Interaction Between the Council for Religious Affairs and the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the North Caucasus

The present work aims to recreate an objective picture of the interaction between the authorities and the spiritual administration of Muslims of the North Caucasus. During the Great Patriotic War, the leadership of the USSR dramatically changed its religious policy. This was an important move in tactical, but not strategic terms. Not a single leader of the USSR recognized the harshness and cruelty in state-confessional relations as a mistake or crime of the pre-war period. In 1943-1944, three new spiritual administrations of Muslims were created in the USSR. One of them, the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the North Caucasus (SAMNC), was organized in Dagestan. Almost from the first days of its work and for almost 21 years, it was supervised by the Council for Religious Affairs (SRAC), a structure under the Government of the USSR. An important area of activity for the SRAC was monitoring the activities of the SAMNC, preparing documents on the religious situation for the leadership of the regions and the USSR, monitoring the mood of believers. The SDRK made special efforts, thanks to its authorized representatives in Dagestan, to hold congresses, plenary sessions and meetings of the SAMNC on the election of the leadership of this department. The article also shows other aspects of the activities of the authorized representatives of the SRAC, including the preparation of amendments to the Charter of the Spiritual Directorate. Based on a significant number of archival documents unknown to specialists, the article shows and analyzes a large number of facts that help to understand the true nature and foundation of state-confessional relations, which were primarily built by the authorities of Dagestan, the SDRK and the leadership of the USSR