Anti-religious campaign of the “Thaw” Age in a political aspect

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to identification of factors that are potentially could contribute to the transformation of religious organizations into political ones. To do this it is necessary to analyze the structure of religious organizations, the number of followers, the recruitment system, the material base, their financial and economic activities. Scientific novelty. On the basis of archival materials, it is proved that religious organizations had significant political potential. The presence of a potential political opponent caused a large-scale anti-religious campaign during the «thaw». Conclusions. Religious organizations had political potential, which under certain conditions could lead to their transformation into political organizations. This situation was determined by the following factors: the presence of religious organizations with a strong material base, a significant number of followers, the number of which was increasing every year, a functioning system of recruiting personnel who were educated on an ideology that deferred from the dominant ideology in the USSR, a layer of active clergy who could effectively organize the functioning of the parish, last but not least religious organizations were financially independent of the state and could meet their own needs independently.