Marx On Religion

Marx is very critical of religion. He opens his critique of Hegel by saying that “man makes religion, religion does not make man” (115). State and society produce religion and man turns to it as a way of gain self-esteem and self-consciousness, but it is not needed for man to thrive. Marx believes that man uses religion as a crutch and even refers to it as the “opium of the people” (115). He believes that religion provides illusions for how world should and does work and as a coping mechanism for suffering. However, these illusions are fake and religion acts as a sedative in the willingness of people to confront their own oppression in society. Religion provides the logical and moral justification of oppression and masks it as “true” happiness. But Marx argues that in order to have real happiness people must abandon the illusions religion provides. In other words, people must be critical of religion in order to understand how the world really works. I think the same concept can be applied to how people view capitalism in America and how it actually works. Marx argues that in a capitalistic society, things only have value because humans give them value. Things (commodities) are given value through the mental, physical, and
On page 430, Marx says “…the development of modern industry must progressively turn the scale in favor of the capitalist against the working man…” This means that industry does not work in favor of the laborer, but instead the capitalist. This can be seen in the composition of capital. Capital is money invested to make more money. For example, money invested in better machinery or in the means of production. While there has been a progressive increase in fixed capital, the pace of increase in the other part of capital (wages and purchase of labor) has not been as