THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND "SOLIDARITY": THE INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION IN POLAND ON SOVIET SCIENTIFIC-ATHEISTIC PROPAGANDA

Introduction. The article reveals the reasons for the influence of the socio-political situation in Poland on the strengthening of Soviet scientific-atheistic propaganda. Using archival sources, the author, using the example of Soviet-Polish relations in the second half of the 20th century, proves the interconnection and determining influence of foreign policy factors on the content of atheistic education and the ideological work of the Soviet party-state apparatus. Content. The author establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between the events in the Polish People's Republic and the strengthening of scientific-atheistic propaganda in the Soviet Union. The work substantiates the attempt of the Soviet party-state apparatus to extrapolate the model of the attitude of the ruling party and state to religious associations to the territory of Poland. Based on archival material, the determinacy and complementarity of external and internal political factors is proven using the example of Soviet-Polish political-ideological relations. The main reasons for the adoption of resolutions by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU aimed at strengthening atheistic education in the Soviet Union are revealed. The structure and mechanisms of Soviet scientific-atheistic propaganda are revealed and the reasons for its low effectiveness are explained. Conclusions. Based on the research conducted, the author comes to the conclusion that the main reason for the development of scientific-atheistic propaganda and the system of atheistic education in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century was not internal political and ideological processes, but the international relations of the Soviet Union with the Warsaw Pact countries.