Protest Actions of the Population of the Don and Azov Regions as a Reaction to the Anti-Church Campaigns of 1922–194

The article focuses on the protest actions of the population of the Don and Priazovye regions during the implementation of anti-religious campaigns by the Soviet authorities. A statistical and chronological analysis of the closure of Don churches was conducted, revealing its dynamics depending on the scale of anti-religious persecution. It is shown that the peaks of protest sentiment among the population occurred in 1922, 1923, and 1930 – periods of massive anti-religious attacks in the form of campaigns to confiscate church valuables and close churches. It was established that during the campaign to confiscate church valuables, more than 100 people were held accountable for resisting the authorities. The identified sources
recorded seven cases of resistance by the population to the closure of churches in the Don and Priazovye regions from 1923 to 1940. Women played the most active role in protest actions at all stages, the peasant population protested more often than the Cossacks, and rural residents, with rare exceptions, protested more than urban dwellers. In some cases, local authorities provoked public unrest by grossly violating the law.