SCIENCE AND THE WORKING CLASS 



lawyer cannot save from execution in any other 

 way than by killing them himself ? " 



It is out of such considerations as these that 

 Marx felt justified in declaring that religion " is 

 the self-consciousness of a human being that has 

 either not yet found itself or again lost itself. 

 * * * Religion is the sigh of the oppressed crea- 

 tures, the mind of a heartless world, the spirit of 

 spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the peo- 

 ple. * * * The abolition of religion as the 

 illusory happiness of the people signifies their 

 demand for real happiness. * * * The world 

 has long been dreaming of things and has but 

 to become conscious of them in order to possess 

 them. * * * Just as religion is the index of 

 the theoretical struggles of mankind, so 

 the political state is that of its practical 

 struggles. * * *" 



The theological opponents of Marx are fond 

 of quoting the first part of these statements in 

 order to prove that " socialism is the enemy of 

 religion," but they are careful to omit the other 

 quotations, which demand that the professed prin- 

 ciples of religion should be applied in every day 

 human life. 



The religious criticisms of the Young-Hegelians 

 were crowned by Ludwig Feuerbach's " Essence 



111 



