The Soviet Union had eventually established a public opinion research centre, and it was one of the most important of the variety of agencies that followed the public mood in the early years of the new century. It was generally economic issues that mattered most to ordinary Russians, and there was considerable support for many of the principles that had informed the Soviet system in the past, including its provision of full employment and comprehensive social welfare. Letters to the newspapers were another form of communication with the mass of the society that continued into the postcommunist period, and the authorities themselves placed an increasing emphasis on forms of interaction of this kind, in digital as well as more traditional forms. The postcommunist period had also seen the various churches take an increasingly prominent part in public life; but religious beliefs were vague and internally contradictory, and they had little direct effect on political allegiances.