Communist Ideology and Atheism

Communists in the Soviet Union and other countries were militant atheists and persecuted any religious people regardless of their religion. Why did they do so? The answer is very simple: the communist ideology is incompatible with any religion, but it is very compatible with atheism.

There are some modern Russian communists who profess to believe in God. However, the thing is that the official ideology of the Russian communist party is different from the original communist ideology.

In 1912, Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Bolsheviks eventually took the name communists. Mensheviks probably can be considered as socialists or social-democrats. The ideology of the communist party of the Soviet Union was the ideology of Bolsheviks, but the ideology of the contemporary Russian communist party is much more the ideology of Mensheviks, that is, they are actually socialists or social-democrats, even though they call themselves communists.

There were no religious people among Soviet communists. There were religious people in the Soviet Union, but they did not accept the communist ideology.

The theory of Marxism-Leninism consisted of three parts:
1. Marxism-Leninism philosophy,
2. Political economy,
3. Scientific communism.

In turn, Marxism-Leninism philosophy consisted of two parts:
1. Dialectical materialism,
2. Historical materialism.

Actually, historical materialism is based on the same principles as dialectical materialism. The main difference is that dialectical materialism deals with nature, while historical materialism deals with human society.

Both dialectical and historical materialism are based on atheism. In fact, the word "materialism" is synonymous to the word "atheism."

Although Western atheists and anti-theists may not like historical materialism, they will definitely like many ideas of dialectical materialism. In fact, they believe in many ideas of dialectical materialism already even if they have never heard this term.

What is the basic question of philosophy? Marxism-Leninism answers this way:

The basic question of philosophy is "the question of the relation of the consciousness and being, of the spiritual and the material in general. This question is the starting point of philosophical inquiry. Therefore, an answer to it, whether materialistic, idealistic, or dualistic, lies at the foundation of every philosophical doctrine. F. Engels wrote: “The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature … comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21, p. 283). <...>

"Engels was the first to single out the basic question of philosophy and elucidate its role in the construction of philosophical doctrines (ibid., pp. 282–91). According to him, the basic question of philosophy is the theoretical summation of the intellectual history of mankind."

So, Marxism-Leninism starts with what it calls basic question of philosophy and with its answer which is materialism. In other words, Marxism-Leninism starts with atheism. This is why Karl Marx wrote, "Communism begins where atheism begins." And this is why only atheists may be communists.