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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". According to Marx, religion in this world of exploitation is an expression of distress and at the same time it is also a protest against the real distress.
Marx argued that understanding the origins of religious belief were not enough in moving towards its elimination; instead declaring that it was the underlying social and economic structure which gave rise to religious belief and that it was a transformation of this which was a necessary precondition to the elimination of religion. [5]
The opium of the people or opium of the masses (German: Opium des Volkes) is a dictum used in reference to religion, derived from a frequently paraphrased partial statement of German revolutionary and critic of political economy Karl Marx: "Religion is the opium of the people." In context, the statement is part of Marx's analysis that religion ...
In simple terms, the functional approach sees religion as "performing certain functions for society" [7] Theories by Karl Marx (role of religion in capitalist and pre-capitalist societies), Sigmund Freud (psychological origin of religious beliefs), Émile Durkheim (social function of religions), and the theory by Stark and Bainbridge exemplify ...
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels monument in Marx-Engels Forum, Berlin-Mitte, Germany 1948 Soviet Union stamp, featuring Marx and Engels, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Manifesto Marx's ideas have had a profound impact on world politics and intellectual thought, [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 266 ] [ 267 ] in particular in the aftermath of the 1917 ...
Only surviving page from the first draft of the Manifesto, handwritten by Karl Marx. In spring 1847, Marx and Engels joined the League of the Just, who were quickly convinced by the duo's ideas of "critical communism". At its First Congress in 2–9 June, the League tasked Engels with drafting a "profession of faith", but such a document was ...
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 7 January 2025. Economic and sociopolitical worldview For the political ideology commonly associated with states governed by communist parties, see Marxism–Leninism. Karl Marx, after whom Marxism is named Part of a series on Marxism Theoretical works Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 The ...
Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists.Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew from various sources, and the official philosophy in the Soviet Union, which enforced a rigid reading of what Marx called dialectical materialism, in ...