Is atheism really a tenet of communism?

[abaris]

I've read up recently on the planks of communism. I've noticed that people honestly think that atheism is a tenet of communism. But after reading about them, I haven't seen anything about atheism.

There's one quote by Karl Marx on religion. And that's pretty famous and most often wrongly quoted. It's also not in his books but in a reply to Hegel. From 1843, I believe. Even before the revolutions of 1848/49.

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people

That's the exact quote, and try as I might, it doesn't condemn religion but voices understanding for it's need.

That's the German original.

Das religiöse Elend ist in einem der Ausdruck des wirklichen Elendes und in einem die Protestation gegen das wirkliche Elend. Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volks.

There's a sentence before the above quoted. It reads: Religious mysery is the expression of real mysery and at the same time the protest against the real mysery.

That said, many of the proponents of the so called communist regimes were indeed atheists. But what they did and how they constructed their socities wasn't done in the name of atheism but based on the ideas of Karl Marx, violating them at the same time. In the GDR of old, which is a lesser known fact, there was even a party system of sorts. Puppet parties, of course, but you could cast a vote for the Christian Democrats, which could send delegates to the people's assembly.