| | <ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/nov/07/qatar-north-korean-forced-labour Qatar’s ambitious future driven on by North Korean ‘forced labour’], The Guardian, Pete Pattisson in Doha, Friday 7 November 2014 07.52 EST]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/red.giant/prisons/wu.essay/ |title=Labor camps reinforce China's totalitarian rule |publisher=Cnn.com |date=1984-10-09 |accessdate=2013-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=China to reform re-education through labor system|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-01/07/c_132086402.htm|accessdate=January 8, 2013|publisher=Xinhua|date=January 8, 2013}}</ref> See also: [[Atheism and slavery]] | | <ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/nov/07/qatar-north-korean-forced-labour Qatar’s ambitious future driven on by North Korean ‘forced labour’], The Guardian, Pete Pattisson in Doha, Friday 7 November 2014 07.52 EST]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/red.giant/prisons/wu.essay/ |title=Labor camps reinforce China's totalitarian rule |publisher=Cnn.com |date=1984-10-09 |accessdate=2013-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=China to reform re-education through labor system|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-01/07/c_132086402.htm|accessdate=January 8, 2013|publisher=Xinhua|date=January 8, 2013}}</ref> See also: [[Atheism and slavery]] |
| − | [[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> |
| | The [[militant atheism|militant atheist]] [[Joseph Stalin]] (1878 - 1953) was the dictator of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Soviet Union]] ([[CPSU]]) from 1922 until his death. Joseph Stalin, who was a brutal proponent of atheistic [[communism]], was greatly influenced by the work of the [[evolution]]ist [[Charles Darwin]] as were other communist leaders.<ref>http://creation.com/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism</ref><ref>http://creation.com/stalins-ape-man-superwarriors</ref><ref>http://creation.com/a-tale-of-four-countries</ref><ref>http://creation.com/darwin-trotsky-connection</ref> Stalin supported the organization the [[League of Militant Atheists]] which was created to propagate [[militant atheism]]. | | The [[militant atheism|militant atheist]] [[Joseph Stalin]] (1878 - 1953) was the dictator of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the [[Communist Party]] of the [[Soviet Union]] ([[CPSU]]) from 1922 until his death. Joseph Stalin, who was a brutal proponent of atheistic [[communism]], was greatly influenced by the work of the [[evolution]]ist [[Charles Darwin]] as were other communist leaders.<ref>http://creation.com/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism</ref><ref>http://creation.com/stalins-ape-man-superwarriors</ref><ref>http://creation.com/a-tale-of-four-countries</ref><ref>http://creation.com/darwin-trotsky-connection</ref> Stalin supported the organization the [[League of Militant Atheists]] which was created to propagate [[militant atheism]]. |