Opium of the people

Uncommon card · No. 107633

"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's role is as a metaphysical balm for the real suffering in the universe and in society. This statement was translated from the German original, "Die Religion [...] ist das Opium des Volkes" and is often rendered as "religion [...] is the opiate of the masses." The passage from Marx translates (including italics) as: "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." The passage occurs in an article published in February 1844, in Marx's own journal Deutsch–Französische Jahrbücher, a collaboration with Arnold Ruge. The article was the introduction to...

Read on Wikipedia · Image John Mayall junior (born 7. Januar 1842 in Slaithwaite, Yorkshire — died. 27. Juli 1891 in London), Public domain