Abstract
For the legitimation of the “soviet project” the suppression of religion was necessary. But the project has had to undergo a number of revisions as it has been unable to eliminate religion, and the authorities who have been attempting to make use of it have entered into a complex relationship with the Churches. Some of the Churches have compromised themselves; others have gained prestige from the collaboration, thus contributing to a triple process of de-alienation, de-totalization and de-sovietization.
Those in authority have been unable to control the consequences of their manipulative efforts; the religious sphere has lost its autonomy by becoming diluted in the political field where it is contributing to the task of restructuring. By establishing itself as a privileged institution religion has gained the chance of challenging the system. By doing so, the soviettype system has created a new way of “recharging” the religious through the political.
However, the institutionalization of the Churches, legally recognized and politically encouraged by the authorities, is unable to conceal the capacity of religiosity to escape the confines of officialdom, where the state can exercise control. Instead, the religiosity emerges elsewhere, articulating itself in social and political spheres. It attempts, moreover, independently to create these spheres by reconstituting the social fabric and redefining the political scene.