Amount of paper confiscated by communist - is that really necessary? (8)
I believe the answer is:
required
'necessary?' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'amount of paper confiscated by communist' is the wordplay.
'amount of paper' becomes 'quire' (quantity of paper - 25 or 24 sheets).
'confiscated by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'communist' becomes 'red' (red can informally mean communist).
'quire' placed into 'red' is 'REQUIRED'.
'is that really' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for required that I've seen before include "Not optional" , "Essential, compulsory" , "Needed" .)