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.
the point is, i am not talking about islam in practice, in Algiers where i live, most people don't fully follow the laws, a lot of women don't wear the hijab, some people drink, some have intimate relationships out of marriage, BUT we all understand and accept that islam (at least suni islam) is one true religion that must be unchanged, tho we compromise or try to excuse, but it's in vain because it's written very explicitly that you can't change or deviate from the text, if you don't follow the text or you don't care you're just an unprincipled muslim (at best),
and not only the practice, but the believes also, if you don't have faith in god, it's prophets and messengers, the books, the angels, the day of judgment and the divine decree, you're not considered to be a muslim, it's a take it or leave it situation, bending the religion to suite the cultural practices may be a reality, but it's in direct conflict with what the religion says, and that conflict mostly is resolved by repenting fully and accepting religion and it's believes as is, and that process is weaponized by the bourgeoisie as a counter-revolutionary tool,
(currently) most of the muslim population is sunni (like 90% or 80%), the existence of some random cult doesn't really matter as a contradiction because it's a really small minority, (tho the shia community is also a major part of the religion but idk about them), we all follow the same version (dictated by Saudi Arabia) no matter the part of the world,
islam through history was struggling for it's conservation, the fact that it fails or not doesn't contradicts what it stands for, it's just an impossible task because everything is in constant movement
what i mean is, keeping faith is a burden, because it will always pull you backward, we can't reconcile those contradictions so we have to liberate ourselves from them
Very informative, thank you. I can only observe this topic from the outside and as a history enthusiast, since i am not religious myself.
You're welcome, tho it's only based on my observations and my understanding of where I stand, I don't have actual theory to back it up but I hope I'm making sense 🤓
Didn't ksa have a more moderate Islam before CIA interference led to Wahabbism? Genuinely asking.
the fact that it turned into that shows that keeping that "moderate islam" is a vulnerability ready to be exploited by the bourgeoisie, most religious ppl would choose religion if they have to choose, and that choice is not imposed by secular revolutions but by religious authority
Maybe it's a difference of region, education, material and emotional stability. Western Europe used to be pretty religious and relinquished it fairly rapidly, imo. I speak in very general terms, obviously.
because their material conditions allows them to lose faith since it's proletariat also profit from imperialism (tho they are/will be losing it with their current fascist/neo-liberal regimes),
it's the opium of the people, if there's no pain to calm, there's no need for opium
Astute! I have no argument.