SOVIET ANTIRELIGIOUS POLICY IN THE LATE 1920S - EARLY 1930S THROUGH THE EYES OF SECOND "WAVE" RUSSIAN EMIGRANTS (ON THE HARVARD PROJECT MATERIALS)

Introduction. The article highlights the perception of Soviet antireligious policy at the turn of the 1920s and 1930s by Russian emigrants of the second wave. The main source is the materials of the Harvard Project, which consisted of complex interviews of former Soviet citizens by American researchers in the early 1950s. The purpose of the article is to identify and examine the testimonies of Harvard Project participants on the antireligious policies of the collectivization time and to determine its impact on emigrants. Content. The article provides a brief description of the contribution of second wave emigrants to the historiography of antireligious policy of the late 1920s - early 1930s. This contribution appears significant because of the valuable eyewitness accounts, good analysis in some cases, and the fact that emigrants were the first to begin to think about this topic. The following examines the main forms of Soviet antireligious policy mentioned by emigrants: closing and destruction of churches, antireligious agitation and removal of bells. Particular attention is paid to the stories of emigrants about the population's reaction to the antireligious actions of the authorities, including various forms of active and passive protest, as well as apocalyptic expectations. In addition, in some cases, the Harvard Project materials allow us to characterize the influence of antireligious policy on emigrants. In particular, it could be expressed in a long interruption of religious experience, which was a difficult test for the interview participants, in sympathy for the church, which was subjected to persecution, and in a reassessment of the Soviet regime itself. Conclusions. Religious studies approaches to working with the materials of the Harvard Project can be considered promising both for studying the specifics of the second wave of Russian emigration and for research in the field of the history of religions in the USSR. The stories of emigrants provide extensive and valuable evidence about the antireligious policy of the collectivization era, which complements existing work on the Soviet religious situation during this period.