WORD VS REGIME: FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE AND DISSIDENTS ON THE EVE OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR

Aleksina Arina Konstantinovna

This article examines the key aspects of the relationship between dissidents and authorities regarding the issue of religious freedom on the eve of the dissolution of the USSR. Since 1918, Soviet citizens had been guaranteed freedom of religion, but in reality, the inhabitants of the Soviet Union were leaning towards a scientific and materialistic worldview under pressure. Freedom of conscience in practice was a real freedom only for atheists. The dissident movement and its struggle for the rights and freedoms of believers played a crucial role in the formation of a new spiritual identity after the end of the Soviet era. The study, based on an analysis of various Samizdat publications, emigrant magazines, and eyewitness memoirs, examines the reaction of Soviet society to the activities of dissidents and the development of public discourse on religious freedom by the time of the collapse of the USSR. The shift in public opinion towards the political opposition during the period of glasnost, which followed perestroika, led to a transformation of spiritual and cultural life in post-Soviet Russia. The reform of laws in the early years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union laid the groundwork for the future development of freedom of religion and belief in Russia.

Keywords:freedom of conscience, the collapse of the USSR, late Soviet discourse, human rights defenders, dissidents, samizdat, religious freedoms, the law on freedom of conscience