In 1928, the Soviet government launched an aggressive five-year campaign to build Russia’s industrial capacity and revolutionize agricultural production. One way to move the population towards these goals, while also teaching them to recognize the dangers of capitalism and religion, was the dissemination of educational propaganda. The Anti-Religious Alphabet, published in 1933, reflects both real and perceived threats to the security of the Soviet government in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It also captures the escalating violence of the tactics used to discredit religious belief, which was thought to be a significant obstacle to the success of the Soviet regime.

With illustrations by the well-known political satirist Mikhail Cheremnykh and text by his wife Nina, The Anti-Religious Alphabet was probably used in Soviet elementary schools as part of an atheist education program for children. Choosing a cheerful young communist as their protagonist, the Cheremnykhs used humor to help Soviet schoolchildren recognize class enemies in their midst and encourage them to reject the beliefs of their parents.

Each small poster of The Anti-Religious Alphabet illustrates a letter of the Russian alphabet. Like many other alphabets for children, each letter is accompanied by an alliterative word or phrase—“A is for Apple, B is for Boy”—that encourages readers to link the letter and word through sound. Unlike “A is for Apple,” though, each letter of The Anti-Religious Alphabet is captioned with a four-word slogan that condemns all forms of religious belief and advocates a new secular paradise of tractors, science, and collective farming.