SOVIET SOCIALISM AS POLITICAL RELIGION OR UNIFYING THEORY? EXPLORING ITS ROLE IN TOTALITARIAN POLITICS AND SOCIAL COHESION

JĘDRZEJ PIEKARA

doi:10.21697/spch.2026.62.A.02

Published: 2026-11-09

Vol. 62 No. 1 (2026)

SOVIET SOCIALISM AS POLITICAL RELIGION OR UNIFYING THEORY? EXPLORING ITS ROLE IN TOTALITARIAN POLITICS AND SOCIAL COHESION

JĘDRZEJ PIEKARA

Studia Philosophiae Christianae

Section: Papers

https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2026.62.A.02

Abstract

This article analyses how to interpret Soviet socialism as a quasi-religious tradition. Its main aim is to compare two analytical frameworks: Soviet ideology as a political religion (the classic view of it as a tool of totalitarian control) and as a unifying theory
(a system that ensures social cohesion, based on the ideas of the evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson). The author seeks to answer the question of the status of Soviet ideology in the context of sociological and religious studies research – going beyond a purely historical or Sovietological perspective – and aims to open new research directions that follow from applying the unifying-theory approach. In the paper, arguments for attributing religious features to Soviet ideology are examined with reference to the history of ideas and classical theories of religion (including those of Émile Durkheim and Max Weber). The article highlights similarities between the system and millenarianism, eschatology, and apocalyptic thought, while also acknowledging empirical difficulties in studying religiosity in the USSR. Both interpretive frameworks are illustrated using examples of social organizations, including the Komsomol and the Proletkult. The findings indicate that the political-religious concept emphasizes the sacralization of power and its role as an oppressive instrument of control, striving to completely replace traditional denominations with a new system. By contrast, the unifying theory highlights the adaptive role of quasi-religious mechanisms, which strive to build stable social structures by drawing on the evolutionary foundation of religiosity, rather than creating a new faith. As a result, the first framework treats ideology as a mechanism of enslavement, whereas the second views it as a tool for strengthening cohesion, serving the group’s survival and stability. The author argues that the Soviet project should be regarded as a hybrid entity, operating simultaneously in the registers of coercion and cohesion, in which the two models complement each other – explaining both the regime’s institutional architecture and its capacity to stabilize the social order in a post-religious reality.

Keywords:

socialism, religion, Marxism, politics, communism, theory of religion

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PIEKARA, J. (2026). SOVIET SOCIALISM AS POLITICAL RELIGION OR UNIFYING THEORY? EXPLORING ITS ROLE IN TOTALITARIAN POLITICS AND SOCIAL COHESION. Studia Philosophiae Christianae, 62(1), 41–66. https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2026.62.A.02

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