The local self governments of Tatar mahallah in 1940s-1980s (on the materials of the Ulyanovsk region)

The article is devoted to the study of local self-governments of Tatar mahallahs in 1940-1980s. The author used the data of archival documents of the State Archive of the Ulyanovsk region. The author studied 33 cases of registration of religious societies, which worked in the postwar period in the Ulyanovsk region. The main attention is paid to the Muslim community as parish congregations of believers. The Muslim community was the organ of the self-government of the religious community; it functioned before the revolution and remained in the Soviet period of Russian history. But eventually the importance of the parish organizations in the management of the community has waned. The function of the community was carried out by the «twenty’s» act, when the founders of the community became legally responsible for the use of the building of the mosque. The parish assembly of believers was not carried out on a regular basis, only when it was necessary to solve a question. «Twenty» could not replace the parish religious assembly of believers, which was the basis of a democratic community. It solves the everyday problems of parish life. The role of such organizations has increased in 1980-1990s, during the liberalization of social and political life of the country.