I am a Sincere Believer

Rethinking Religiosity and Identity in the Early Soviet Union

Bibliographic Data

ID4207467
AuthorsFrancesca Silano (0000-0003-4262-448X, Providence College, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume82
Issue3
Pages714-736
Publication date2023-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSlavic Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-6779 • E-ISSN: 2325-7784
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/slr.2023.288
OpenAlexW4391257919
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited10

This article challenge scholars of religion in the early Soviet Union specifically, and scholars of early Soviet history more generally, to reconsider the ways in which we have conceived of religiosity and Soviet identity in the early years of the USSR. It argues that there was a significant subset of people who considered themselves to be both religious and Soviet in these years, in which what it meant to be both was still not clearly defined. The article draws on archival interrogation records and trial testimonies from the 1922 "Trial of the Fifty-Four" in which thirty-two laymen were charged with counterrevolutionary activity. We have the unique opportunity of hearing the voices of believers from various educational, social, and class backgrounds as they describe what they think it means to be religious and Soviet. The sources thus not only contribute to our understanding of early-Soviet religiosity, but also of early-Soviet identity in general

Aesthetics · Identity (music · Political science · Politics · Religiosity · Sociology · Soviet union · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Soviet and Russian History · Religious Studies

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