The implementation of normative legal acts in the sphere of anti-religious policy in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and 1930s (on the example of the Ulyanovsk province)

The development of the Soviet government’s religious policy in term of NEP collapse and formation of the Stalinist model of political governance and socio-economic relations are analyzed in the article. The opposition of the of Russian society’s religious consciousness and Marxist ideology, which was established by the Soviet government, was reflected in Soviet legislation. From 1918 till the end of the 1930s there was a gradual abandonment of the religious freedom principle. Special attention is paid to the study of the legislation of the various anti-religious forms of Soviet and party governing institutions on the ground, and the beginning of repressive measures against the clergy. The authors conclude that transition to administrative harassment of clergy and force pressure on the religious organization was the result of general changes in the political course of the Soviet government in the late 1920s and was caused by the extremely low efficiency of religious policy of the preceding period.