«Islamic politics» of the Soviet state and the famine of the early 1920’s in the Volga region: unknown pages of the fight hunger activities of the central spiritual directorate of Muslims

The paper analyzes the circumstances, the results and the evaluation of the activities of the Commission to fight hunger of the Central Spiritual Directorate of Muslims in the 1922-1923 from the point of view of different party-government organizations. The analysis is based on both known and previously secret archival sources; the author drives the conclusion about the impact of the Commission's work on the party-state policy towards the Islamic religion in Soviet Russia.