Atheism and forced labor

The atheist Joseph Stalin sent millions of peasants to slave labor camps.[1]

In atheistic communist regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day.[2] [3][4][5] 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."[6] 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."[7]

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."[8]

The 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 evolutionist Charles Darwin as were other communist leaders.[9][10][11][12] Stalin supported the organization the League of Militant Atheists which was created to propagate militant atheism.

In 1955, Chinese communist leader Chou En-lai declared, "We Communists are atheists".[13]

## Contents

* 1 Atheistic communism and forced labor
* 1.1 Soviet Union and forced labor
* 1.2 Atheistic. communist regime of North Korea uses forced labor
* 2 Slavery and forced labor in atheist controlled China
* 2.1 Atheistic China and forced labor
* 3 Myanmar and forced labor
* 4 Atheist controlled Vietnam and forced labor
* 5 Christian apologetics and slavery in the Bible
* 6 Abolitionist movement and religious conservatives
* 7 Atheism and spiritual slavery
* 8 Daily Mail declared that Richard Dawkins' family fortune came from the slave trade
* 8.1 Demand for Richard Dawkins to pay reparations
* 9 See also
* 10 Notes

## Atheistic communism and forced labor[edit]

### Soviet Union and forced labor[edit]

Vladimir Lenin

The Museum of Communism website declares:

“  |  Slave labor camps, also known as "concentration camps," "forced labor camps," and "re-education camps," have played a vital role in Communist systems from the very beginning. Lenin's secret police, the Cheka, began to set up concentration camps in 1918; the first official admission appears to have been made by Leon Trotsky, who threatened rebellious Czech forces with confinement in concentration camps if they refused to join the Red Army...

In the early Stalin years, the camp populations were roughly stable, but by 1930 by most estimates the number had skyrocketed to 1,000,000 inmates. But the growth era of the camps was only beginning: by 1940 the concentration camps contained about 10,000,000 souls, while camp conditions grew ever worse. The prison population declined and living conditions improved considerably after Stalin's death, but the slave labor camps persisted into the Gorbachev years...

Collectivization comes about in a variety of ways, but its essence is the same: getting as much food as possible out of the peasantry while giving them as little as possible in return. During the "War Communism" period, Lenin officially assured peasants that they owned their land, but forced them to sell their entire surplus to the state at a pitifully small price. When peasants chose not to sell, government troops began seizing grain - first surplus grain, then the grain peasants needed to feed their families, and finally the seed grain needed to plant the next crop. The final result was a massive famine in which about 5 million people perished. Under Stalin's forced collectivization program, the peasantry was formally expropriated. Millions of disgruntled peasant families were sentenced to the Siberian slave labor camps. Stalin's collective farmers had to surrender enormous quantities of grain for next to nothing, frequently leading to the seizure of the entire crop. The result was yet another massive famine, made even worse than Lenin's by Stalin's refusal to authorize international relief efforts. The deaths by starvation from this famine were around 7 million; approximately equal numbers of scapegoated peasant families perished in the Siberian concentration camps. This pattern repeated itself in China when Mao collectivized agriculture, and appears at some point in the history of most Communist regimes.[14]

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### Atheistic. communist regime of North Korea uses forced labor[edit]

The atheistic communist regime of North Korea presently uses forced labor.[15][16]

See also: North Korea and forced labor

North Korea practices state atheism and belief in God is actively discouraged.[17] Open Doors, an organization based in the United States, has put North Korea at the very top of its list of countries where Christians face significant persecution - for 12 years in a row.[18]

The atheistic communist regime of North Korea presently uses forced labor.[19][20]

In 2012, Human Rights Watch reported:

“  |  The North Korean government continues to require forced, uncompensated labor from workers, including even schoolchildren and university students, Human Rights Watch said today. In recent interviews with Human Rights Watch, North Korean defectors say they have faced years of work for either no wages or symbolic compensation and either had to pay bribes or face severe punishments if they did not report for work at assigned workplaces.

Defectors reported to Human Rights Watch that they were required to work at an assigned workplace after completing school. The effective collapse of much of the North Korean economy means that many of these jobs are either unpaid or provide minimal substitute compensation in the form of food or other rations. Failure to report to an assigned job for those who try to earn money in other ways can result in being sent to a forced labor camp for six months to as long as two years.

“The harsh reality faced by North Korean workers and students is unpaid forced labor and exploitation,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.[21]

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In 2013, the Korean-American pastor Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years in an atheistic communist North Korean labor prison camp due to religious persecution.[22] North Korea is known for its systematic persecution of Christians.[23]

## Slavery and forced labor in atheist controlled China[edit]

See also: Atheism and slavery

According to CNN, hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of labor camps and forced labor prisons (called laogai) still exist in modern China.[24]

China has the world's largest atheist population.[25][26] See: China and atheism

China practices state atheism.

East Asia contains about 25 percent of the world’s population. China’s population represents 20 percent of the people on earth.[27]

Razib Khan points out in Discover Magazine, "most secular nations in the world are those of East Asia, in particular what are often termed “Confucian societies.” It is likely therefore that the majority of the world’s atheists are actually East Asian."[28] See: Asian atheism and Global atheism

The inaugural Global Slavery Index is published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation.[29]

According to the Global Slavery index website: "The Global Slavery Index estimates that on any given day in 2016 there were over 3.8 million people living in conditions of modern slavery in China, a prevalence of 2.8 victims for every thousand people in the country. This estimate does not include figures on organ trafficking."[30] A portion of these individuals may be in forced labor conditions due to the Chinese, communist government having many political dissidents and a significant amount of religious persecution.

According to NBC News:

“  |  But taken in absolute terms, global powers such as China and Russia were near the top of the list of countries with the largest total of people living in slavery.

The index said the figure for China includes “the forced labour of men, women and children in many parts of the economy, including domestic servitude and forced begging, the sexual exploitation of women and children, and forced marriage.”[31]

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#### Atheistic China and forced labor[edit]

According to CNN, hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of labor camps and forced labor prisons (called laogai) still exist in modern China.[32] The prisons house political prisoners and dissidents alongside dangerous criminals.

The Chinese government run media outlet Xinhua reported in early 2013 that the country plans to reform its "controversial re-education through labor system this year."[33]

Desecularization in China is partly occurring due to its association with equality, individual freedom and democracy (see: Asian atheism).[34] See also: Growth of Christianity in China

## Myanmar and forced labor[edit]

In Myanmar a nontheistic form of Buddhism called the Theravada school of Buddhism is prevalent.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), about 800,000 people are subject to forced labor in Myanmar.[35]

## Atheist controlled Vietnam and forced labor[edit]

Vietnam practices state atheism.[36]

According to the website LaborRights.com:

“  |  Across Vietnam, some 30,000 men, women, and children are being held against their will in state-run detention centers, forced to work, and beaten all in the name of “drug treatment.”

The victims are alleged drug addicts who are held for periods of two to four years without ever receiving a hearing or a trial in a court of law.

Drug center detainees are forced to work under harsh conditions for little or no pay doing a range of repetitive tasks, like sewing t-shirts or mosquito bed nets, painting stone trinkets, and processing cashews, often for private companies. As punishment for refusing to work, violating center rules, or simply not filling a daily quota, detainees report being beaten with wooden truncheons, shocked with electrical batons, or placed in solitary confinement.

Vietnam’s use of forced labor as drug treatment clearly violates international law, including ILO Convention 29, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The detention centers are also an ineffective form of drug treatment: it is estimated that over 90 percent of former detainees return to using drugs shortly after release. In 2012, twelve UN agencies, including the ILO, World Health Organization (WHO), and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), issued a joint public statement calling for the closure of compulsory drug detention centers, citing the use of forced labor and the lack of evidence-based drug treatment.[37]

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According to the organization Human Resources Without Borders:

“  |  Vietnam is a source and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for men, women, and children subject to sex trafficking and forced labour. Vietnam’s labour export companies, most of which are affiliated with state-owned companies, and unlicensed intermediary brokers, have been known to charge workers illegally high fees for the opportunity to work abroad. Vietnamese men and women also migrate through informal labour recruitment companies in the construction, fishing, agriculture, mining, logging, and manufacturing sectors primarily to South Asia and the Middle East.

Some of these workers subsequently face conditions of forced labour. Through unlicensed intermediary brokers, Vietnamese workers incur some of the highest debts among Asian expatriate workers, making them highly vulnerable to forced labour, especially debt bondage. Upon arrival in destination countries, some workers find themselves compelled to work in bad conditions for little to no pay, despite large debts, and no viable legal recourse.

Some recruitment companies reportedly do not allow workers to read their contracts until the day prior to their departure, and some workers have been known to sign contracts in languages they could not read.[38]

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In 2019, the website Global Slavery Index estimated that there are 421,000 slaves in Vietnam (See: Slavery in atheist controlled Vietnam).[39]

## Christian apologetics and slavery in the Bible[edit]

See also: Slavery in the Bible

Christian apologists have written a number of work relating to slavery in the Bible some of which are cited below:

* Does the Bible condone slavery?

* Does God condone slavery in the Bible?

* Why is slavery permitted in the Bible?

* The Bible and slavery

## Abolitionist movement and religious conservatives[edit]

Thomas Sowell

The African-American author and political columnist Thomas Sowell wrote:

“  |  While slavery was common to all civilizations, as well as to peoples considered uncivilized, only one civilization developed a moral revulsion against it, very late in hits history…not even the leading moralists in other civilizations rejected slavery at all…. Moreover, within Western civilization, the principle impetus for the abolition of slavery came first from very conservative religious activists – people who would today be called ‘the religious right.’…this story is not ‘politically correct’ in today’s terms. Hence it is ignored, as if it never happened.”[40] |  ”

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See also: William Wilberforce and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Harriet Tubman

## Atheism and spiritual slavery[edit]

Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8: 34-36). The popular Christian YouTube creators Shockofgod and Jezuzfreek777 point out that atheism keeps people under spiritual slavery and Christianity gives people liberty.[41][42]

## Daily Mail declared that Richard Dawkins' family fortune came from the slave trade[edit]

See also: Richard Dawkins' family fortune and the slave trade

On February 20, 2012, the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported that Richard Dawkins' "family fortune came from the slave trade".[43]

On February 20, 2012, the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported that Richard Dawkins' "family fortune came from the slave trade".[44] On February 19, 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that Dawkins is being called to make reparations for his family's past.[45]

The Daily Mail reported:

“  |  Ancestors of secularist campaigner Richard Dawkins made their fortune from the slave trade, it has been revealed.

The outspoken atheist, who once branded the Catholic Church 'evil', is the direct descendent of Henry Dawkins who owned 1,013 slaves in Jamaica until he died in 1744.

His 400-acre family estate, Over Norton Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, is believed to have been bought with money made through slave ownership hundreds of years ago...

Richard's son, Henry, married into another of Jamaica's powerful slave trading families and left 1,013 slaves worth £40,736 when he died 1744.

The links with slavery continue down the family tree and in 1796 another ancestor, James Dawkins, voted against William Wilberforce's plans to abolish the slave trade[46]

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(William Wilberforce was a devout Christian, philanthropist, abolitionist, and the leader of the campaign against the Slave Trade).

### Demand for Richard Dawkins to pay reparations[edit]

As far as the demand for Richard Dawkins to pay reparations, The Daily Telegraph reported:

“  |  He is now facing calls to apologise and make reparations for his family's past.

Esther Stanford-Xosei, of Lewisham, south London, the co-vice chairman of the Pan-African Reparations Coalition in Europe, said: "There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity.

"The words of the apology need to be backed by action. The most appropriate course would be for the family to fund an educational initiative telling the history of slavery and how it impacts on communities today, in terms of racism and fractured relationships."[47]

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## See also[edit]

* Atheism and human rights violations
* Irreligious Britain and low social mobility
* Atheism and sloth
* Atheism and mass murder
* Atheistic communism and torture
* Atheism and uncharitableness
* Atheism and morality
* Atheism and sadism

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm
2. ↑
* Museum of Communism FAQ by Bryan Caplan]
* 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
3. ↑ Qatar’s ambitious future driven on by North Korean ‘forced labour’, The Guardian, Pete Pattisson in Doha, Friday 7 November 2014 07.52 EST]
4. ↑ Labor camps reinforce China's totalitarian rule. Cnn.com (1984-10-09). Retrieved on 2013-03-20.
5. ↑ "China to reform re-education through labor system", Xinhua, January 8, 2013. Retrieved on January 8, 2013.
6. ↑ Marx, K. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).
7. ↑ Marx, Karl, Private Property and Communism, 1944.
8. ↑ Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, Proletary, No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [1].
9. ↑ https://creation.com/the-darwinian-foundation-of-communism
10. ↑ https://creation.com/stalins-ape-man-superwarriors
11. ↑ https://creation.com/a-tale-of-four-countries
12. ↑ https://creation.com/darwin-trotsky-connection
13. ↑ Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth, Harvest House, 2001.
14. ↑ http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm
15. ↑ 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
16. ↑ Qatar’s ambitious future driven on by North Korean ‘forced labour’, The Guardian, Pete Pattisson in Doha, Friday 7 November 2014 07.52 EST]
17. ↑ Elizabeth Raum. North Korea. Series: Countries Around the World. Heinemann, 2012. ISBN 1432961330. p. 28: «North Korea is an atheist state. This means that people do not pray in public or attend places of worship. Buddhist temples exist from earlier times. They are now preserved as historic buildings, but they are not used for worship. A few Christian churches exist, but few people attend services. North Koreans do not celebrate religious holidays.»
18. ↑ Repressive, atheist North Korea has a surprising relationship with Christian missionaries
19. ↑ 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
20. ↑ Qatar’s ambitious future driven on by North Korean ‘forced labour’, The Guardian, Pete Pattisson in Doha, Friday 7 November 2014 07.52 EST]
21. ↑ 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
22. ↑ American Pastor Languishing in North Korea Labor Camp
23. ↑ American Pastor Languishing in North Korea Labor Camp
24. ↑ Labor camps reinforce China's totalitarian rule. Cnn.com (1984-10-09). Retrieved on 2013-03-20.
25. ↑ Top 50 Countries With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics (Zuckerman, 2005)
26. ↑ A surprising map of where the world’s atheists live, Washington Post By Max Fisher and Caitlin Dewey May 23, 2013
27. ↑ The Growth of Christianity in East Asia
28. ↑ Most atheists are not white & other non-fairy tales, Discover magazine
29. ↑ 30 million people still live in slavery, human rights group says, NBC News
30. ↑ China - prevalence of slavery
31. ↑ 30 million people still live in slavery, human rights group says, NBC News
32. ↑ Labor camps reinforce China's totalitarian rule. Cnn.com (1984-10-09). Retrieved on 2013-03-20.
33. ↑ "China to reform re-education through labor system", Xinhua, January 8, 2013. Retrieved on January 8, 2013.
34. ↑ The rise of Christianity in Asia by Masako Fukui, Australian Broadcasting Corporation's website RN
35. ↑ "ILO cracks the whip at Yangon". Atimes.com. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
36. ↑ Jan Dodd, Mark Lewis, Ron Emmons. The Rough Guide to Vietnam, Vol. 4, 2003. p. 509: "After 1975, the Marxist-Leninist government of reunified Vietnam declared the state atheist while theoretically allowing people the right to practice their religion under the constitution."
37. ↑ Forced Labor in Vietnam
38. ↑ [http://www.rhsansfrontieres.org/en/understand/forced-labor/183-to-see/282-forced-labor-in-vietnam Forced labour in Vietnam}
39. ↑ Global Slavery Index = Asia and the Pacific
40. ↑ Sowell, Thomas (2005) The real history of slavery. In Black Rednecks and White Liberals. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books
41. ↑ Atheism promotes slavery
42. ↑ Atheist are slaves
43. ↑ Revealed: How atheist Richard Dawkins' family fortune came from the slave trade, Daily Mail, February 20, 2012
44. ↑ Revealed: How atheist Richard Dawkins' family fortune came from the slave trade, Daily Mail, February 20, 2012
45. ↑ Slaves at the root of the fortune that created Richard Dawkins' family estate, The Daily Telegragh, February 19, 2012
46. ↑ "Revealed: How atheist Richard Dawkins' family fortune came from the slave trade", Daily Mail, February 20, 2012
47. ↑ Slaves at the root of the fortune that created Richard Dawkins' family estate, The Telegraph