The Irony of the State Atheists— How Soviet and Chinese Communists Recycled Religious Morals in Their Atheist Campaigns
Following the anti-religious campaigns of the Khrushchev era, priests were dispersed, churches were closed, and religion was discredited in the Soviet Union. The number of churches in the Soviet Union were reduced from 22,000 in 1959, to 13,008 in 1960, and to 7,873 by 1965. Khrushchev had long held radical views regarding the abolition of religion, and this campaign resulted largely from his own ideas rather than from pressure from other sectors of the Soviet authorities.
However, one side effect of the anti-religious movement was that the Soviet leadership quickly found themselves in need of forming a new morality to instill in the masses. But how can a moral ideal be cultivated among the masses if the religious literature was no longer held in high esteem? So the leadership scrambled to build a set of new ethics, and the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism was born.
The Soviet Union’s 12 point “Moral Code of the Builder of Communism” introduced in 1961 was a plagiarism of the Holy Bible. If we read these concepts side by side, it is clear that much of the Soviet concepts were directly inspired by the values of the Holy Bible. The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism compared side by side with the Bible are the following:
1. “Loyalty to Communism, and love of the socialist motherland and of the other socialist countries.” (USSR)
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:1–3)
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love him with all your soul, and love him with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37)
2. Conscientious labor for the good of the society — he who does not work, neither shall he eat. (USSR)
“He who does not work, neither shall he eat.” (Thessalonians 3:10)
3. Concern on the part of everyone for the preservation and growth of public property. (USSR)
“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” (Acts 2:44–45)
4. A high sense of the public duty; intolerance of actions harmful to the public interest. (USSR)
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3–4, NIV)
5. Collectivism and comradery mutual assistance: one for all and all for one. (USSR)
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” (Galatians 5:13)
6. Humane relations and mutual respect between individuals — man is to a man a friend, comrade and brother. (USSR)
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:35–40)
7. Honesty and truthfulness, moral purity, modesty and unpretentiousness in social and private life. (USSR)
Ten Commandments of “Thou shall not steal”, “Thou shall not bear false witness” etc.
8. Mutual respect in the family, and concern for the upbringing of the children. (USSR)
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ — which is the first commandment with a promise — ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1–4)
9. An uncompromising attitude to injustice, parasitism, dishonesty, careerism, and money-grabbing. (USSR)
“Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’” (Luke 12:15)
10. Friendship and brotherhood with all peoples of the USSR; intolerance to all racial and national hatred. (USSR)
“Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:11)
11. An uncompromising attitude to the enemies of communism, peace and freedom of nations. (USSR)
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?…” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
12. Fraternal solidarity with the working people of all countries, and with all peoples. (USSR)
“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.” (Hebrews 13:1)
The Moral Code aimed to replace religion with an athiest state-sanctioned moral framework but largely recycled principles that were originally grounded in Orthodox Christian teachings. By doing so, the Soviet leadership betrayed its anti-religious rhetoric and the supposed atheist ideals of Marxism. It shows that even the most ideologically committed anti-religious regimes still found it difficult to create a moral system from scratch without leaning on pre-existing religious principles.
This raises the question: If religion was so easily dismissed by the Marxists, why did they rely so heavily on its moral teachings? This exposes the lack of original thought in crafting a moral code that could stand independently of the religious traditions they sought to dismantle.
Similarly, following the Cultural Revolution and the loss of the traditional values in China, there arose a need to reintroduce and promote these traditional Chinese virtues once more to maintain the social stability. The so-called “Core Socialist Values” introduced during the start of the Xi Jinping administration are a direct sublimation of Confucian virtues.
The Core Socialist Virtues (China) are:
Prosperity (富强): Emphasizes economic development and national strength.
Democracy (民主): Advocates for the participation and empowerment of the people.
Civility (文明): Encourages polite behavior, respect for others, and social etiquette.
Harmony (和谐): Promotes unity, cooperation, and social stability.
Freedom (自由): Advocates for personal liberties and rights.
Equality (平等): Stresses fairness and equal opportunities for all.
Justice (公正): Upholds fairness, impartiality, and the rule of law.
Rule of Law (法治): Advocates for governance based on laws and regulations.
Patriotism (爱国): Encourages love and loyalty to the nation.
Dedication (敬业): Promotes commitment, hard work, and professionalism.
Integrity (诚信): Emphasizes honesty, trustworthiness, and moral integrity.
Friendship (友善): Encourages kindness, empathy, and harmonious interpersonal relationships.
The Confucian Virtues were:
Ren (仁): Benevolence, compassion, and kindness towards others.
Yi (义): Righteousness, justice, and moral integrity.
Li (礼): Etiquette, propriety, and respect for social norms.
Zhi (智): Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Xin (信): Trustworthiness, sincerity, and faithfulness.
Xiao (孝): Filial piety, respect for parents and elders.
Ti (悌): Brotherly love, respect between siblings and peers.
Zhong (忠): Loyalty and dedication to one’s country, family, and friends.
Shu (恕): Reciprocity, empathy, and forgiveness.
Jian (俭): Frugality and moderation in personal conduct.
He (和): Harmony in interpersonal relationships and social interactions.
Yong (勇): Courage, bravery, and resilience.
Both sets of virtues emphasize moral values, social harmony, and personal conduct beneficial to society. The goals of “prosperity, democracy, civilization and harmony” in the Socialist Core Values have in common with the Confucian tradition of “Benevolent Governance”, “the country becomes strong when the people are prosperous” and “the people are the foundation of the country and the country will be stable if the foundation is solid.”
“Patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness” from the Core Socialist Virtues are inspired from the Confucian concepts of “worrying about the world before worrying about yourself and being happy about the world before being happy about yourself” and “every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the country.”
This demonstrates very clearly that Socialism in both the Russian and Chinese context are rooted in the social conservatism. After the chaos of the Russian and Chinese revolutions, and the establishment of their governance, the Russian and Chinese Communists had to retreat to back to socially conservative models of governance to sustain itself. How could this be?
This can only be explained that over the long period human history, communities have developed extremely stable and conservative norms of social behavior due to biological and environmental realities. Traditional religions and concepts have enshrined forms of social relations, ethical norms, stereotypical models of relations between men and women, teachers and students, elders and youth, to ensure sustainable continuation of communities.
From the point of view of a believer, this is explained by the fact that God gave people the most reasonable and appropriate laws for life on Earth.
From the point of view of the materialistic thinking, this is the result of many thousands of years of social evolution, the result of a form of social natural selection, which enshrined those norms and rules that best ensured the survival and growth of the community, while other concepts died off or were assimilated. These two explanations, by the way, do not contradict each other and may well turn out to be the same equivalent ways of describing the same phenomenon.
In essence, despite the Communist rhetoric, neither the Chinese nor Soviet government came up with anything new. It simply adapted to its ideology to what values and ethics their respective civilizations and also what the different cultures of humanity had long ago concluded was the truth.
