# Seeking full "Opium of the masses" quote from Marx **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230 "2003-04-17T02:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/1 "2003-04-17T02:45:14Z")
C-Span recently aired a debate in which Christopher Hitchens noted that “Religion… is the opium of the people” is not the full quote, and then he quoted it. Any body know it, or where it is located online. My googling has been failing me on this one. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/2 "2003-04-17T02:56:38Z")
> [@](#): > > “Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. 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.” > [Marx, Introduction to Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right] See [This site](http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm#05) for the entire introduction. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/3 "2003-04-17T02:56:54Z")
> [@](#): > > “Religious poverty is, in one, the expression of real poverty, and in another, a protest against real poverty. Religion is the sigh of a heavy laden creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” It is found in the Introduction to his _Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right_, 1844. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneVA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@ShaneVA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShaneVA)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/4 "2003-04-17T02:58:01Z")
Here it is: Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. 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. Hope that helps. In case you want to read the whole thing, here is the site: [http://www3.baylor.edu/~Scott\_Moore/texts/Marx\_Opium.html](http://www3.baylor.edu/~Scott_Moore/texts/Marx_Opium.html) That particular quote is the last sentence of the fourth paragraph ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/5 "2003-04-17T03:09:19Z")
The minor differences in translation are interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/6 "2003-04-17T03:11:01Z")
This might be it. William S. Sahakian has accurately summarized Marx’s attitude toward religion: Marxists reject religious doctrines about spiritual values, the soul, immortality, and God, asserting that religion is an illusion, and that the illusory happiness based on it must be condemned. **“Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people”**. God does not create man; rather, an creates invalid religion with its mythical God. Religion functions as a police force, as a bourgeois technique to dissuade the masses from revolting by promising them a better, happier existence after death than their exploiters allow them to enjoy during their lifetime on earth (William S. Sahakian, History of Philosophy, New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1968, p. 251). ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/7 "2003-04-17T04:54:12Z")
As is often done with pithy remarks these are slightly recycled. Marx was paraphrasing _Charles Kingsley_ in his \*\*Letters to the Chartists[/] c. 1870: _We have used the bible as if it was a constable’s handbook - an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they are being overloaded._ FWIW ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/8 "2003-04-17T11:18:33Z")
**MonkeyMensch** : How did Marx writing in 1844 manage to paraphrase something written in 1870? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/9 "2003-04-17T12:13:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by refusal \* > \*\ ***MonkeyMensch** : How did Marx writing in 1844 manage to paraphrase something written in 1870? \*\* He used his time machine…duh. Actually, “Letters to the Chartists” was written in 1848, which is still too late. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/10 "2003-04-17T16:03:15Z")
::Wipes egg off face and slinks away:: ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/11 "2003-04-17T16:07:24Z")
What I meant to say, of course was: As is often done with pithy remarks these were eventually recycled. Charles Kingsley, some years later, in his **Letters to the Chartists** wrote: _We have used the bible as if it was a constable’s handbook - an opium-dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they are being overloaded._ I must have just mis-typed the original post. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/12 "2003-04-17T16:09:17Z")
And here I thought opium was the religion of the people . . . ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/13 "2003-04-17T18:49:11Z")
And for an untranslated version – > [@](#): > > Das religiöse Elend ist in einem der Ausdruck des wirklichen Elendes und in einem die Protestation gegen das wirkliche Elend. Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrängten Kreatur, das Gemüt einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustände ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volkes. Full text (_auf Deutsch_) of the introduction [here](http://www.mlwerke.de/me/me01/me01_378.htm) (The work itself is also there, on [this page](http://www.mlwerke.de/me/default.htm) under 1843). ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/14 "2003-04-17T19:17:51Z")
It’s nicer in the original. Thanks, **panamajack**. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/15 "2003-04-17T21:07:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\*I must have just mis-typed the original post. 😉 \*\* A famed economist, whose name I can’t recall off hand, once submitted a paper to a journal. Because of his reputation, the article was not vetted to normal standards. When a letter writer noted that the solution in the paper wasn’t an optimum, but instead a pessimum, he replied with a letter stating that it was not an error, but an instructive lesson to the readers of the journal. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/16 "2003-04-17T21:49:27Z")
Where have I heard “…opiate (sp?) of the masses”? ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/17 "2003-04-18T02:35:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rucksinator \* > \*\*Where have I heard “…opiate (sp?) of the masses”? \*\* All over the place. The only time I recall seeing it correctly, but abbreviated, was when I looked up in Bartlett’s. Unless you’re thinking of a specific incidence, in which case I haven’t a clue. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/18 "2003-04-18T12:57:21Z")
It’s just that I’ve heard “opiate of the masses” so much that “opium of the people” didn’t sound right. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeking-full-opium-of-the-masses-quote-from-marx/169230/19 "2003-04-18T16:45:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rucksinator \* > \*\*It’s just that I’ve heard “opiate of the masses” so much that “opium of the people” didn’t sound right. \*\* Me too. Did you notice that when I double checked it in Bartlett’s I fixed the quote in the OP but forgot to do it in the title? Ha!