Visualization of the “Red Rites” in the 1920s-1930s: “Komsomol Christmas”and “Komsomol Easter”

Abstract

The article considers the evolution of the visual policy of the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s in the sphere of “red rites” and (anti)religious propaganda. The materials of the journal “Antireligioznik” and archival antireligious documentary films “Komsomol Christmas” (1923) and “Komsomol Easter” (1925) are introduced into scientific circulation as sources. It is argued that in the 1920s the concept “red rites” -“Komsomol Christmas” and “Komsomol Easter” - was theoretically developed in the works of prominent party figures (N. K. Krupskaya, L. D. Trotsky, E. M. Yaroslavsky, A. V. Lunacharsky, I. I. Skvortsov-Stepanov). This concept was based on the inversion of the main Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter) and was considered by propagandists as an effective means of constructing a quasi-religious model of the new Soviet reality. However, the “red rites” did not become a functional equivalent of religious rituals. It is concluded that, in connection with the change in the official party socio-economic course in the 1930s there was a final rejection of the “carnival” in Soviet rituals in favor of expanding the administrative-political discourse. There is a transition to the development of ideological “anti-Christmas” and “anti-Easter” campaigns in the USSR as well as in the anti-religious visual policy of the 1930s representing the class, exploitative essence of religion.