The Soviet Union replaced religion with politics. Communism WAS the religion of the official Soviet machine.

This is so true. I remember when I lived in Germany and I worked in a department store. They had those guest workers come in from Communist countries to clean the store at night. I started to talk to some of them and that is exactly what they always said to me.
Communism is our God.
I almost got into a fist fight with this one Yugoslavian girl. I told her to go back to her country and work. If Communism was so great why was she is in Germany, and she said she couldn't find work in her country so I told her to go back home. That didn't sit well with her. She simply had no answer to give except that Communism was God.