Some people regard communism as a branch of atheism and one of the proofs of the non-existence of God. In fact, communism is merely an economic system which has nothing to do with the existence or non-existence of God. Just as some impulsive people declared that evolution is evidence against the existence of God, others have come to think that communism does the same. Communism, whether it is right or wrong, has nothing to do with the issue of the existence of God. It is merely an economic system whereby Russia took over the control of resources in an effort to justly distribute the country’s wealth, so they believe. They have stumbled in this effort and the harmful effects are being felt insidiously even now as evidenced by perpetual changes in the system but more obvious effects will surface after a few generations. In any case, communism is merely an economic system and has nothing to do with existence of God. Nevertheless, it made its headway by disrupting other systems including those attributed to religions. Thus, apparently, a confrontation has developed between this system and the teachings of religions.
The second reason for this confrontation was that the communist leaders abolished religious teaching in the schools to indoctrinate the youth with communism, and to exclude the impact of any anti-communist ideas. That has led to the spread of atheism in the country, but atheism is not part of communism. Instead, it is a consequence of factors surrounding it. There is nothing in communism itself which could be taken as an argument against the existence of God. The principles and some details of the communist system are, undoubtedly, against the teachings of known religions and contain, from a purely academic point of view, several dangerous elements that will unfold their formidable effects after a few generations. In any case, fundamentally, communism is an economic system—not religious or spiritual. So it is not right to present it in support of atheism.
For centuries, the European economic system had resulted in the accumulation of wealth of nations in the hands of a few capitalists, while the rest of the population struggled in dire straits of poverty. The situation deteriorated to such an extent that desperate measures to change the system were inevitable. The situation was most dreadful in Russia where the tyrannical rule of the Tsars and extravagant living of the rich had strangled the poor. Long periods of injustice always evoke a reaction that takes the form of rebellion against the established system. A similar reaction took place in Russia in the form of communism which laid the foundation of a new system through a brutal revolution. The reign of the Tsars ended, barons lost their ranks, the rich lost their riches, and the communist system was introduced for apparently equal sharing of the country’s wealth. Like every reaction and rebellion against an established system, communism turned from one extreme to the other. Obviously, both the extremes are equally dangerous, though these dangers may not be apparent immediately. Very briefly, the dangers are:
By taking over all the wealth and resources of the country, the state deprived the individual of the greatest incentive for hard work and industry. There are many incentives for work, but the most common one, that is found equally among all people of all classes and is part of human nature, is the desire to benefit from the fruit of one’s own labour. This desire and eagerness was crushed totally by communism. Indeed, every decent person has a desire to lend a hand to others and to spend a part of his wealth for their needs and Islam has emphasised that a great deal. The great natural incentive, however, is to know that man will enjoy the greater part of the fruit of his own labour. Communism has destroyed this incentive and slowed down human progress.
The second big drawback of communism is that, with all the resources in the hands of the government, the spirit to compete and excel each other will start waning, inevitably resulting in gradual national decline. For instance, when several individuals or firms, in addition to the state, are engaged in the manufacturing of cars or aircraft, and trying to promote the industry through hard work and research and with healthy rivalry and competition, the industry will flourish a great deal. By contrast, the industry monopolised by one system, and without any competition, will never make similar progress. Thus, the country will start declining in academic and industrial fields. Indeed, some industries can be, and should be, nationalised but wholesale nationalisation will sow the seeds of destruction of the country.
The above two will inevitably slow down the intellectual development and progress, and the human brain will ultimately be reduced to a machine.
Communism has also crushed individual sympathy and camaraderie inasmuch as the assistance of the poor and the deserving is in the hands of the government and no one else will have money to spare to help the poor or gift a dear one. As a result, the high moral values relating to love, friendship, sympathy, sacrifice, hospitality, helping the poor, kinship, and good-neighbourliness will start dying out and human society will become mechanised like everything else in the West.
Another drawback in communism is that it does not particularly prise higher intellectual capability, treating it on a par with manual work. Such a system ultimately leads to intellectual bankruptcy. This takes time. Therefore, all these dangers are being ignored in the current enthusiasm.
In any case, communism is a natural reaction to a long-standing, unjust system in Russia but the reaction took an extreme form. As far as the nation is concerned, practically it means: out of the frying pan of capitalism into the fire of communism.