Religion at the time of the Communist Manifesto
Following the Industrial Revolution in 19th century Europe, change was in full swing and religion began to have different meanings for different people. The upper-class citizens used Religion, namely Christianity, and the power that it possessed in an attempt to keep their high status in society, while the lower class turned to faith so that their lives could possibly improve. Instead of religion being the cornerstone of faith and worship amongst all people, it was being used for power and money by the upper class. Even worse, religious leaders were using the upper class people as well, gaining money and authority from their endorsement. A man by the name of Karl Marx saw what was happening and thus spoke out about it, declaring religion as “the opium of the people.”[1] He had a vision for equality, and wrote it down in the form of the Communist Manifesto; however nowhere in this document were aspirations of religious harmony. Religion was becoming the catalyst for class separation and social mayhem in 19th century Europe, and according to Karl Marx, equality was only possible with the abolition of it as a whole.
In a time where industry was at a peak, and the wealthy citizens, or bourgeois, were getting richer and richer, religion was being used as a way to make money and ensure the power of the upper class, while the lower class proletariats could but watch their lives fade away into the horrific conditions of the working class, with little hope due to the lack of lower class education.[2] As religions spread out freely, the authoritarian peoples frequently used their power to embrace religion as a moneymaker, and prevent liberty from turning ...
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...eger, 1961.) 33
[4] Armstrong, 178
[5] Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, trans. Samuel
Moore (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1989)
[6] Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 (London:
Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1892) 45, 48-51.
[7]) McClellan, 63
[8] Sherman, Dennis , and Joyce Salisbury. The West in the World. (Boston: McGraw Hill,
2001.) 617
[9] Lichtheim, 42.
[10] Butterfield, Herbert. Christianity in European History. (London: Collins, 1951) 5.
[11] Sherman, Salisbury, 617
Links:
Professor Santamarina's webpage
http://www.marxist.com/Theory/marxism_and_religion.html
http://www.faithnet.freeserve.co.uk/marxism.htm
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/comman.html
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm
The fear of early twentieth century dystopian writers is the fear that people in general had in this era; what is the impact of communism or what the future of religion with evolution and Darwinism would be. The may concern was that if religion was obsolete, what would replace it as the moral compass of the people. One of the most important individuals of the early twentieth century Karl Marx had his own philosophy for a replacement. The role of religion in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is stated as,” But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis…’" (Marx 19) That new bases he mentioned in the quote is the state, the new morale code that society must follow.
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
First, I want to identify who Marx and Nietzsche are and their critiques on religion. Karl
The Impact of the Communist Manifesto During the Late 1800s and Early 1900s There is no doubt that the Communist Manifesto was a shocking and radical document for its time, but it did much more than shock the public. The Communist Manifesto made the oppressed conscious of their status and influenced the unity of the working class. It also influenced the revolutions of 1848, it formed the basis of the reorganization of the Communist League and the demands of the Communist party, it influenced other radicals to take action, and it significantly influenced all subsequent Communist literature. The Communist Manifesto made the oppressed people aware of their status and called them to unite.
The decline of aristocracy in The Communist Manifesto began with Karl Marx’s statement, “The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles.”1 Marx recognized the ideals of the social rank, which has influenced every society throughout history. The two social classes described by Marx were the Bourgeoisie, or the upper class, and the Proletariats, or the lower class. Before the Bourgeoisie came to social power, landowners and corporate organizations ran the society. Marx believed that the severe separation of the two classes greatly troubled society and that the two classes must coexist as one with each other.2
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
As people continued to speak out against the abuses of power, the role of religion began to change yet again.
Literature of the Western World, Volume 2. 4th edition by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997.
"Karl Marx on Religion: The Opiate of the Masses?" About.com Agnosticism / Atheism. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
The writing genre of manifesto is as old as the book of Genesis considering the Bible and more specifically the Ten Commandments is known as a manifesto. According to Geoff McDonald’s online article Ten Famous Manifestos the Bible and Ten Commandments is the number one most famous manifesto (McDonald, Ten Famous Manifestos). What comes to mind when the word manifesto is mentioned is The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most influential thinkers and writers of modern times. Although it was only until after his death when his doctrine became world know and was titled Marxism. Marx is best known for his publication, The Communist Manifesto that he wrote with Engels; it became a very influential for future ideologies. A German political philosopher and revolutionary, Karl Marx was widely known for his radical concepts of society. This paper give an analysis of “The Manifesto” which is a series of writings to advocate Marx ‘s theory of struggles between classes. I will be writing on The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, which lays down his theories on socialism and Communism.
The second section of The Communist Manifesto is the section in which Karl Marx attempts to offer rebuttals to popular criticisms of his theory of governance. These explanations are based upon the supposition that capitalists cannot make informed observations upon communism as they are unable to look past their capitalist upbringing and that capitalists only seek to exploit others. Though the logic behind these suppositions are flawed, Marx does make some valid points concerning the uprising of the proletariat.
Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, it has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis, which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional political thought process, yet, have embraced a militant style of activity which often can turn violent (Heywood, 2012, p. 291).
Marx saw religion as an evil that existed in society and that it brought down all the people that believed in that religion. Marx said that, ?It [religion] is the opium of the people,?[1] and in saying this, Marx meant that religion was contagious on society. Once the society had a taste for the religion, they became totally engulfed it in, and then they do not want to get out of that way of live because they see it as a good way to live. Then even if people wanted to get out of the religion it was hard to get out because the whole society had already been infected by the ?opium.?
For thousands of years, religion has exerted a great influence over economic and political life. Even today religion is called upon to support rulers, contacts and other legal procedures.