The role of the clergy in the peasant protest during the collectivization period

The article presents an interpretation of the relationship between the government and the clergy in the conditions of the «great turning point» announced in the USSR, which marked the beginning of complete collectivization. On the base of archival materials and documentary publications, the author states that the scale of repressions against rural priests is not comparable with that one at the beginning of 1930s, which resulted in a massive protest of the clergy against the policy of the Soviet government in relation to the church. However, the struggle for existence, attracting the peasant masses to its side were often combined with manifestations of the submissiveness of the clergy in relation to the repressive state policy.