Day by day I begin to wonder more and more if I can even call myself a communist anymore. Its becoming hard to really reconcile my faith with communism if the ideology itself is theorically opposed to it. Bukharin's book, "ABCs of Communism," has an entire section on Chapter 11 that directly talks about why religion and communism are incompatible. Communists believe history is driven by class struggle and material conditions. Religious people believe in stuff like divine intervention or divine will. A communist would probably look at islam (my faith) and be like "No prophet was sent a message by God and acted upon it, it was their material conditions that made them act." I don't see how one could believe both, it feels like its either or.
Sure, it is perfectly possible for religious people to largely agree with Marxists on such things as historical materialism and present-day class struggles, not to mention struggles for national liberation, against racism, etc. It is possible be anti-capitalist and fight for a classless, moneyless, and stateless society where MOP is colletively owned but at the end of the day, there is philosophical tension.
I feel at best, I can be an ally, but the way I see it, I will never be one of them. I do not belong. My voice does not count equally and my beliefs make me suspect. I have faced hostility from leftists that are atheist and hostile towards religion and been called a revisionist. If this is how me and others are gonna be treated just because of our faith, I'd rather die than simply be used as cannon fodder in a revolution.
You have to remember that the extremely militant atheism of the Russian and Spanish revolutions were in response to the clergy aligning themselves with the ruling class and reactionary forces. This is because the class interests of the clergy, as property owners, was aligned with that of the aristocrats and bourgeoisie and was inherently at odds with socialism. I do think certain parts of the revolutionary movements overcorrected in reaction but it's understandable why they zero'd in on religion so strongly with this context.
It's also worth mentioning that there were (and are) many instances of liberation theology all across the global south.
Thesis: The majority of people in the global south are more religious than westerners are
Antithesis: Socialist movements have historically been anti-religious
Synthesis: For the greatest chance of success and popular support, socialist ideology has to fit into a narrative that does not contradict religious teachings
Did I do it right?
Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis is Fichtean, not Hegelian.
But yes socialists have to act in accordance with their material conditions. If the workers are mostly religious then anti-religious sentiment needs to be toned down. Of course there's a difference between antitheism and anti-clericalism.