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[[File:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|thumbnail|250|right|The [[atheism|atheist]] [[Joseph Stalin]] sent millions of peasants to slave labor camps.<ref>http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm</ref>]]

[[File:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|thumbnail|250|right|The [[atheism|atheist]] [[Joseph Stalin]] sent millions of peasants to slave labor camps.<ref>http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm</ref>]]

In atheistic communist regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day.<ref>

In atheistic [[communism|communist]] regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day.<ref>

*[http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm Museum of Communism FAQ] by Bryan Caplan]

*[http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm Museum of Communism FAQ] by Bryan Caplan]

*[http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/13/north-korea-economic-system-built-forced-labor North Korea: Economic System Built on Forced Labor New Testimonies Say Even Children Must Work or Face Detention Camps], Human Rights Watch, June 13, 2012</ref>

*[http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/13/north-korea-economic-system-built-forced-labor North Korea: Economic System Built on Forced Labor New Testimonies Say Even Children Must Work or Face Detention Camps], Human Rights Watch, June 13, 2012</ref>

[[Thomas Sowell]] wrote in an essay entitled ''Ending slavery'': "The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called "the religious right" and its organization was created by conservative businessmen."<ref>[http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2005/02/08/ending_slavery/page/full/ Ending slavery]</ref>

[[Thomas Sowell]] wrote in an essay entitled ''Ending slavery'': "The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called "the religious right" and its organization was created by conservative businessmen."<ref>[http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2005/02/08/ending_slavery/page/full/ Ending slavery]</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] established [[atheism]] as a key part of [[communism]].  He famously said,  "Religion ... is the opium of the masses."<ref>Marx, K. [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31765.html Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right] (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).</ref> He believed it was part of the "superstructure," a false culture built to maintain the status quo.  Thus he denigrated Christianity as a fictional religion.  Instead, Marx was an avowed atheist, as he wrote, "Communism begins from the outset with [[atheism]]; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."<ref>Marx, Karl, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Private Property and Communism], 1944.</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] established [[atheism]] as a key part of communism.  He famously said,  "Religion ... is the opium of the masses."<ref>Marx, K. [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31765.html Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right] (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).</ref> He believed it was part of the "superstructure," a false culture built to maintain the status quo.  Thus he denigrated Christianity as a fictional religion.  Instead, Marx was an avowed atheist, as he wrote, "Communism begins from the outset with [[atheism]]; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."<ref>Marx, Karl, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Private Property and Communism], 1944.</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on ''in practice'' and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."<ref>Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, ''Proletary'', No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm].</ref>  

[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on ''in practice'' and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."<ref>Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, ''Proletary'', No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm].</ref>