Searching for Belief during the Soviet End Times

Searching for Belief during the Soviet End Times

From The Eurasian Knot by The Eurasian Knot

March 2, 2026 · 1h 7m

About this episode

The episode explores the search for new belief systems among Soviet citizens during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

When societies are in crisis, people tend to seek alternative belief systems to give them comfort, explain a complex world, or fill a space left vacant by discredited ideologies and faiths. Like the embrace of spiritualism after the mass death during the American Civil War. The growth of millenarian movements and cults for fear of the end times. Or even the embrace of conspiracy theories to explain the unimaginable. The Soviet Union was no exception. As the system broke apart and Marxism-Leninism was tossed aside, a questioning of dominant narratives took root. Soviet citizens began to seek new belief systems–astrology, gurus, alternative medicines, sects and cults, and fantastical historical narratives. Joseph Kellner was struck by this explosion of belief seeking and wanted to understand it. Why did Russian citizens gravitate to new forms of belief? What was lost with the collapse of the Soviet system and what opportunities did a new society offer? And what does this all say about the need for humans to believe in, well, something? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Joseph about his book, The Spirit of Socialism: Culture and Belief at the Soviet Collapse , to get a sense of this urge…

People in this episode

Host: The Eurasian Knot

Guest: Joseph Kellner

Topics covered

  • belief systems
  • Soviet Union
  • collapse of ideologies
  • spiritualism
  • cults
  • conspiracy theories
  • cultural shifts

Keywords

  • Soviet collapse
  • belief seeking
  • Marxism-Leninism
  • astrology
  • alternative medicines
  • millenarian movements
  • historical narratives

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Georgia, Cornell University Press

Books & works: The Spirit of Socialism: Culture and Belief at the Soviet Collapse

Places: Soviet Union, Russia

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