying the pictures begins with the corresponding letter of the Russian alphabet. Translation gives just a general meaning of these short phrases, but of course, if you know Russian, then this historical document is especially interesting. However, the illustrations themselves give some insight into the attitude to religion during the first decades of the Soviet regime. Source

1. Anti-Religious Alphabet.

2. Brothers, stop fearing the gods.

3. Religion. Faith is harmful, more harmful than wine.

4. Be patient. Voice of the Lord is good for the lords (magnates).

5. Down with the old village life of our grandfathers.

6. Episcopacy could barely eat.

7. The priest’s sting waiting for the victim.

8. Political literacy. Replace healer spells with knowledge.

9. Gandhi. They exposed the traitor’s name.

10. The end of the bells – work for the blacksmith.

11. Pouring lava of crafty lies.

12. Holy relics interfere with the power of machines.

13. 5 in 4 (meaning the early implementation of the five-year development plan of the country). Don’t need heavenly reward.

14. Myrrh-flowing icons – fraud.

15. Proletarian plaster for the holy shepherds.

16. Paradise. Picture, expose paradise of religions.

17. List of saints and holy days – the fairy tales, which worth laughing.

18. Collectivization (collective farms and private landholdings). Drag this way comrade tractor.

19. Agrotechnology, MTS (Machine Tractor Station), Fertilizers. Destroy the saints, multiply the harvest.

20. All people are brothers. The fabricant Ford is a fascism fort.

21. Love each other. Praising Christ and ruling with the whip.

22. The world of churches – the world of chains.

23. Read clearly: rosary – rubbish.

24. Godless. Assault shamans – the gang of charlatans.

25. Tongs, crush these bristly tentacles.

26. Electric excavator to get rid of these exploiters.

27. “Don’t join the collective farm”. Don’t trust the holy fool.

28. Intervention. The flaming rage of the poisonous tongue.

Tags: propaganda · Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

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