"[43], Because of the perceived atheistic nature of communism, some have accused communism of persecuting religion. Between Moscow and London: Romanian Orthodoxy and National Communism, 1960–1965. Even if Weber is wrong, we see that one can argue just the opposite of Marx with clear historical evidence. In their influential book The ABC of Communism, Nikolai Bukharin and Evgenii Preobrazhensky spoke out strongly against religion, writing that "Communism is incompatible with religious faith". [24], During its Socialist era, the Romanian government exerted significant control over the Orthodox Church and closely monitored religious activity, as well as promoting atheism among the population. But the reality is just the opposite. Marx ist der Überzeugung, dass die Wirklichkeit des Menschen durch wirtschaftliche und soziale Faktoren geprägt ist. [25] Dissident priests were censured, arrested, deported, and/or defrocked, but the Orthodox Church as a whole acquiesced to the government's demands and received support from it. zurück. Because of his work, it has become impossible to study religion without also exploring its ties to various social and economic forces. According to Marx, religion is an expression of material realities and economic injustice. This, in turn, created the social conflict which drives society. In his book Religion, Vladimir Lenin was highly critical of religion, stating: Atheism is a natural and inseparable part of Marxism, of the theory and practice of scientific socialism.[10]. 1844, mit 26 Jahren, verfasste er u.a. For Marx, an ideal economic system would involve exchanges of equal value for equal value, where value is determined simply by the amount of work put into whatever is being produced. [30], Christian communism can be seen as a radical form of Christian socialism. Marx’s analysis and critique of religion "Religion is the opium of the Masses" ("Die Religion ist das Opium des Volkesis") is perhaps one of the most famous and most quoted by theist and atheist alike. However, this attitude relaxed considerably in the late 1970s with the end of the Cultural Revolution. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marxism_and_religion&oldid=995073778, Articles with dead external links from August 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 02:14. P 4, John Anderson, Religion, State and Politics in the Soviet Union and Successor States, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp 3, Sang M. Lee writes that Albania was "[o]fficially an atheist state under Hoxha...", Lavinia Stan and Lucian Turcescu. Häufig wird das Zitat verfälscht in der Version Religion ist Opium für das Volk benutzt. To gather support from the masses during World War II, the Stalin government re-opened thousands of temples and extinguished the league of militant atheists. Denn jede Religion versucht auf seine Weise eine Grundlage für den Tot und ein „Danach“ zu finden. Marx is saying that religion is meant to create illusory fantasies for the poor. Austin Cline, a former regional director for the Council for Secular Humanism, writes and lectures extensively about atheism and agnosticism. Before the 18th century, most answers were framed in purely theological and religious terms, assuming the truth of Christian revelations and proceeding from there. Second, religion negates all that is dignified in a human being by rendering them servile and more amenable to accepting the status quo. "Religion is the opium of the people " is one of the most frequently paraphrased statements of German sociologist and economic theorist Karl Marx. Marx’s most famous statement about religion comes from a critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law: This is often misunderstood, perhaps because the full passage is rarely used: the boldface in the above show what is usually quoted. Prior to its collapse in late 1991, official figures on religion in the Soviet Union were not available. Two important ideas which developed bear mentioning here: First, that economic realities are the determining factor for all human behavior; and second, that all of human history is that of class struggle between those who own things and those who do not own things but must instead work to survive. This thesis will first explicate the precise nature of his atheism. The Christian and Muslim communities were among the most persecuted as well. Knappe Übersicht von Marx' Kerngedanken zur Kritik der Religion als Tafelbild In seiner Schrift “Zur Kritik der Hegel’schen Rechts-Philosophie”, Paris 1844, diffamiert Karl Marx die Religion als Opium des Volkes.In Anknüpfung an Feuerbach kritisiert er die Religion als Werk des (durch die verkehrte Gesellschaft) entfremdeten Menschen. To thrust atheism upon the masses, and in conjunction therewith to interfere forcibly with religious practices and to make mock of the objects of popular reverence, would not assist but would hinder the campaign against religion. The People's Mujahedin of Iran, an exiled political party which opposes the Islamic Republic, once advocated communist ideals, but has since abandoned them. In contrast to the atheism of Lenin, the God-Builders took an official position of agnosticism. The people working in those systems—developing art, theology, philosophy, etc.—imagine that their ideas come from a desire to achieve truth or beauty, but that is not ultimately true. After the failure of various revolutionary movements on the continent, Marx was forced to go to London in 1849. This nationalism was also used to justify the communist stance of state atheism between 1967 and 1991. 2 (Mar., 2007), pp. [3] Some recent scholarship has suggested that "opium of the people" is itself a dialectical metaphor, a "protest" and an "expression" of suffering. Marx bezieht sich in seinen Ausführungen auf den Philosophen Feuerbac h, der Gott und die Religion als Werk des Menschen herausgestellt hatte. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. Religion is not the disease, but merely a symptom. Religion: Opium des Volkes (Karl Marx) Religionen haben etwas Gemeinsames: Ihre Entstehung verdanken Sie dem Ende. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. We do not have to restrict ourselves to the idea that religion is only dependent upon economics and nothing else, such that the actual doctrines of religions are almost irrelevant. Marxists have tried valiantly to refute those critiques or revise Marx’s ideas to render them immune to the problems described above, but they haven’t entirely succeeded (although they certainly disagree—otherwise they wouldn’t still be Marxists). 1467-1488, Lucian N. Leustean. - Karl Heinrich Marx wurde am 05.05.1818 in Trier geboren, ursprünglich waren sowohl Vater als auch Mutter jüdischen Glaubens - Vater Heinrich Marx Jurist, konnte jedoch wegen seines jüdischen Glaubens die Praxis nicht weiterführen und konvertierte mit der Familie 1824 zum evangelischen Glaubenà prägend für Marx′ Verhältnis zur Religion Kurs. Marx wrote and studied constantly, but ill-health prevented him from completing the last two volumes of Capital (which Engels subsequently put together from Marx’s notes). The problem is that opiates fail to fix a physical injury—you only forget your pain and suffering for a while. [42], In India, B. R. Ambedkar wrote in his essay Buddha or Karl Marx that "[t]he Russians are proud of their Communism. Karl Heinrich Marx wurde am 5. In diesem Zusammenhang ist Marx´ berühmt gewordener Ausspruch über Religion als Opium des Volkes zu sehen: Advocates of Christian communism argue that it was taught by Jesus and practiced by the Apostles themselves. This can be fine, but only if you are also trying to solve the underlying causes of the pain. Karl Marx und Friedrich Engels. While critical of religion, Lenin also specifically made a point to not include it in Our Programme or his ideological goals, arguing: But under no circumstances ought we to fall into the error of posing the religious question in an abstract, idealistic fashion, as an "intellectual" question unconnected with the class struggle, as is not infrequently done by the radical-democrats from among the bourgeoisie. It would be bourgeois narrow-mindedness to forget that the yoke of religion that weighs upon mankind is merely a product and reflection of the economic yoke within society. Although it might profess valuable principles, it sides with the oppressors. Karl Marx war entgegen oft verbreiteter Meinung zwar nicht der Erfinder des Kommunismus, aber Begründer des Marxismus der wohl bekanntesten Form des Kommunismus. A final problem is more economic than religious—but since Marx made economics the basis for all his critiques of society, any problems with his economic analysis will affect his other ideas. Waren sind die Essenz des Reichtums in ka­pi­ta­lis­ti­schen Ge­sell­schaf­ten. Weil Marx den Menschen nur als gegenständliches Gattungswesen kannte, nicht wie seit Aristoteles als Vernunftwesen, aber ähnlich wie Nietzsche später die Vernunft leiblich dachte, kann er keine „ewigen Wahrheiten, wie Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit“ denken. The reason is that his critique of religion forms simply one piece of his overall theory of society—thus, understanding his critique of religion requires some understanding of his critique of society in general. A laborer might produce enough value to feed his family in two hours of work, but he keeps at the job for a full day—in Marx’s time, that might be 12 or 14 hours. New economic realities required a new religious superstructure by which it could be justified and defended. 7 (Nov., 2006), pp. Karl Marx (1818-83) entwickelt in seinem berühmten Text nicht nur die These von der Religion als Opium des Volkes.Für ihn ist die Religion Ausdruck des gesellschaftlichen Elends und zugleich auch Protest gegen dieses Elend. [39], Buddhism has been said to be compatible with communism given that both can be interpreted as atheistic and arguably share some similarities regarding their views of the world of nature and the relationship between matter and mind. Even worse, this “drug” is being administered by the oppressors who are responsible for the pain and suffering. As Marx wrote, “The religious world is but the reflex of the real world.”. Marx abandoned the idea of an academic career. Secularism Vs Secularization: What's the Difference? The idea proposed that in place of the abolition of religion, there should be a meta-religious context in which religions were viewed primarily in terms of the psychological and social effect of ritual, myth and symbolism in an attempt to harness this force for pro-communist aims, both by creating new ritual and symbolism and by re-interpreting existing ritual and symbolism in a socialist context. The current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso speaks positively of Marxism despite the heavy persecution of the Tibetan people by the post-Mao Zedong and post-Cultural Revolution Chinese government. Then it will detail his critique of religion by means of a … Sie sind Dinge, die Bedürfnisse befriedigen können, entweder direkt (z. Religion als das Opium des Volkes ist eine Aussage von Karl Marx. Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, and the least funny of the Marxes. Capitalism also creates one new misery: exploitation of surplus value. All modern religions and churches, all and of every kind of religious organizations are always considered by Marxism as the organs of bourgeois reaction, used for the protection of the exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class.[11]. According to Marx, this new form of Christianity, Protestantism, was a production of new economic forces as early capitalism developed. The Christian Idea of the Messiah. Journalism was to become a chief occupation of Marx for much of his life. The Roman Catholic cathedral of Phnom Penh was razed. Marx studied philosophy at Bonn and then later Berlin, where he came under the sway of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich von Hegel. Die Ka­pi­ta­lis­ten werden im… er um die richtige Christian Socialism is but the holy water with which the priest consecrates the heart-burnings of the aristocrat. The Romanian Orthodox Church and Post-Communist Democratisation. Had Marx regarded religion as a more serious enemy, he would have devoted more time to it. Consisting of a synthesis of Christian theology and Marxist socioeconomic analyses, liberation theology stresses social concern for the poor and advocates for liberation for oppressed peoples. This has two flaws. [7] This link was highlighted in one of Marx's early writings which stated that "[a]s Christ is the intermediary unto whom man unburdens all his divinity, all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator unto which he transfers all his Godlessness, all his human liberty". In the beginning, people worked together in unity, and it wasn’t so bad. As the perceived threat of the "Godless communist" and materialism to the American way of life grew, "the choice between Americanism and Communism was vital, without room for compromise". The credulous crowd is extremely sensitive to anything which hurts its feelings. e 19th-century German philosopher Karl Marx, the founder and primary theorist of Marxism, viewed religion as "the soul of soulless conditions" or the " opium of the people ". 3 (Jul., 2007), pp. Karl Marx and Religion: 1841-1846 Kathleen L. Clarkson Dr. L. I. Greenspan vi, 120 A recurrent theme throughout the writings of Karl Marx from 1841 through 1846 is his attack on religion. By the same token, religion can, in turn, have an influence on society’s economic system. This article tries to answer two interconnected questions: a) How did the cultural meaning of »opium« change through western history? On the other hand, Marxist philosophy is famously atheistic, although some Marxist scholars, both Christian and non-Christian, have insisted that Marxist philosophy and the philosophy of Marx and Engels are significantly different from one another and that this difference needs recognition. Universität Graz. Kritik an Marx. [21] This policy was mainly applied and felt within the borders of the present Albanian state, producing a nonreligious majority in the population. [40] Regardless, Buddhists have still been persecuted in some Communist states,[41] notably China, Mongolia and Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Das prägte Marx und sein späteres Werk. Other religions, which were practiced by a relatively small number of believers, included Buddhism and Shamanism. They are reflections of an underlying need to maintain the status quo and preserve current economic realities. (Karl Marx) 4 Marx' Religionskritik ist explizit fast ausschließlich in seinem Fruhwerk auffindbar, und auch dort wird sie nirgends in einem größeren Zusammenhang entfaltet. Marx places his emphasis on the concept of value, which can only be created by human labor, not machines. The Khmer Rouge forced Muslims to eat pork, which they regard as an abomination. [20] Religion in Albania was subordinated in the interest of nationalism during periods of national revival, when it was identified as foreign predation to Albanian culture. 19th-century German philosopher Karl Marx, the founder and primary theorist of Marxism, viewed religion as "the soul of soulless conditions" or the "opium of the people". Denn der Mensch hängt an seinem Leben, und der Tot soll nicht das Ende sein müssen. [45][46], Throughout the Second Red Scare, the fear of the "Godless communist" rooted itself as an epithet and a warning to the United States in a changing global environment. Universität. Second, the common experience is that the value of a produced object lies not with the labor put into it but in the subjective estimation of a potential purchaser. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the German city of Trier. After 1941 in the Stalin era, religious persecution was greatly reduced. [13], God-Building was an idea proposed by some prominent early Marxists of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. 15-38, Roland Boer in International Socialism. [36] On the other hand, some orthodox Jews, including a number of prominent religious figures, actively supported either anarchist or Marxist versions of communism. His extraordinary, original vision of man’s helpless entrapment in religion … Although there is no universal agreement on the exact date when Christian communism was founded, many Christian communists assert that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles, created their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. While liberation theology was most influential in Latin America, it has also been developed in other parts of the world such as black theology in the United States and South Africa, Palestinian liberation theology, Dalit theology in India and Minjung theology in South Korea. Marx kritisiert alle Formen einer idealistischen Philosophie und insbesondere alle Formen der Religion. As he wrote in his famous Theses on Feuerbach: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.”. 1-2, pp. Ein Beitrag von Moritz und Alex. [18] According to various Soviet and Western sources, over one-third of the country's people still professed religious belief (Christianity and Islam had the most believers). Issue 123, Sabrina Petra Ramet, Ed., Religious Policy in the Soviet Union. In spite of his obvious dislike of and anger towards religion, Marx did not make religion the primary enemy of workers and communists. All of the institutions which are prominent in our daily lives—marriage, church, government, arts, etc.—can only be truly understood when examined in relation to economic forces. During the late 19th century and also when Albania became a state, religions were suppressed in order to better unify Albanians. Jahrhundert begann in England die industrielle Revolution. Material things are merely expressions of ideas—in particular, of an underlying “Universal Spirit” or “Absolute Idea.”. In the preface to his doctoral dissertation, Marx adopted as his motto the words of the Greek hero Prometheus who defied the gods to bring fire to humanity: “I hate all gods,” with the addition that they “do not recognize man’s self-consciousness as the highest divinity.”, Third, religion is hypocritical. In the "Wages of Labour" of the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Marx wrote: "To develop in greater spiritual freedom, a people must break their bondage to their bodily needs—they must cease to be the slaves of the body. [24], Starting as early as the late 1950s, members of the Pathet Lao sought to encourage support for the communist cause by aligning members of the Lao sangha with the communist opposition. Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower. This emphasis on action rather than mere philosophical musings is a crucial point in Marx’s program. [7] Furthermore, Thomas Müntzer led a large Anabaptist communist movement during the German Peasants' War which Friedrich Engels analysed in The Peasant War in Germany. Marx und Engels Zusammenfassung. Jesus advocated helping the poor, but the Christian church merged with the oppressive Roman state, taking part in the enslavement of people for centuries. In ihm formuliert Marx die berühmte Sentenz von der Religion als „Opium des Volks“, vor allem aber legt er … His comments do hold for other religions with similar doctrines of a powerful god and happy afterlife, they do not apply to radically different religions. First, it is irrational—religion is a delusion and worship of appearances that avoids recognizing underlying reality. Engels noted both certain similarities and certain contrasts. There are many similarities and differences between the schools of thought, but one of the most common things they share are the time frame within which both ideologies were founded as well as some social and economic perspective. The italics are in the original. Marxism includes a complex array of views that cover several different fields of human knowledge and one may easily distinguish between Marxist philosophy, Marxist sociology and Marxist economics. While not all communists are in full agreement with Marxism, communists share the Marxist critique of capitalism. Religion. Christian clergy and Muslim imams were executed. Politics, National Symbols and the Romanian Orthodox Cathedral. Not only is nothing else fundamental enough to influence religion, but influence cannot run in the other direction, from religion to material and economic realities. kommt nach berlin. Marxist sociology and Marxist economics have no connection to religious issues and make no assertions about such things. Überall erschienen nun Sch… 59, No. After graduating from university, Marx moved to Bonn, hoping to become a professor, but the because of the conflict over Hegel's philosophies, Ludwig Feuerbach had been deprived of his chair in 1832 and was not allowed to return to the university in 1836. von Karl Marx entwickelte Idee(ologie) des sich durch Kampf zweier Klassen Nachdem er das Gymnasium mit Bestnoten abgeschlossen hatte, studierte er nach Vorbild seines Vaters einige Monate Rechtswissenschaften. In einem berühmten Ausspruch bezeichnet Marx die Religion deshalb als Opium des Volks. It may be that it was a communism on a very small scale but it was communism without dictatorship a miracle which Lenin failed to do. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system. [27] This relatively favorable attitude towards the church continued until the death of Patriarch Justinian of Romania in 1977, at which point the state began a new anti-church campaign, engaging in urban renewal projects that entailed the destruction of churches. They must, above all, have time at their disposal for spiritual creative activity and spiritual enjoyment. Many people in a wide variety of fields are concerned with how to account for religion—its origin, its development, and even its persistence in modern society. Karl Marx was a German philosopher who attempted to examine religion from an objective, scientific perspective. [44] In addition, another criticism is that communism is in itself a religion. In this context, Communism thus has two goals: First it is supposed to explain these realities to people unaware of them; second, it is supposed to call people in the labor classes to prepare for the confrontation and revolution. "[6], There are those who view that the early Christian Church such as that one described in the Acts of the Apostles was an early form of communism and religious socialism. Perhaps he was influenced in this matter by Hegel, who thought that Christianity was the highest form of religion and that whatever was said about that also automatically applied to “lesser” religions—but that isn’t true. Die Religionskritik von Karl Marx eine kritische Auseinandersetzung Ludwig Feuerbach geboren: 28. Much as capitalism takes our productive labor and alienates us from its value, religion takes our highest ideals and aspirations and alienates us from them, projecting them onto an alien and unknowable being called a god. Hegel’s philosophy had a decisive influence upon Marx’s own thinking and later theories. Jahrhunderts - Referat 2006 - ebook 2,99 € - GRIN Oppression of religious groups was nearly totally ended and relations between religious groups and the People's Republic of Kampuchea were much more neutral throughout its existence until the restoration of the monarchy a decade later. The owner of the factory did nothing to earn this, but exploits it nevertheless and keeps the difference as profit. The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true Sun. [22][23], After the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, a socialist state more reflective of the values shared by Vietnam and allies of the Soviet Union was established. Profit is ultimately derived from the surplus value produced by workers in factories. Marx joined the “Young Hegelians” (with Bruno Bauer and others) who were not simply disciples, but also critics of Hegel. [37], Analysis reveals that the Baháʼí Faith as both a doctrinal manifest and as a present-day emerging organised community is highly cooperative in nature with elements that correspond to various threads of Marxist thought, anarchist thought and more recent liberational thought innovations. In dieser Zeit hatte die Arbeiterschicht mit der Ausbeutung durch die Fabrikbesitzer zu kämpfen. Thus, problems in religion are ultimately problems in society. Marx’s labor theory of value and concept of surplus value as driving exploitation in capitalism are the fundamental underpinning upon which all of the rest of his ideas are based. [13] However, importance was placed on secularism and non-violence towards the religious: But the campaign against the backwardness of the masses in this matter of religion, must be conducted with patience and considerateness, as well as with energy and perseverance. In 1841 the government similarly forbade the young Professor Bruno Bauer to lecture at Bonn. These two facts created a division of labor and separation of classes based on power and wealth. [32], In the 1950s and the 1960s, liberation theology was the political praxis of Latin American theologians, such as Gustavo Gutiérrez of Peru, Leonardo Boff of Brazil, Juan Luis Segundo of Uruguay and Jon Sobrino of Spain, who made popular the phrase the "Preferential option for the poor". Marx actually said very little about religion directly; in all of his writings, he hardly ever addresses religion in a systematic fashion, even though he touches on it frequently in books, speeches, and pamphlets. Marx had a special word for all of the work that goes into developing those institutions: ideology. So nennt man die Zeit, als das Handwerk von Fabriken verdrängt wurde, als sich die Agrargesellschaft in eine Industriegesellschaft wandelte. Karl Marx was a German philosopher who attempted to examine religion from an objective, scientific perspective. [citation needed], In contrast with the brutal repression of the sangha undertaken in Cambodia, the Communist government of Laos has not sought to oppose or suppress Buddhism in Laos to any great degree, rather since the early days of the Pathet Lao communist officials have sought to use the influence and respect afforded to Buddhist clergy to achieve political goals while discouraging religious practices seen as detrimental to Marxist aims. As interesting and insightful as Marx’s analysis and critiques are, they are not without their problems—both historical and economic. In the Middle Ages, the. In reality, they are expressions of class interest and class conflict. Im späten 18. [citation needed], Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge regime, suppressed Cambodia’s Buddhist religion as monks were defrocked; temples and artifacts, including statues of the Buddha, were destroyed; and people praying or expressing other religious sentiments were often killed. Instead, we can recognize that there are a variety of social influences upon religion, including economic and material realities of society. As Marx wrote, “The religious world is but the reflex of the real world.”. According to Karl Marx, religion is like other social institutions in that it is dependent upon the material and economic realities in a given society. According to Marx, religion is one of those social institutions which are dependent upon the material and economic realities in a given society. 8 (Dec., 2000), pp. Those social institutions are a superstructure built upon the base of economics, totally dependent upon material and economic realities but nothing else. Quite often, machines allow for more profit than humans. It has no independent history but is instead the creature of productive forces. A second problem is his claim that religion is wholly determined by material and economic realities. [2], According to Howard Zinn, "[t]his helps us understand the mass appeal of the religious charlatans of the television screen, as well as the work of Liberation Theology in joining the soulfulness of religion to the energy of revolutionary movements in miserably poor countries". Marxistische Religionskritik "Religion ist Opium des Volkes." The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. [citation needed], Many supporters of the Viet Cong were Buddhists, strongly believing in the unification of Vietnam, with many opposing South Vietnam due to former President Ngo Dinh Diem's persecution of Buddhism during the early 1960s.