Early Soviet Anti-Religious Propaganda: 1921-1931

Karl Marx famously wrote of religion functioning as an intellectually deadening “opiate of the masses.” This concept was fundamental to the ideology of the Bolsheviks, who seized power in the 1917 Russian Revolution and viewed religion as a tool used by an exploitative elite to deceive and thus control the population. In the wake of the Revolution, all religions were targeted, including the Russian Orthodox Church, which had served as the official state religion and as the backbone of traditional Russian culture. In a series of decrees, the newly installed Bolshevik government nationalized much of the Church’s land; closed many theological institutes and schools with religious affiliations; secularized the registration of births, marriages, and deaths; and—most importantly—ended state financial support for Orthodox Christian clergy. A great number of churches, synagogues, and mosques were seized, together with their property, and their religious communities were dissolved. Former religious buildings were frequently transformed into workers’ clubs. The new regime strictly limited the publication of prayer books and other religious texts and harassed, hounded, and arrested religious leaders, often on the pretext that they were saboteurs or spies. Atheism was designated the official ideology of the Soviet state.

Since Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist publications, institutions, and communities were severely restricted or eliminated entirely, Soviet authorities attempted to fill the gaps with posters, books, and periodicals on atheism and to make them available in every major language of the country. Among these periodicals was Bezbozhnik (Godless or Atheist; Moscow, 1922–23 and 1932–41), renamed Bezbozhnik u stanka (Atheist at the Workbench; Moscow, 1923–1931), which sought to undermine the hold of organized religion on Soviet citizens—be they Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, or Orthodox Christian—and to promote the state’s anti-religious programs and beliefs.

Atheist at the Workbench is notable for its strident, militant tone as well as for its biting humor and wit. Major Soviet writers, artists, and scientists contributed to this journal. Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946; born Dmitrii Stakhievich Orlov), the prominent Soviet caricaturist, served as Artistic Director. Moor’s cartoon-like imagery bears little resemblance to the abstract, fragmented visual syntax of the Soviet avant-garde; but, combined with pithy texts, served as an equally powerful, graphically striking propaganda tool. Moor employed familiar religious motifs and subverted the visual vocabulary of traditional icon painting to create critical images that were accessible to a semi-literate readership. Other artists whose works appeared in the journal—such as Mikhail Cheremnykh, Aleksandr Deineka, Mechislav Dobrokovsky, and Nikolai Kogout—worked in distinctive, yet similarly accessible figurative modes.

Designed for the urban working-class reader, Atheist at the Workbench had an annual circulation of 70,000 in Soviet Russia. It was also distributed in limited numbers with translated text abroad. In 1924, the Archbishop of Canterbury—who had been directly lampooned in the journal’s pages—protested in the House of Lords against the distribution of Atheist at the Workbench in England and, in the spring of 1925, the journal was banned there. In 1927, over 150 images from the journal were published in a portfolio of individual single and double-sized sheets, appropriate for public and private circulation and display.

Index: Key Historical Dates; Promotion for the journals Atheist and Atheist at the Workbench; Portfolio: Atheist at the Workbench; For Export: Atheist at the Workbench; Large-Scale Posters: Atheist at the Workbench; Additional Posters and Other Anti-Religious Propaganda

Note: To view captions, please roll over the desired image with your cursor.

Key Historical Dates

1917 November 2. The First Congress of Soviets adopts the Deklaratsiia prav narodov Rossii (Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia), which proclaims the abolition of all national and religious privileges and limitations.

1918 January 23. A special decree, Ob otdelenii shkoly ot gosudarstva i shkoly ot tserkvi (On the Separation of the Church from the State and of the School from the Church) is published.

1921–22 A catastrophic drought decimates agricultural production in Ukraine and southern Russia, especially the Volga region, resulting in the deaths from starvation and disease of between five and eight million Russians. In February 1922, the cash-strapped Soviet government orders the expropriation of gold and silver from Russian churches (see posters by Dmitrii Melnikov), promising to use the proceeds to combat the Volga famine. This move leads to bloody clashes between the Soviets and believers. The head of the Russian Church, Patriarch Tikhon, opposes the expropriations. He is tried in May 1922 for counterrevolutionary activity and is placed under house arrest in the Don Monastery.

1925 Soiuz voinstvuiushchikh bezbozhnikov (League of Militant Atheists) is founded. This organization will spearhead a vigorous campaign against organized religion.

Promotion for the journals Atheist and Atheist at the Workbench

In 1922, the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in Moscow began publication of the anti-religious journal Bezbozhnik (Godless or Atheist). In 1923, the journal was renamed Bezbozhnik u stanka (Atheist at the Workbench), the title under which it appeared until 1931. Between 1932 and 1941 it was again published under the title Bezbozhnik. The journal, which began as a monthly and was later published twice a month, was first edited by Maria Kostelovskaya and then, from July 1928, by I. N. Stukov. A typical issue comprised twenty-four pages, with four to eight color illustrations.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Poster: We disposed of the Tsars on Earth, and now we are getting rid of the ones in Heaven. Archangel Gabriel was sent from God into a city...to speak to Virgin Mary...and on the way back to Heaven he brought with him,&nbsp… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Poster: We disposed of the Tsars on Earth, and now we are getting rid of the ones in Heaven. Archangel Gabriel was sent from God into a city...to speak to Virgin Mary...and on the way back to Heaven he brought with him, for information, 10 copies of the journal *Atheist,* 1922
Lithograph
38 3/4 x 26 1/4” (98.4 x 66.7 cm)

Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh (1890–1962) Advertisement: Subscription for the year 1930 for Atheist at the Workbench, an anti-religious journal of the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Communist Party [of Bolsheviks]. I. N. Stukov, General Ed… — **Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh** (1890–1962)
Advertisement: Subscription for the year 1930 for *Atheist at the Workbench*, an anti-religious journal of the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Communist Party [of Bolsheviks]. I. N. Stukov, General Editor. Published twice a month, c. 1929
Lithograph
20 1/4 x 29 3/8” (51.4 x 74.6 cm)

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Poster: I am an Atheist. A subscription is open for 1925 for Atheist at the Workbench, a monthly anti-religious satirical journal printed in color, 1924 Lithograph 27 1/2 x 18 3/4” (69.9 x 47.6 cm) — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Poster: I am an Atheist. A subscription is open for 1925 for *Atheist at the Workbench*, a monthly anti-religious satirical journal printed in color, 1924
Lithograph
27 1/2 x 18 3/4” (69.9 x 47.6 cm)

Portfolio: Atheist at the Workbench

In 1927, multiple illustrations that had appeared within the bound journal Bezbozhnik u stanka (Atheist at the Workbench) since its founding in 1923 were published as loose sheets in an independent portfolio:

“Bezbozhnik u stanka”: 1923-V-1927 (Five Years of Atheist at the Workbench, 1923–1927)
Moscow: Committee of the VKP (b) (All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks), [1927]
Cardboard portfolio containing lithographs printed in four colors
154 loose sheets: 138 single sheets measuring approximately 14 x 10 1/2” (35.5 x 26.6 cm) and 26 double sheets measuring approximately 14 x 21” (35.5 x 53.3 cm), with variations by up to a half inch in both dimensions
Edition size unknown

This section presents a selection of sheets from this portfolio.

Portfolio cover for Bezbozhnik u stanka, V, 1923-1927 (Five Years of Atheist at the Workbench), [1927] Letterpress adhered to cardboard Closed: 14 1/2 x 11” (36.8 x 27.9 cm); open: 14 1/2 x 22 7/8” (36.8 x 58.1 cm) — Portfolio cover for *Bezbozhnik u stanka, V, 1923-1927* (Five Years of Atheist at the Workbench),
[1927]
Letterpress adhered to cardboard
Closed: 14 1/2 x 11” (36.8 x 27.9 cm); open: 14 1/2 x 22 7/8” (36.8 x 58.1 cm)

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) 1917-1927: Tenth Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution [Text:] “Nowadays both in Europe and in Russia any defense or justification of the idea of God—even the most refined and best-intentioned—is a justification of reactio… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
1917-1927: Tenth Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution
[Text:] “Nowadays both in Europe and in Russia any defense or justification of the idea of God—even the most refined and best-intentioned—is a justification of reaction.” —Lenin
Editorial note: Lenin’s quote is from a letter he wrote from Krakow, Poland, to the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky, then residing on the Italian island of Capri, in the second half of November 1913.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] Christ [as quoted in Matthew 11:28]: “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened!” Women: “Our diligent Protector, you are our Father.” Kulak [wealthy farmer] and bourgeois (speaking out of Jesus Christ’s… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:]
Christ [as quoted in Matthew 11:28]: “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened!”
Women: “Our diligent Protector, you are our Father.”
*Kulak* [wealthy farmer] and bourgeois (speaking out of Jesus Christ’s pockets): “While their Protector turns their heads, we’ll ride in the Lord’s pocket.”

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] The highest achievement of human culture—at the domestic market. [Text below:] CAPITAL. Marx is outdated. It is not the dictatorship of the proletariat but the class collaboration. Kautsky and Jesus Christ will… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] The highest achievement of human culture—at the domestic market.
[Text below:] CAPITAL. Marx is outdated. It is not the dictatorship of the proletariat but the class collaboration. Kautsky and Jesus Christ will explain it to you right now.
Editorial note: Karl Kautsky (1854–1938) was a Marxist theorist, leader of the German Social Democratic Party, and one of the leading figures of the organization of socialist and labor parties known as the Second International. He maintained that Christianity was originally a revolutionary organization that proclaimed a liberation from poverty which was to take place not in Heaven, but on Earth.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Oxygen and hydrogen free [Text below:]  And God said: “Take the stars down, kids, because it’s day now, and you can put them back in the evening. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Gene… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Oxygen and hydrogen free
[Text below:] And God said: “Take the stars down, kids, because it’s day now, and you can put them back in the evening. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Genesis: 18) [King James Version, Genesis 1:19]

Dmitrii Moor (1883 1946) [Text above:] In Cultured Europe. [Text below:] My children, you’ll be hanged tomorrow— Glory to You, O Lord! But today, in the name of our merciful Jesus Christ, you must reconcile with the authority against which you had r… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883 1946)
[Text above:] In Cultured Europe.
[Text below:] My children, you’ll be hanged tomorrow— Glory to You, O Lord! But today, in the name of our merciful Jesus Christ, you must reconcile with the authority against which you had rebelled. Take Communion and enter into eternal life.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] To each his own. [Text below:] Heaven is for them; Earth is for us. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] To each his own.
[Text below:] Heaven is for them; Earth is for us.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] Picture Puzzle [Text below:] Which one is an atheist? — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] Picture Puzzle
[Text below:] Which one is an atheist?

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] The Family Turnip [Text below:] Our grandma lures our mother to Mass, and so each Sunday we have to act as if we’re living in the Russian folktale “The Enormous Turnip.” Father took hold of Mother, the Kom… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] The Family Turnip
[Text below:] Our grandma lures our mother to Mass, and so each Sunday we have to act as if we’re living in the Russian folktale “The Enormous Turnip.” Father took hold of Mother, the Komsomol [The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League] member took hold of Father, the Pioneer took hold of the Komsomol member, the *Oktiabrenok* [a member of the Little Octobrists] took hold of the Pioneer. And as for our cat, he was born an atheist. They pulled and pulled…But will they be able to pull it up?
**Editorial note**: The “The Enormous Turnip” is a Russian folktale in which a grandfather plants a turnip which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. Successively more people are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together.

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text below:] [A short poem noting that a capitalist has a house of God under the glass, which seems to imply that he controls the church to his own ends.] — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text below:] [A short poem noting that a capitalist has a house of God under the glass, which seems to imply that he controls the church to his own ends.]

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text above:] After the Confession [Text below:] Priest: “I take the world’s sins on myself.”Editorial note: The bag of the priest depicted here is full of money. Either those who have just confessed have had their pockets… — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text above:] After the Confession
[Text below:] Priest: “I take the world’s sins on myself.”
Editorial note: The bag of the priest depicted here is full of money. Either those who have just confessed have had their pockets picked, or their pockets are empty because of their donations to the church.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] The Lord created the Heavens and the Earth in six days, and on the seventh day he created a priest. And then Lord rested, while the priest finished the rest. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] The Lord created the Heavens and the Earth in six days, and on the seventh day he created a priest. And then Lord rested, while the priest finished the rest.

Mechislav Dobrokovsky (1895–1938) [Text above:] A Prophet of the Twentieth Century [Text below:] Nechaev-Mal’tsev, owner of glass factories in Gus’ Khrustal’nyi, was building a church to stupefy the workers. When, during the 1906 strike, the workers… — **Mechislav Dobrokovsky** (1895–1938)
[Text above:] A Prophet of the Twentieth Century
[Text below:] Nechaev-Mal’tsev, owner of glass factories in Gus’ Khrustal’nyi, was building a church to stupefy the workers. When, during the 1906 strike, the workers demanded that a club be built, the owner replied: “That church will be your club.” His prophecy has now come true.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text below, left]: Without God [Text below, right]: Life with God in the Godly world — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text below, left]: Without God
[Text below, right]: Life with God in the Godly world

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] The World Revolution is Spreading Out in Three Columns [Text below:] England / USSR / China — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] The World Revolution is Spreading Out in Three Columns
[Text below:] England / USSR / China

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Title page (?) for the portfolio Bezbozhnik u stanka, V, 1923-1927 (Five Years of Atheist at the Workbench), [1927]Editorial note: This bespectacled old man wears both the turban of a mullah and the vestment of a Christian. … — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Title page (?) for the portfolio *Bezbozhnik u stanka, V, 1923-1927* (Five Years of Atheist at the Workbench), [1927]
Editorial note: This bespectacled old man wears both the turban of a mullah and the vestment of a Christian. He appears repeatedly within the portfolio and is identified as *Bog* (God). This image originally appeared on the cover of the journal *Bezbozhnik u stanka* (Atheist at the Workbench), vol. 3, no. 11 (1925). The manner in which the figure presents two issues of the journal suggests that this sheet may have served as the title page of the current portfolio.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] God is Spirit / Compressor is an Air Pump [Text below:] Farewell, Russian Orthodox believers, I am gone. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] God is Spirit / Compressor is an Air Pump
[Text below:] Farewell, Russian Orthodox believers, I am gone.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] Priest: Don’t bemoan your heavy burden, because a great reward is prepared for you in Heaven. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] Priest: Don’t bemoan your heavy burden, because a great reward is prepared for you in Heaven.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Good and Evil are Crying Together [Text below:] Women used to support us quite a lot, but now even they went over to the Soviets [Text in image, on red banner:] Woman / The Soviets — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Good and Evil are Crying Together
[Text below:] Women used to support us quite a lot, but now even they went over to the Soviets
[Text in image, on red banner:] Woman / The Soviets

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Everything is in the Hand of God [Text below, under each figure, left to right:]Baptist / The Merchant [Ivan Andreevich] Goliaev: “One’s own cart is not a burden. All of us are brothers to our God.”Editorial no… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Everything is in the Hand of God
[Text below, under each figure, left to right:]
**Baptist / The Merchant [Ivan Andreevich] Goliaev**: “One’s own cart is not a burden. All of us are brothers to our God.”
Editorial note: In the 1920s, Ivan Andreevich Goliaev, a sectarian from the town of Balashov, was Chairman of the Central Council of Baptists and a member of the cooperative “Brotherly Help.”
**Renovationist** **/ Metropolitan [Aleksandr Ivanovich] Vvedensky**: “I am [supporting] only our Lord and nobody else. As for the *NEPmen* [Russian businessmen during the New Economic Policy], *Kulaks* [wealthy farmers], and others, here our interests unexpectedly align.”
Editorial note: From 1923 to 1946, Aleksandr Ivanovich Vvedensky (1889-1946) was Head of the Living Church movement, also known as the “obnovlencheskaia” or Renovationist Church, which was intended to reform the Russian Orthodox Church. Vvedensky was considered a heretic by the Russian Orthodox Church.
**Staryi pop / Old Priest**: “Every priest should support his local benefactor. I am supporting the Lord without thinking twice.”
**The Bride of Christ / [Ivan M.] Tregubov**: “What a disgrace! Why does everyone confuse me with the merchant Goliaev and with the priests? I am not at all like them.”
Editorial note: In the early 1920s, Ivan M. Tregubov, an employee of the Commissariat of Agriculture, was a self-appointed religious sectarian leader. Starting immediately after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, he promoted the idea that sectarian communities were compatible with the new Socialist regime. In July 1919 he published an article in the leading Party newspaper *Pravda* advocating cooperation between Bolsheviks and sectarians in building Communism. In 1925, he also contributed to the newspaper *Bezbozhnik* (Atheist). However, Tregubov’s sectarian program allowed the *Kulaks* [wealthy farmers] the freedom to rent land and hire labor and advocated for free foreign trade and the accumulation of private property. The Council of the *Soiuz voinstvuiushchikh bezbozhnikov* (Militant Atheists) severely criticized Tregubov’s program, calling it a “political capitalist program of the *Kulaks*.”

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Kulaks [wealthy farmers], NEPmen [Russian businessmen during the New Economic Policy], profiteers, and others have appointed their representative. [Text below:] They have appointed a decent deputy for communica… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] *Kulaks* [wealthy farmers], *NEPmen* [Russian businessmen during the New Economic Policy], profiteers, and others have appointed their representative.
[Text below:] They have appointed a decent deputy for communication with foreign kingdoms.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Why the Bourgeois need Christian Trade Unions. [Text below:] Christ is leading the strikebreakers: My children, help our dear brother in Christ who suffers because of these wretched strikers. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Why the Bourgeois need Christian Trade Unions.
[Text below:] Christ is leading the strikebreakers: My children, help our dear brother in Christ who suffers because of these wretched strikers.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] NEPman’s Prayer [Text below:] Oh Lord, if you can, please help me, a sinner. Help me, Lord, to cheat and circumvent this hated Soviet regime.Editorial note: NEPmen were Russian businessmen during the New E… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] *NEPman*’s Prayer
[Text below:] Oh Lord, if you can, please help me, a sinner. Help me, Lord, to cheat and circumvent this hated Soviet regime.
Editorial note: NEPmen were Russian businessmen during the New Economic Policy.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] By the Iberian Mother of God Chapel in 1914 [Text below:] Oh Lord, save thy people…Victory for our most orthodox Emperor!Editorial note: This work depicts Russian people praying by the Iberian Mother of Go… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] By the Iberian Mother of God Chapel in 1914
[Text below:] Oh Lord, save thy people…Victory for our most orthodox Emperor!
Editorial note: This work depicts Russian people praying by the Iberian Mother of God Chapel, built in 1669 to enshrine the miracle-working icon next to the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow. The chapel was located at the main entrance to Red Square. According to a popular custom, everyone heading for Red Square or the Kremlin visited the chapel to pay homage at the shrine. The date “1914” in the title of this work may be a reference to the contrast between the pretense of public piety and the brutal reality of sending citizens to the slaughter in WWI.

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text above:] This is how God tried to bring electricity to a village. [Text below:] And this is how the village got electricity. — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text above:] This is how God tried to bring electricity to a village.
[Text below:] And this is how the village got electricity.

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text on the church:] Shearing and shaving goats and rams [Text below:] He is such a rogue, he is very dexterous. He shaves five sheep at once. — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text on the church:] Shearing and shaving goats and rams
[Text below:] He is such a rogue, he is very dexterous. He shaves five sheep at once.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) and Mechislav Dobrokovsky (1895–1938) [Quote, upper left:] “It is, therefore, a profound truth that Socialism is the natural enemy of religion. Through Socialism alone will the relations between men in society, and their rel… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946) and **Mechislav Dobrokovsky** (1895–1938)
[Quote, upper left:] “It is, therefore, a profound truth that Socialism is the natural enemy of religion. Through Socialism alone will the relations between men in society, and their relations to Nature, become reasonable, orderly, and completely intelligible, leaving no nook or cranny for superstition. The entry of Socialism is, consequently, the exodus of religion.”—Karl Marx [*British Socialist Party Manifesto*, 1911]
[Quote, upper right:] “The modern class-conscious worker, reared by large-scale factory industry and enlightened by urban life, contemptuously casts aside religious prejudices, leaves heaven to the priests and bourgeois bigots, and tries to win a better life for himself here on Earth.” Lenin [“Socialism and Religion,” *Novaia zhizn’* (New Life), no. 28 (December 3, 1905)]

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text below]: Servant of God / Communist Party candidate — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text below]: Servant of God / Communist Party candidate

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] Who will Win? [Text below, left:] Without God [Text below, right]: With God — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] Who will Win?
[Text below, left:] Without God
[Text below, right]: With God

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] Cooperation of social classes with nature, or the earthly path to the Kingdom of God.Editorial note: This work was also distributed as a large-scale poster with a different caption (see below). — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] Cooperation of social classes with nature, or the earthly path to the Kingdom of God.
Editorial note: This work was also distributed as a large-scale poster with a different caption (see below).

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Clean up your mess [Text below:] Antipka [the boy in the Red Army uniform]: “Pretty much because of you I worked on a subscription. That’s enough for now. I have to go to school while you, an old man, should cl… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Clean up your mess
[Text below:] Antipka [the boy in the Red Army uniform]: “Pretty much because of you I worked on a subscription. That’s enough for now. I have to go to school while you, an old man, should clean up your mess.”
[Text in image, on wall:] Subscribe to 1926 *Atheist at the Workbench*
[Text in image, beside boy:] “I am an Atheist”

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] He took off his blindfold, and on it there was an image of “Spas” [the Savior Not Made by Human Hands].Editorial note: The icon of “the Savior Not Made by Human Hands”—also known as “the Mandylion,” “the Image … — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] He took off his blindfold, and on it there was an image of “*Spas*” [the Savior Not Made by Human Hands].
Editorial note: The icon of “the Savior Not Made by Human Hands”—also known as “the Mandylion,” “the Image of Edessa,” the *Spas nerukotvornyi,* or the Holy Visage—is by tradition the earliest icon and relic of the Christian churches. Like Veronica’s Veil, it was a cloth on which Christ’s face was miraculously imprinted rather than being painted or created through human effort. We are grateful to Dr. Karen Kettering, a specialist in icons, for providing this information.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:] New York, December 25 (radio): He is born, born, born! New and original! The highest achievement of human culture! A PERFECTLY IMMACULATE CONCEPTION! American imperialism (a Virgin) gave birth to Coolidge,… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] New York, December 25 (radio): He is born, born, born! New and original! The highest achievement of human culture! A PERFECTLY IMMACULATE CONCEPTION! American imperialism (a Virgin) gave birth to Coolidge, the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! Emmanuel Coolidge! May the word of God come true: “Behold the virgin will give birth to a son and his name will be Coolidge.” (Emmanuel) (Isaiah 7:14). Glory to God and World Peace! (Song of angels). THE STRENGTH OF THE WORLD IS GUARANTEED. It won’t cost you much.
Editorial note: This sarcastic text refers to Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), President of the United States from 1923 to 1929. For the Soviet authorities, the United States was a symbol of all that was regressive and reactionary in the capitalist world. As a result, in their work Soviet artists often demonized the United States as a land of fat capitalists, militarism, and racial injustice, among other evils.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above, God:] “Do you feel better now, Granny?” [Text below, Granny:] “Yes, I do, dear Lord. I can’t feel my legs at all, they’re frozen.” — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above, God:] “Do you feel better now, Granny?”
[Text below, Granny:] “Yes, I do, dear Lord. I can’t feel my legs at all, they’re frozen.”

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text below:]  Jesus said: “These five loaves will be enough for 50,000 to eat…they won’t ask for more.”Editorial note:  The “Feeding of the 5,000”—whereby Jesus is said to have fed 5,000 people with just five loav… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text below:] Jesus said: “These five loaves will be enough for 50,000 to eat…they won’t ask for more.”
Editorial note: The “Feeding of the 5,000”—whereby Jesus is said to have fed 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish—is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels: Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:31-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:1-14.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Everyday life [Text in image, upper left:] Drunk citizens are not sold anything. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Everyday life
[Text in image, upper left:] Drunk citizens are not sold anything.

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Confession [Text below:] Confession was not invented for nothing. It is through your confession that your every thought will reach the ears of the district policeman. — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Confession
[Text below:] Confession was not invented for nothing. It is through your confession that your every thought will reach the ears of the district policeman.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] Young Pioneer’s Page [Text below:] Young Pioneers don’t believe in GodEditorial note: The Pioneer Organization was a mass youth organization for children age ten to fifteen in the Soviet Union. It operated… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] Young Pioneer’s Page
[Text below:] Young Pioneers don’t believe in God
Editorial note: The Pioneer Organization was a mass youth organization for children age ten to fifteen in the Soviet Union. It operated between 1922 and 1991, when it was dissolved with the collapse of USSR. The main symbols of Young Pioneers were their red ties and badges, which featured a profile of Lenin. Among their rituals were the Pioneer salute, the Young Pioneers’ parade, and the raising of the flag.

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text below:] Red and White Head ScarvesEditorial note: On the right, a woman in a red head scarf is holding the official Soviet newspaper Komsomol’skaia Pravda (Komsomol Truth); on the left, a woman in a white head sca… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text below:] Red and White Head Scarves
Editorial note: On the right, a woman in a red head scarf is holding the official Soviet newspaper *Komsomol’skaia Pravda* (Komsomol Truth); on the left, a woman in a white head scarf is putting up a poster reading “Christ is Our Teacher.”

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text below:] “God, get out of here!” — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text below:] “God, get out of here!”

Nikolai Kogout (1891–1959) [Text above:] Religion is a brake on the development of agricultural machinery [Text below:] [A short poem noting that, if one would remove his long caftan and not carry candles, it would be easier to plow the land.] — **Nikolai Kogout** (1891–1959)
[Text above:] Religion is a brake on the development of agricultural machinery
[Text below:] [A short poem noting that, if one would remove his long caftan and not carry candles, it would be easier to plow the land.]

Mechislav Dobrokovsky (1895–1938) [Words in image, left to right:] Warmth / Life / Weather / Food / Light [Text below:] The sun gives light, warmth, and food to the planet Earth. Life on Earth depends on the sun. The sun determines the weather on ou… — **Mechislav Dobrokovsky** (1895–1938)
[Words in image, left to right:] Warmth / Life / Weather / Food / Light
[Text below:] The sun gives light, warmth, and food to the planet Earth. Life on Earth depends on the sun. The sun determines the weather on our planet.
God (confused): “Where does this colossus come from? Nowhere in my religious books is it written about. The atheists all lie. Amen, amen—let it all fall to pieces.”

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] A riddle for an old man [Text below:] So many womenfolk and not one of them is praying. What is this place I’ve come to? — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] A riddle for an old man
[Text below:] So many womenfolk and not one of them is praying. What is this place I’ve come to?

Aleksandr Deineka (1899–1969) [Text above:] The Power of the Soviets [Text below:] Under the leadership of the working class [Text within image:] Lenin. We are building socialism under the leadership of the proletariat in union with the poor peasant… — **Aleksandr Deineka** (1899–1969)
[Text above:] The Power of the Soviets
[Text below:] Under the leadership of the working class
[Text within image:] Lenin. We are building socialism under the leadership of the proletariat in union with the poor peasants and the middle-income peasants. Industrialization, cooperation. Reduction of prices! A regime of economics! The Power of the Soviets. The Red Army! To battle against bureaucracy, the *Kulak* [wealthy farmers], and the priest!

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) [Text above:] Christ’s Mystery [Text below:] It’s better to kill flesh but to save soul — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
[Text above:] Christ’s Mystery
[Text below:] It’s better to kill flesh but to save soul

Large-Scale Posters: Atheist at the Workbench

Large-scale posters of works that had appeared in the journal were offered as a free “bonus” to subscribers of Bezbozhnik u stanka (Atheist at the Workbench).

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Poster: The Triumph of Christianity, 1923 Lithograph on paper on japan 28 1/8 x 41” (71.4 x 104.1 cm) — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Poster: The Triumph of Christianity, 1923
Lithograph on paper on japan
28 1/8 x 41” (71.4 x 104.1 cm)

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Poster: Savior of the World, [before 1927] [Text below:] Follow me into the bosom of my father and He will give you eternal life. Christ is risen! Easter of the lord. Easter: God brings Christ from death to life. Lithograph … — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Poster: Savior of the World, [before 1927]
[Text below:] Follow me into the bosom of my father and He will give you eternal life. Christ is risen! Easter of the lord. Easter: God brings Christ from death to life.
Lithograph on paper
28 5/8 x 42 3/4” (72.7 x 108.5 cm)
Editorial note: This work appeared in the 1927 portfolio with a different caption (see above).

Dmitrii Moor (1883–1946) Poster: Christ is risen!, 1931 [Text below:] Capital: Well, I have crushed them enough! I fear the working cattle may riot! It is time to allow a divine fog to descend! Let's pour sacred oil over their hearts! Christ is Rise… — **Dmitrii Moor** (1883–1946)
Poster: Christ is risen!, 1931
[Text below:] Capital: Well, I have crushed them enough! I fear the working cattle may riot! It is time to allow a divine fog to descend! Let's pour sacred oil over their hearts! Christ is Risen! Let's embrace each other and forgive each other all sins, voluntary and involuntary. All people are brothers! Priests, lower the curtain of "Christ's resurrection."
Lithograph on paper
29 1/4 x 41 3/4” (74.2 x 100 cm)

For Export: Atheist at the Workbench

Covers and pages from the journal Bezbozhnik u stanka (Atheist at the Workbench) issued for export were printed with English translations appearing either as “handwritten” additions or as printed type. On each issue, the publisher—“Moscow Regional Committee of the All Union Communist (Bolshevik) Party”—and the slogan—“Proletarians of all countries, unite!”—were translated, along with that issue’s main caption.