Satirical magazine "Godless Crocodile" No. 7 dated March 16, 1924

The original magazine is in good collector's condition. The format is 165*255 mm. The volume is 8 strips. Rare. Guarantee of authenticity.

A satirical magazine. It was published in Moscow in 1924-1925 as a free satirical supplement to the newspaper "Godless". The responsible editor is Emelyan Yaroslavsky. The "Godless Crocodile" appears for the first time on January 13, 1924 on pages No. 2(55) of the "Godless" as a special satirical section of the newspaper. The department occupied the upper halves of all four pages, had a cliched title, was filled with sharp and topical feuilletons, fables, satirical poems and caricatures on anti-religious topics. Starting from February 10, 1924, from the 5th (58) issue of The Atheist, The Godless Crocodile was printed on a separate newspaper sheet, which was specially made up so that it could be folded into a notebook. The editors of The Atheist offered their readers to cut out this sheet, fold it accordingly and stitch it. In this form, the "Godless Crocodile" acquired the character of an independent satirical publication, which had a permanent cliched title, serial number, date of its publication, page numbering, its permanent departments and headings, etc.

The next 8 issues (No. 2-9) are published weekly starting from February 10, along with the next issues of The Godless. The publication of a special satirical supplement contributed to an even greater increase in the popularity of the newspaper among the masses, led to a rapid increase in circulation. Within two months , the circulation of the newspaper and its satirical supplement increased from 34 to 210 thousand copies . The wide popularity of the "Godless Crocodile" was explained primarily by the combative nature of anti-religious propaganda. The fact that the editorial staff skillfully used various means of satire and humor contributed a lot to its popularity. On the pages of the magazine, the machinations of priests and churchmen, the fanaticism of sectarians were exposed, a consistent struggle was waged for the emancipation of the working masses from religious stupor. With no less ruthlessness, the shortcomings in anti-religious work in the field, the tolerance of individual party and Soviet workers for popery, sectarianism, quackery, prejudice and ignorance of a part of the people, and especially the peasantry, were ridiculed. Works were regularly published in which the counter-revolutionary, reactionary role of the church was revealed, its connection with the exploiting classes, with capital. The editorial staff attracted such satirists as Demyan Bedny, A. Zorich, S. Gorodetsky and others to cooperate in the "Godless Crocodile". The art department was headed by M. Cheremnykh, whose drawings and cartoons were particularly sharp and inventive. Such permanent satirical sections and headings of the magazine as "Pitchfork in the side", "Crocodile in the tooth", "Paradise", "Readers' Page", were built, as a rule, on the materials of labor.

Due to a number of technical reasons, since April 1924 the magazine is planned as a fortnightly. However, even this periodicity is not maintained by the editorial board. The next issue of The Godless Crocodile is published only on April 27, and the next one is on June 1. These issues no longer had an ordinal numbering, although they were issued and printed, as before, on a single newspaper sheet. After the publication of the June issue, the publication of the Godless Crocodile is discontinued for more than a year.