Communism versus Religion

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 dis

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mote atheism and mock and expose Christian holidays and saints. Ironically, these actions seemed to increase religious feeling and church attendance throughout the Soviet Union. Lenin was brutal in his response to this unintended consequence of his policies: In March 1922 Lenin launched a direct assault on the Orthodox church, the only organized body in Soviet Russia still outside Communist Party control. Using as a pretext the catastrophic famine of the previous year, he ordered the church to surrender its consecrated vessels, essential for services, to be sold for famine relief. Knowing that the church would not comply, he sought a pretext for charging it with refusal to obey laws and, at the same time, discrediting it in the eyes of the people for alleged callousness to human suffering. In the spring and summer of 1922 numerous incidents of resistance occurred, in consequence of which priests were arrested and numerous faithful killed. (Union 2) Stalin, after Lenin, continued to make communism the supreme dogma of the Russian people. Through institutions and state control, aggressive atheist propaganda and campaigns waged to wipe out organized religion, Stalin was not able to replace organized religion with communism

Category: Philosophy - C