“We Ask You to Put an End to Lawlessness…”: Soviet Believers' Letters of 1960-1980s as a Form of Communication with the Government

The article focuses on letters written by believers to representatives of bureaucratic structures as a form of communication between the population and officials of atheistic creed. Religious people use this legitimate medium and fill it with remonstrative content. A number of letters reflects the formation of Soviet civil consciousness, for example, individual and civil rights construct is used to demand freedom of religion. Letter writers resort to traditional ways of demonstrating loyalty towards the regime, but they invert the situation by construing themselves as lawful citizens who call for observation of their rights and by representing local authorities as law-breakers.