When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion. Instead, atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the "sacred spaces" of Soviet life was not enough and eventually—in a stunning and unexpected reversal—Mikhail Gorbachev abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into public life as the Soviet experiment was nearing its end.

Lunch will be provided. Spaces are limited; those wishing to attend should RSVP here.

Victoria Smolkin is Associate Professor of History and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Wesleyan University.