ОПИУМ ДЛЯ НАРОДА: АТЕИСТИЧЕСКОЕ ВОСПИТАНИЕ КАЗАХСТАНЦЕВ ПЕРИОДА «РАЗВИТОГО СОЦИАЛИЗМА»

Abstract

This study examines the state policy in the field of religion and how it was reflected in the life of Kazakhstani children during the period of “developed socialism”. During the period under study, the country’s leadership proclaimed an improvement in the material and spiritual quality of life of people, the implementation of the idea of raising a “new person” and “ensuring a happy childhood for every child.” The Soviet government promoted Marxist-Leninist scientific atheism, which rejected traditional religious beliefs and practices. The new communist worldview had to be formed from childhood, the ideological and informational campaign at school and in the family is aimed at this.This was facilitated by new Soviet holidays and ceremonies, which should replace religious ones. Religious practices and rituals are harshly criticized, declared enemies of progress, believers were recognized as representatives of a hostile ideology. It was necessary to protect the younger generation from “opium”, to form an atheistic worldview based on scientific knowledge. Proceeding from this, the party and state bodies made the school, the Komsomol, pioneer and public organizations the vanguard of this campaign. But archival sources and oral history data testify to the preservation of religious rituals in the family and everyday life of schoolchildren.