Violent Culture Wars: Religion and Revolution in Mexico, Russia and Spain in the Interwar Period

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between political revolution and antireligious violence in the interwar period through a comparison of Mexico, the Soviet Union and Spain. In all three cases antireligious violence was associated with revolution and the defeat of religion was seen either as a necessary condition for revolution or as an equally necessary result. All three revolutions were accompanied by violent ‘cultural revolutions’ targeting religion. The article engages in two levels of comparison. It explores similarities and dissimilarities among the events that took place in each of the three countries. At the same time, it juxtaposes the different explanatory models that have been offered of antireligious violence in each country, thereby initiating a dialogue between historiographical traditions that have developed in relative isolation from one another.