Controlling the Activities of Local Soviet Authorities in Relation to the Muslim Religious Communities of Karachay-Cherkessia (1970s and early of the 1980s)

The article examines the measures taken by the Soviet authorities to control the religious activities of Muslims in Karachay-Cherkessia in the 1970s and early 1980s. Special attention is paid to the involvement of the "advanced public" in this process in the form of commissions for compliance with legislation on cults under the executive committees of district, city and village Councils of Workers' Deputies. At the same time, the paper notes that the prohibitive policy against Islamic communities has proved ineffective and the authorities have failed to bring them under full control. The number of unregistered Muslim groups, mosques, and clerics was several times higher than the number of legal ones.