On Religion

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On Religion

Workers of

All

Countries, Unite/

Marx Engels

On Religion

[Efiil Progress

Publishers• Moscow

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Ha ane.iiuilc1'0M 1£3bi1'e

Printed 1957, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1975 (revised), 1976

© Translation into E nglish. Progress Publishers, 1975

Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics M

10101-508 014(01)-76

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Contents Foreword KA R L MA RX, FOREWORD TO THESIS: D IFFE R ENCE B ETWEEN THE DEMOCR ITEAN AND EPICUREAN P H I LOSOPHY OF NAT U R E . . . . . . . . . . . . . Written in i841 .

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KA RL MA RX, THE LEAD I N G ARTICLE IN NO. 179 O F THE KOLNISCHE ZEI T UNG . . . . (Rheinische Zeitung Nos. 1 9 1 , 193 and 195; July 10, 1 2 , 14, 1 842, Beilage) .

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KA RL MA RX, CONT R IBUTION TO THE CR ITIQUE OF H E GEL'S P H I LOSOPHY OF LAW. INTRO D UCTION (Deutsch-Franzosische J ahrbacher, 1844) KA RL MA RX and FREDERICK ENGELS, THE H O LY FAMILY, OR C R ITIQUE OF CR ITICAL CRITICISM . Against Bruno Bauer and Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . d) Critical Battle Against French Materialism (E:&tract from Chapter VI) Written in f844 .

KARL MARX, THESES ON FEUERBACH Written in f845

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KA RL MA RX and FREDE RICK ENGELS, THE GERMAN ID EOLO GY (From Chapter I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Written in i.845-46

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KA RL MA RX, T H E COMMUN ISM OF THERHEINISCHER . . . . . BEOBACHTER. (Eztract) . (Deutsche-Bra111ler-Zlttun1 No. 73, September f2, 1847)

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KA RL MA RX and FREDERICK ENGELS, MANI FESTO OF THE COMMUN IST PARTY. (Extracts from Chapters II . . . . . . . . . . . and III) Written in 1847-48 KA RL MA RX and FREDERICK ENGELS, R EVIEW OF G. Fr. DAUMER'S THE RELIGION OF THE NE W A GE, An Attempt at • Combinative and Aphoristic Foundation, 2 Vols., Hamburg, 1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-iikonomische Revue No. 2 , 1850) FREDERICK ENGELS , THE PEASANT WAR I N GERMA. . . . . . . . . NY (Chapter II) . (Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-iikonomische Revue No. 56, 1850) ENGELS TO MA R}(, Approx. May 26, 1853

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MA RX TO ENGELS, J une 2, 1853

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ENGELS TO MA RX, J une 6, 1853 . . . . .

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KA RL MA RX, ANTI-CHURCH M OVEMENT- DEMONSTRATION I N HYDE PARK . . . . . (Neue Oder-Zeitung No. 295, June 28, 1 855)

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KA RL MA RX, CAPITAL, Vol. I . (Extracts) . FREDERICK ENGELS , E M I GRANT L ITE RATURE. (Extract from the Second A rticle) . . (Volksstaat No. 73 , J une 26, 1874) KA RL MA RX, C R ITIQUE OF THE GOTHA P R O GRAMME (Extract) . . . . . . Written in 1875 FRED ERICK ENGELS , ANTI-DOHR I N G (Extracts) . . . Written in 1878 .

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FREDERICK ENGELS , D IALECTICS OF NATU R E (Extracts) . . . . . . Written in 1873-86 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Natural Science in the Spirit World . . . . . . . . . . The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man (Extract) . . . . . . . . . . Notes and Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FREDERICK ENGELS, BRUNO BAU E R AND EARLY CHRISTIAN ITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Der Sozialdemokrat Nos . 19 and 20 , May 4 and 1 1 , 1882) FREDERICK ENGELS, THE B O O K OF R EV E LATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Progress, Vol. 2, London, 1883) .

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CONTENTS

FREDERICK ENGELS, LUDWI G FEUERBACH AND THE END OF C LASSICAL GER MAN P H ILOSOPHY Written in 1 886

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FREDERICK ENGELS, J UR I STIC SOCIALISM (Extract) (D ie Neue Zeit, 1887, pp. 49-62)

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ENGELS TO JOSEPH BLOCH, September 21-22, 1890

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ENGELS TO CONRA D SCHMID T, October 27, 1890

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FREDERICK ENGELS, I NTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDIT ION OF SOCIA LISM: U TOPIA N A ND SCIEN TIFIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Written in 1 892

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FREDERICK ENGELS, ON THE H ISTORY OF EAR LY C H R ISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (D ie Neue Zeit, Vol. 1 , 1894-95, pp. 4-13 and 36-43) Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N·ame Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index of Biblical and Mythological Na mes Short S ubject Index . . . . . . . . .

275 303 314 331 332

Foreword The present collecti on i ncludes works in which M arx and E ngels expound their views on the essence and origin of reli gion and its role in class society; these works lay the theoretical found ations of proletari an, Marxist atheism. The world outlook founded by Marx and Engels is based on the objective laws of the development of nature and society. It rests on facts provided by science and is radically opposed to religion. In the foreword to his doctor's thesis D ifference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature, with which the present volume begins, Marx stresses the incom­ patibility of Epicurus' materialistic philosophy with reli­ gion. I n The Holy Family, or A Critique of Critical Criticism, extracts from whi�h are given in this collection, Marx and E ngels show the great role of the French 18th-century mate­ rialists in the struggle against the reactionary feudal and religious outlook and disclose the relation between atheist propaganda on the one hand , the development of materialist philosophy and the achievements of natural sciences on the other. Marx and E ngels show that atheism is typical of the progressive classes , that the E nglish and French materialist atheists were the i deologists of the rising bourgeoisie . But no sooner had the bourgeoisie achieved domination and the class antagonisms between the proletariat and the bourgeoi­ sie become acute than the bourgeoisie renounced its former free-thinking and began to make use of religion as an opiate

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FOREWORD

for the popular masses. E ngels gave a tangible and vivid explanation of this in the I ntroduction to the E nglish edition of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, which is also to be found in the present collection. Stressing the services of the previous materi alistic and atheistic propaganda ( the English and French 1 7th- and 18th-century materialists, L. Feuerbach and others) , the founders of Marxism at the same time criticised the half-and­ half attitu de , the inconsistency and the class limi tati on of bourgeois atheism, its passivity and contemplativeness , its inability to expose the soci al roots of religion. Marxism alone was able completely to reveal the essence of religion by proving that it is nothing but "the fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which con­ trol their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces." (See p. 1 28 of this collection.) I n Capital, A nti-Diihring, Ludwig Feuerbach and other works Marx and Engels reveal the roots of religi on, proving that whereas in the earliest stages of human development religious belief arose from primitive man ' s helplessness i n the struggle with the forces o f nature, under antagonistic , class society the soci al oppression of the working masses and their apparent helplessness in the struggle against their exploiters give birth to and foster religion, the belief in a better life hereafter, the alleged reward for sufferings o n earth. The extracts from Marx's and E ngels' works The German

Ideology, The Communism of the "Rheinischer Beobachter" and th-e Manifesto of the Communist Party describe religion

as one of the forms of social consciousness, one of the elements of the superstructure in class soci ety. The founders of M arx­ ism reveal how religion depends on the development of the soci al relations , on the class structure of society; they reveal the interest the exploiting classes have in fostering religi on as a means of blinding and curbing the popular masses . "Religion is the opium of the people ," Marx wrote in 1844. This saying has become the cornerstone of the whole Marxist outlook on religion. Engels' Bruno Bauer and Early Christianity, The Book of Revelation and On the History of Early Christianity throw

FOREWORD

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light on the historic conditions of the soci al , political and ideological struggle during the decline of the Roman Em­ pire, which determined the emergence of Christianity. These articles show clearly and convincingly that Christianity arose as the outlook of utterly despairing people after the _ numerous revolts of slaves, indigent people and enslaved nationalities against the yoke of the Roman Empire had been drowned in blood. In the chapters and extracts from D ialectics of Nature E ngels tangibly discloses the uninterrupted struggle between the scientific and the religious outlooks and shows how re­ ligion hindered the progress of science; the history of religion is the history of the fight against the development of scien­ tific thought. The Church persecuted the greatest scientists with blind cruelty, torturing them, burning them at the stake , forbidding or destroying their works. The Catholic Church, whose instrument was the I nquisition, was particu­ larly zealous i n this respect. For centuries the Church played an extremely reactionary role and fought pitilessly against the scientific conception of the world and against the demo­ cratic and socialist movement. B ut the development of natural science inevitably caused more and more breaches in the religious and idealistic outlook. That is why the founders of Marxism considered scientific and materialist prop aganda as the most powerful weapon in the fight against religion. Marx and E ngels most resolutely denounced the attempts of the anarchists and Blanquists , Diihring and others to use coercive methods againsi religion (see A nti-Duhring and Emigrant Literature, of which this volume contains extracts) . They proved that the prohibition and persecution of religion can only i ntensify religious feeling. On the other hand, Marxism, contrary to bourgeois atheism with its abstract ideological propaganda and its narrow culturalism, shows that religion cannot be eliminated until the social and polit­ ical conditions which foster it are abolished. In the revo­ lutionary fight for their economic and political emancipa­ tion the working people free themselves from religious views and superstitions. This is promoted by educating them in the materialist outlook. The founders of Marxism called on the proletari an party leaders to spread among the workers

FOREWORD

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the best works of materialist literature and the achievements of natural and social sciences. *

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All the material i n this collection has been arranged in chronological order. At the end of the volume we give edito­ rial notes, a name index, an index of biblical and mythologi­ cal names and a short subject index.

Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C. C. , C.P.S. U.

Karl Marx

Foreword to Thesis: Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature

The form of this treatise would have been on the one hand more strictly scientific, on the other hand in many of its arguments less pedantic, if its primary purpose had not been that of a doctor's dissertation. I am nevertheless constrained by external reasons to send it to the press in this form. More­ over, I believe that I have solved in it a heretofore unsolved problem in the history of Greek philosophy. The experts know that no preliminary studies that are even of the slightest use exist for the subject of this treatise. What Cicero and Plutarch have babbled has been babbled after them up to the present day. Gassendi, who freed Epicu­ rus from the interdict which the Fathers of the Church and the whole Mi ddle Ages, the period of realised unreason, had placed upon him, presents in his expositions1 only one interesting element . He seeks to accommodate his Catholic conscience to his pagan knowledge and Epicurus to the Church, which certainly was wasted effort . It is as though one wanted to throw the habit of a Christian nun over the bright and flourishing body of the Greek Lais. It is rather that Gassendi learns philosophy from Epicurus than that he could teach us about Epicurus' philosophy. This treatise is to be regarded only as the preliminary to a larger work in which I shall present in detail the cycle of E picurean, Stoic and Sceptic philosophy in their relation to the whole of Greek Speculation. 2 The shortcomings of this treatise, i n form and the like, will he eliminated in that later work. 2-376

KARL MARX

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To be sure, Hegel has on the whole correctly defined the general aspects of the above-mentioned systems . But i n the admirably great and bold plan of his history of philosophy, from which alone the history of philosophy can in general be dated , it was impossible , on the one hand , to go i nto de­ tail, and on the other hand, the gi ant thinker was hindered by his view of what he called speculative thought par excel­ lence from recognising in these systems their great importance for the history of Greek philosophy and for the Greek mind i n general. These systems are the key to the true history of Greek philosophy. A more profound i ndicati on of their connection with Greek life ca,n be found in the essay of my friend Koppen, Friedrich der Grosse und seine Widersacher. If a critique of Plutarch's polemic · against Epicurus' theology has been added as an appendix , this is because this polemic is by no means isolated, but rather representative of an espece, * in that it most strikingly presents in itself the relation of the theologising intellect to philoso phy. The critique does not touch, among other things, on the general falsity of Plutarch' s standpoint when he brings philosophy before the forum of religion. I n this respect it will be enough to cite, i n place of all argument, a passage from David Hume: " . . . 'Tis certainly & kind of indignity to philosophy, whose sovereign authority ought everywhere to be acknowledged, to oblige her on every occasion to make apologies for her conclusions and justify herself to every particular art and science which may be offended at her. This puts one in mind of a king arraign' d for high treason against his subjects."8

Philosophy, as long as a drop of blood shall pulse in i ts world-subduing and absolutely free heart , will never grow tired of answering its adversaries with the cry of Epicurus :

"&a��� 6€ oux. a 'too� 'tii>u rtoi..i..wu {}oeou� avatpwv, rtaA.i..Oiv 66sai;; {}oeoTi;; rtpomirt'twv."**

CJ.A.A.'

o 't'ai;; 'twv

Philosophy makes no secret of it. The confession of Pro­ metheus: • **

Species, type.-Ed. Not the man who denies the _ g ods worshipped by the multitude, but he who affirms of the gods what the multitude believes about them is truly impious.-Ed. '

DEMOCRITEAN AND EPICUREAN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

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unA.w Myco 'tous :tav'tas E'X�atpco �eous*

is itit own confession, its own aphorism against all heavenly and earthly gods who do not acknowledge human self­ consciousness as the highest divinity. I t will have none other beside. But to those poor March hares who rejoice over the appa­ rently worsened civil position of philosophy, it responds again, as Prometheus replied to the servant of the gods , Hermes: 't�S a�s A.a'l.lcxefcxs -r�v iµ�v 6'1.lanpa�lav, aaq>ws Eni