Uploaded January 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Before I continue with Marx's brilliant, if flawed synthesis of the three leading elements of European cultural history of the 19th century - German classical philosophy, British political economy and (mainly) French revolutionary traditions and socialism - a taste of Marx's thoughts on religion and criticism of religion from an article he wrote in the middle of the 19th century.
"Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State":
marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm
In this article, written at the very end of 1843, Marx insists upon the necessity of moving from 'the criticism of religion" to "the criticism of politics. In its closing pages, Marx identifies the proletariat as the historical agent of revolutionary change and announces the marriage of radical philosophy and revolutionary proletariat. "The head of (revolutionary) emancipation is philosophy, its heart is the proletariat." from "The Marx Reader", edited by Cristopher Pierson
Here we are concerned only with the opening paragraphs, where Marx talks about religion and criticism of religion.
Before I continue with Marx's brilliant, if flawed synthesis of the three leading elements of European cultural history of the 19th century - German classical philosophy, British political economy and (mainly) French revolutionary traditions and socialism - a taste of Marx's thoughts on religion and criticism of religion from an article he wrote in the middle of the 19th century.
"Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State":
marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm
In this article, written at the very end of 1843, Marx insists upon the necessity of moving from 'the criticism of religion" to "the criticism of politics. In its closing pages, Marx identifies the proletariat as the historical agent of revolutionary change and announces the marriage of radical philosophy and revolutionary proletariat. "The head of (revolutionary) emancipation is philosophy, its heart is the proletariat." from "The Marx Reader", edited by Cristopher Pierson
Here we are concerned only with the opening paragraphs, where Marx talks about religion and criticism of religion.
