Perhaps one of the biggest failures of communism from a social perspective is its failure to replace religion. Throughout history communist leaders tried but failed to substitute communism for church-based religion. This argument is easy to support when looking at the fact that religion continued to be practiced in Russia throughout the 20th century, even if underground. Further evidence of the failure of communism to eliminate religion is the explosion of religious activity which erupted shortly after the final collapse of the Soviet regime. This analysis will review the perspectives of several communist leaders in an effort to show that despite their efforts to replace church-based religion with communism, their efforts were largely in vain.
The writings of Karl Marx, which included the belief that religion was the opiate of the people, heavily influenced one of communism’s most influential leaders, Nikolay Lenin (Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov). Many have argued that Leninism is Marxism, but Lenin used Marx in a twofold manner. One of these was as a replacement for religion. To Lenin, Marxism was a creed or religious dogma. For Lenin, Marxism could supply the bond of faith or a shared ideal that he would use to make communism’s appeal serve policy formation more effectively than church-based ideology influenced the masses. He would form a government of former radicals and criminals that would use all means at its disposal to oppress organized religion “The Bolshevik government actively discouraged all religious practice, handing out pamphlets and closing down churches. Schools were totally under the control of the communist party. Marxism was taught in schools like religion” (Newcombe 4).
Lenin very often supported a policy by quoting some passage from Marx like some religious fundamentalist quoting scripture. When an opponent would criticize one of Lenin’s policies, he would often hold up something out of Marx...