What did Marx mean by "religion is the opium of the people"?
Marx's statement that religion is "the opium of the people" is often misunderstood as a condemnation of religion. But he said something more interesting and complex.
Here is the full quote:
"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".
Opium was a common pain reliever during the 19th century. As long as the human condition included so much suffering, people would resort to religion to ease their pain. That was Marx's point. He did not think that the use of this "opium" religion was a good thing, but he did not want to take the medicine away from the suffering people, rather to end the suffering that made this medicine necessary in the first place.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.With the receding flow of religion Marx’s ‘opium’ is now social media and celebrity culture.
If we are serious about reflecting on our global, social position it may be best to consider this instead of correlating it with religion.
Marx’s premise still stands but the content has changed.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Aug 27, 2019
3
Religion was about fairness but it dealt with it over the span of two worlds, this one and the next. That's not much use to an atheist. The socialist/communist approach was a total perversion of fairness. Social democracy seems good to me in theory but it isn't working so well in a neoliberal economy.
brentan
Level 8
Aug 27, 2019
0
"Opiate", NOT "opium", for starters
. It means religion is a way to keep them from rising up against injustice & crapola....because "turn the other cheek" and "heavenly rewards" so it doesn't matter what is done to you(us) here now.
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Aug 27, 2019
1
The primary text in German is “... . ist das Opium des Volkes"
@Geoffrey51 yes,but we do not use foreign words verbatim, we TRANSLATE them.....
@AnneWimsey Whoops Anne, you’re wrong there. Please see below an English translation from 1970.
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Marx, K. 1970. Marx’s Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (1843) (trans Joplin, A. & O’Malley, J) Cambridge University Press, UK
@Geoffrey51 I have Always seen it as "opiate". Huh, that actually changes the entire meaning a bit.....
I agree with this interpretation. It is the medicine for emotional and psychic suffering that the masses use.
TomMcGiverin
Level 8
Aug 27, 2019
1
Precisely...this quote of his has been widely taken out of context. In the times in which he wrote it, the working poor, and the destitute, had no other means of comfort in their miserable lives, it would indeed have been cruel to try to take the solace of their religion away from them. The rich have always had an interest in keeping the religious institutions strong because they realise that it’s a means of keeping the masses docile and compliant. Marx understood this better than most and it was the aristocrats and the whole structure of that hierarchical society, which included religion, that he wanted to change.
Marionville
Level 10
Aug 27, 2019
4
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