The Failure of the League of the Militant Godless

The League of the Militant Godless was a nominally independent and voluntary organization that existed in the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1947 and was associated with the Communist Party. As a part of the regime\u27s effort to combat religion in all forms in accordance with Marxist and Leninist doctrine, the government of the Soviet Union created and fostered a number of different organizations that were meant to conduct antireligious campaigns, sometimes by force and sometimes by persuasion. The League represents an important phase in this campaign, when the regime\u27s emphasis shifted from direct attacks on religion and religious institutions to the use of propaganda. The League\u27s failure to implement an effective antireligious campaign or to promote atheism to any significant degree reflects the ineffectiveness of the broader antireligious campaign, due to a poor understanding of the fundamental role that religion played in Russian life. Its failure was also due to administrative problems that were characteristic of Bolshevik political culture in general, including poor organization, lack of resources, and internal ideological conflicts