The imperialist carve-up of the Middle East after World War I involved denigration of Islam and contempt for those who practised it. This has been revived as part of the contemporary "war on terror", with constant references in the media to "violent jihad" and the supposedly backward nature of Islamic ideas.

Marxists fight against these insults and attacks on people because of their religious beliefs. Why?

The simple answer is that the denigration of Islam is a racist attack on the oppressed, and Marxists take the side of the oppressed. Marxists, going back to Marx and Engels themselves, have always argued for religious freedom. Engels pointed out that "in relation to the state, religion is a purely private affair". Commenting on this, Lenin wrote in 1905: "The state must not concern itself with religion; religious societies must not be bound to the state. Everyone must be free to profess whatever religion he likes, or to profess no religion". Lenin insisted that "unity in the really revolutionary struggle of the oppressed class for creation of a paradise on earth is more important to us than unity of proletarian opinion on paradise in heaven."

Supporting religious freedom also means opposing the dominant religion being used as a way of oppressing those who follow other faiths. Whenever John Howard talks about Australia as "a Christian country", you can pretty much guarantee that what follows will be an attack on the rights of some oppressed group.

Marxists put the principles of religious freedom into practice when the working class took power in Russia in November 1917. Within days the new Bolshevik government had issued the "Declaration of Rights of the People of Russia", which granted sovereignty for all the nations in the former Tsarist empire, including the right to secede and form independent states, and an end to all privileges and limitations of a national or religious nature.

The revolution radicalised millions in the oppressed Muslim nations of the Tsarist Empire. The centrality of religious freedom was clearest in relation to Muslims, as vilification of their religion was so inseparably bound to the Russian Empire's domination of their countries. In December 1917 the revolutionary government proclaimed:

"Muslims of Russia! All you whose mosques and prayer houses used to be destroyed and whose beliefs and customs were trodden underfoot by the Tsars and oppressors of Russia. From today, your beliefs and customs, and your national and cultural constitutions, are free and inviolate. Organise your national life freely and without hindrance."

The workers' government also introduced a massive program of what would now be termed affirmative action to redress the oppression of Tsarism. Islamic religious leaders were granted extensive authority to run legal and social services. A parallel court system was created in 1921, with Islamic courts administering justice in accordance with sharia law alongside the soviet system. Thousands of Muslim schools were set up with government encouragement. Muslims were encouraged to join the Communist Party. In some of the southern republics of the USSR in the early 1920s as many as 15 per cent of party members were believers in Islam. In part of Central Asia, Muslim membership was as high as 70 per cent. To do otherwise would have been to continue the Russian chauvinism and bigotry which had buttressed capitalism.

But the revolution in Russia didn't spread, and Stalin was able to use this isolation to replace workers' power with a new, state capitalist ruling class. The Stalinist ruling class was running capitalism, and that meant oppressing the population. Every vestige of workers' power and the freedoms that were part of it had to be destroyed.

Internationally, Stalinism meant judging struggles not on the basis of supporting the oppressed and exploited against capitalism, but backing the state capitalist rulers of the "Communist" bloc. The real Marxist tradition of fighting for religious freedom was buried as Stalinist regimes themselves attacked religious freedom in the societies they ruled.

The effects of failing to defend religious freedom have been felt far beyond the Stalinist states.

The obvious example is the French government's ban on wearing the hijab in schools. Influenced by Stalinism, much of the French left refused to defend the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab, putting themselves on the side of the oppressors of millions of people from Muslim backgrounds - including those who do not wear the hijab themselves but clearly recognise its banning as an attack on their rights.

Confidence in the working class's ability to get rid of capitalism and to run society themselves is the key. For a workers' revolution to be successful, Marxists must do everything possible to involve all workers in the struggle against capitalism. That necessarily includes fighting for religious freedom.

Marxists have never made agreement about religion a requirement for involvement in the struggle. If a person who is religious is convinced of the need to fight for socialism, they should join Socialist Alternative.