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Marx, Atheism and Revolutionary Action
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
Extract
Prima facie there is confusion in that part of Marx's theory which deals with religion and revolution. On the basis of Marx's scattered statements on religion one can construct two views of the relationship between revolutionary action and the abolition of the religious mentality. One view is that the exploited class can come to atheism prior to the creation of communist society, and, indeed, must attain a secular consciousness if it is to be the agency of revolution. The other view is that the power of religion cannot be broken until after the communist revolution because only a new economic order can remove the material conditions which sustain religion as a mass phenomenon.
In the face of these conflicting views we are left with two alternatives. Either we can take one of the constructions as the authentic one, or, we can conclude that Marx's position is incoherent. Seeking the best in both worlds, my approach involves showing why the charge of incoherence appears plausible while arguing for a resolution in the direction of the first construction.
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References
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24 In his treatment of religion as an instrument of the ruling class, Marx seemed to ignore its revolutionary potential. Although he made it clear why a theist cannot be a revolutionary in his restricted sense, he did not show why theists in mass numbers could not participate in a successful socialist revolution which could radically change the organization of work and the distribution of goods. He seemed to a priori — without Justification — assign religion a reactionary role.
25 Marx's notion that religion is merely a reflection of the failure of the masses to satisfy particular psychological and material needs fails, I think, to do Justice to the complexity of motivation for religious belief. For example, it does not take into account the manner in which religion solves the problem of human mortality, a problem which communism in no way addresses.
26 This is the general theme of Marx's attack on Feuerbach, Bauer and Stirner in The German Ideology.
27 Ibid., 236.
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46 K. Marx and F. Engels on Religion (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House 1955) 301.
* The criticisms of the Editors of this Journal and of Carroll Engelhardt were helpful in the preparation of this paper.