In Search of a Soviet Religion of Revolution: Lunacharsky and Bogdanov

In the early years of the Soviet state, the revolution was understood not only as a political and social rupture, but also as a profoundly spiritual event. Within this search emerged the phenomenon of God-building — an attempt to create a new form of secular religiosity capable of replacing traditional faith and uniting society around a collective ideal.

Our session will focus on the original and in many ways paradoxical vision of Anatoly Lunacharsky and Alexander Bogdanov, in which Marxism merges with myth, ritual, aesthetics, and elements of so-called “Soviet paganism.” We will discuss the revolution as a sacred act, the collective as a new “deity,” the cult of labor, heroes, and the future, as well as why this project proved to be both alluring and dangerous.

On Sunday, we will discuss:

• What God-building is and why it emerged at the beginning of the 20th century.
• Lunacharsky and Bogdanov: similarities and differences in their understanding of a “new faith.”
• Soviet paganism: myth, symbol, and ritual in early Soviet culture.
• Religion without God: a utopia or an inevitable companion of revolution.
• The fate of God-building and its exclusion from official Marxism.

The meeting will be of interest to everyone concerned with the history of ideas, philosophy of culture, and religion, as well as the intellectual atmosphere of the early Soviet state.

The session will be led by Pan Volynsky, a philosopher and historian, and a descendant of Polish-Soviet dissidents.