Confiscate the “voice of the church”: the campaign against church bells in the Tambov region

The state policy against bell ringing and church bells has already been studied by several scholars of history and culture, including the important works of V. Kozlov and S. Tosin. The campaign against church bells during the religious persecutions in the USSR can be divided into three periods: the period between 1918 and 1924, the end of the 1920’s through the 1930’s, and the turn of the 1960’s. In this article, the author presents material about the campaign against church bells in Tambov for the first time. The period under discussion here - the late 20’s and 30’s - has not yet been well researched. This article not only fills an important lacuna in knowledge, but also presents new types of archival materials, official documents, information from periodicals, and reviews the work of contemporary authors who are studying the period and events under consideration.