Author: Kandidov, Boris
Title: Religiia V Tsarskoi Armii
Description: Moskva (Moscow), Aktsionernoe izdatelskoe obshchestvo "Bezbozhnik, 1928. First Edition. First edition; 9 x 6; pp. 3-80; rebound in plain brown wraps, with title and author's name in manuscript; chipping to tips of spine; two period library stamps to title page and last page; a small rice-paper repair to last leaf; illustrated with numerous drawings, photographs, and document facsimiles; overall in very good- condition. Boris Pavlovich Kandidov (1902 - 1953) was a staunch propagandist of atheism, a journalist, and a prolific author, whose books were said to contain valuable documentary material, not available in other sources. He was a member of the League of Militant Atheists of the USSR and the founder of the Central Anti-religious Museum in Moscow. Although quite prominent and influential in the early years after the October Revolution, his gradual fall from grace began in the late 1930s for criticizing the higher authorities for their refusal to launch an anti-church campaign in the newly-annexed Western Ukraine and Byelorussia and later, for the "softening" of the policy of the Soviet State towards the Church. By the mid-1940s, his lectures were cancelled, he was removed from propaganda duties, and he ended up working as a reviewer of anti-religious material. His current book slammed the religious beliefs, teachings, and policies in the Imperial Army during the reign of the Romanovs, grandly concluding his work with a chapter, titled: "The liberation of the imperial soldiers from the religious drug." He described the counter-revolutionary work of the army priests' and their brainwashing the masses. He provided ample visual material, including a facsimile copy of a commemoration brochure for Alexander III, showing his ascent towards a group of angels, which according to Kandidov intended to persuade the soldiers that the Romanovs were "Gods on Earth." OCLC lists copy of a second edition at Princeton; none other in the trade (as of December 2018). Very good .

Keywords: Anti-Religion, Romanovs, Army


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