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GL̆HUHQWKHUHKXQWHUVDQG¿VKHUVZLWKRXWFDW Peadar O’Grady

‘The Catholic Church has 0F$OHHVH¶VVWDWHPHQWFDPHDIWHUWKHVXSSRVHGO\OLE - long since been a primary, eral Pope Francis cancelled the venue in Rome for a global carrier of the toxic catholic women’s conference because she and two other virus of misogyny. Its leader- speakers were known to support gay rights. It was also ship has never sought a cure weeks after a scandal erupted in Chile where the Pope for that virus though the refused to listen to local church members who com- cure is freely available: its plained when a priest who covered up child abuse was name is equality. Down the promoted to bishop. The metaphor of the ‘virus of mi- two-thousand-year highway of Christian history came sogyny’ was apt. First because of the upsurge in interest the ethereal divine beauty of the nativity, the cruel in women’s oppression triggered by Trump’s election, VDFUL¿FHRIWKHFUXFL¿[LRQWKHKDOOHOXMDKRIWKHUHV - the victory of the marriage equality campaign and the urrection and the rallying cry, that wakes me up and rapid growth among young people of the popularity of gets me through the day each day, of the great com- the pro-choice campaign growing in leaps and bounds. mandment to love one another. But, down that same Second because the word virus evokes both the notion highway came these man-made toxins of misogyny, of a transmissible disease but also its modern usage of of homophobia, to say nothing of shameful anti-Sem- a piece of code or language that causes destruction and itism, with their legacy of damaged and wasted lives which requires active methods to combat it. and deeply embedded institutional dysfunction.’ The dramatic changes in religious practices and social ÀLFWVDWZRUNLQWKHVRFLHW\:HFDQJDXJHWKHLUUHOHYDQW Former President, Mary McAleese attitudes of the Irish population in the past few decades on International Women’s Day 2018 1 arise in a context of relatively recent social changes, accelerating in the 1960s, from a predominantly rural his statement on the legacy of religion, from a tra- agricultural population to a society of a predominantly Tditional catholic conservative -- a hopeful message urbanised . The relationship between so- RIDFKXUFKKLVWRU\RIVX̆HULQJDQGORYHRQWKHRQHKDQG cial change and prevailing ideas and practices may often and a depressing message of the same church’s history be a one-sided account of how ideas change social cir- of oppression and hatred on the other -- is a useful start- cumstances rather than vice versa. Revelations of child ing point for a discussion of Marx’s view of religion and abuse certainly played a role in hastening the decline of ideology. 2 and are systems of ideas the church but the loosening of the grip of the tradition- and practices and, as we shall see below, a recurring al pillars of Fianna Fáil and the Catholic hierarchy were and important question has been whether religion al- evident by the 1960s and 1970s well before the church ways serves to support the rich and powerful, the ruling DEXVH VFDQGDOV EHJDQ WR FDXVH VLJQL¿FDQW GDPDJH WR class, as part of a dominant ideology, or, whether there church authority. can be a progressive role for religion. This also raises Marx was scathing about accounts of history that did the question of how any set of ideas comes to dominate not question the reasons for human actions: and whether the have to twist and distort “Whilst in ordinary life every shopkeeper is very well these ideas to suit their interests or can elements of a able to distinguish between what somebody professes dominant ideology be in some way true? to be and what he really is, our historians have not yet

IRISH MARXIST REVIEW 28 won even this trivial insight. They take every epoch at its constitutes the economic word and believe that everything it says and imagines structure of society, the real foundation, on which QDWXUH RI FDSLWDOLVP LV KLGGHQ µ$ IDLU GD\¶V SD\ IRU D about itself is true.’ rises a legal and political superstructure and to which IDLU GD\¶V ZRUN¶ FDQ VHHP VXSHU¿FLDOO\ WUXH ZKHQ H[ While certainly not universal today among historians FRUUHVSRQGGH¿QLWHIRUPVRIVRFLDOFRQVFLRXVQHVV this tendency to explain changes in human action with The of material life conditions the FDQEHKDUGWRTXDQWLI\)LQDOO\WKHH̆HFWRQZRUNHUVRI changes in human ideas is still more common in public social, political and intellectual life process in general. WKHPDVUHQWWD[HVRUZKDWHYHU$QGVXFKVXUSOXV discourse than the reciprocal role of social change in al- It is not the consciousness of men that determines FDQWKHQEHXVHGWR¿QDQFHWKHSURGXFWLRQDQG XUDOFDWDVWURSKHRQHWKDWKDVUHDODQGPDWHULDOH̆HFWV tering both actions and ideas. their being, but, on the contrary, their social being GLVWULEXWLRQRILGHDVZKLFKUHÀHFWDQGVXSSRUWWKH that determines their consciousness’. 4 RIFDSLWDOLVWSURGXFWLRQDQG¿QDQFHLQWKDWFROODSVH7KH Marx and Ideology ,WLVKHUHWKDW0DU[¿UVWRXWOLQHVWKHQRWLRQRIDEDVH Born in 1818 in the city of Triers, near the French bor- and a superstructure: an overview of an economic foun- QRW WKDW LW GH¿QHV RXU SHUFHSWLRQV LQ VRPH RQHVLGHG der of Rhineland Prussia (modern Germany) to a Jew- GDWLRQRUµEDVH¶WKDWLQÀXHQFHVDSROLWLFDODQGLGHRORJ - ish father, a lawyer who was forced to convert to Lu- LFDOFXOWXUDOµVXSHUVWUXFWXUH¶ZKLFKWKHQFDQLQÀXHQFH (DJOHWRQGH¿QHVLWµ$QLGHRORJLFDOQRWLRQLVRQHZKLFK theran Protestantism to avoid anti-Semitic laws, Karl the nature of the economic base. While the complexi- Marx came of age in a time of rapid social and economic ty of these interactions should not be underestimated change and revolution in Europe. The French revolution 0DU[¶VNH\SRLQWRIWKHSULPDU\µFRQGLWLRQLQJ¶H̆HFWRI and the Industrial revolution centred in Britain inspired the economic base is important. a ferment of political and philosophical ideas. Of course the ideas of the large majority of the poor From his student days and throughout his life, Marx KDYHQHYHUKDGDQHTXDOLQÀXHQFHWRWKRVHRIWKHULFK DVVRFLDWH WKH UHYROXWLRQDU\ VRFLDOLVW $QWRQLR *UDPVFL developed a ‘materialist’ view that ideas do not have a RZQHUV RI ODQG RU IDFWRULHV DQG WKLV D̆HFWV ZKDW WKH life of their own, that they are developed and passed on ‘prevailing’ or ‘dominant’ ideas are at any particular only in the material context of the productive activities time and place in history: of real people in a society where control of production ‘The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the is the key to social power. For Marx, it was neither the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material intervention of a supernatural external force of gods force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellec- that was the force behind our ideas, nor was it the ideas tual force. The class which has the means of material of great leaders from an elevated position of insight or production at its disposal has control at the same time WDNHQIRUJUDQWHGDVDµQDWXUDO¶DQGXQLYHUVDOO\EHQH¿ ability that was the primary force but instead our practi- over the means of mental production, so that thereby, FLDOVWDWHRID̆DLUVDV9ROWDLUHVDWLULFDOO\SXWLWLQ cal experience of the world, especially in the crucial area generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the of our human relationship with the production of life’s means of mental production are subject to it.’ needs and wants. Marx emphasised our experience of Obviously producing ideas in a form that can be what he called the ‘mode of production’, the sum total passed on takes time, skill and material resources. To of the organisation of production of material human pass on ideas orally requires a regular audience; writ- life and the relations that go with it as it develops and ing things down and distributing them requires literacy, changes over time. paper, ink, a printing press, transport and so on. Who- FLDODQGHFRQRPLFVWUXFWXUHRUµEDVH¶LWVHOI$IHWLVKLV Marx repeatedly outlines in his writing this view of ever has the resources to do this will obviously tend to where the ideas in our heads or ‘consciousness’ primar- produce and favour ideas which they think are in their ily comes from. In summary as he put it: own interests. ‘...Circumstances make men just as much as men Scott Mann describes well this process in history: make circumstances’. 3 ‘The key concept here is that of the economic and as he outlined in more detail: (material) surplus; the material wealth generated ‘In the social production of their life, men enter into over and above that required to maintain (and $W D VLPSOH OHYHO QR PDWWHU KRZ PXFK D VRFLDOLVW GH¿QLWHUHODWLRQVWKDWDUHLQGLVSHQVDEOHDQGLQGH - ongoingly reproduce) the (the pendent of their will, relations of production which workers, their tools, the fertility of the land etc). For FRUUHVSRQGWRDGH¿QLWHVWDJHRIGHYHORSPHQWRIWKHLU substantial surplus is required in order to sustain RSSUHVVLRQ DQG QRW MXVW QDWXUDO IRUFHV OLNHV ÀRRGV RU material productive forces. The sum total of these such specialised institutions of ideas-production and IRUFH$WDPRUHFRPSOH[OHYHOFDSLWDOLVPSURYLGHVWKH 29 distribution as civil service bureaucracies, temples, appearance of fair exchange because the exploitative churches, religious schools, universities, newspapers, QDWXUH RI FDSLWDOLVP LV KLGGHQ µ$ IDLU GD\¶V SD\ IRU D TV stations etc. The rulers are able to use their IDLU GD\¶V ZRUN¶ FDQ VHHP VXSHU¿FLDOO\ WUXH ZKHQ H[ - FRUUHVSRQGGH¿QLWHIRUPVRIVRFLDOFRQVFLRXVQHVV monopoly power over the to ploitation is denied and what is ‘fair’ for a day’s work force the producers to hand over such surplus to FDQEHKDUGWRTXDQWLI\)LQDOO\WKHH̆HFWRQZRUNHUVRI WKHPDVUHQWWD[HVRUZKDWHYHU$QGVXFKVXUSOXV market competition or even collapse appears like a nat- FDQWKHQEHXVHGWR¿QDQFHWKHSURGXFWLRQDQG XUDOFDWDVWURSKHRQHWKDWKDVUHDODQGPDWHULDOH̆HFWV GLVWULEXWLRQRILGHDVZKLFKUHÀHFWDQGVXSSRUWWKH whether or not workers understand or support the role interests of the rulers’. 5 RIFDSLWDOLVWSURGXFWLRQDQG¿QDQFHLQWKDWFROODSVH7KH ,WLVKHUHWKDW0DU[¿UVWRXWOLQHVWKHQRWLRQRIDEDVH This means that of all the systems of ideas or ideol- point of Marx’s emphasis on the economic base here is ogies at any one time and place, there will tend to be a QRW WKDW LW GH¿QHV RXU SHUFHSWLRQV LQ VRPH RQHVLGHG GDWLRQRUµEDVH¶WKDWLQÀXHQFHVDSROLWLFDODQGLGHRORJ ‘dominant ideology’ and, in this Marxist sense, as Terry deterministic way, as some claim, but that ideology is LFDOFXOWXUDOµVXSHUVWUXFWXUH¶ZKLFKWKHQFDQLQÀXHQFH (DJOHWRQGH¿QHVLWµ$QLGHRORJLFDOQRWLRQLVRQHZKLFK not an ‘either or’ between the economic base and the po- is somehow convenient for our rulers – one which con- litical superstructure but an interaction of both that de- ceals or naturalises or otherwise legitimates an unjust mands a deeper analysis and explanation and that can 0DU[¶VNH\SRLQWRIWKHSULPDU\µFRQGLWLRQLQJ¶H̆HFWRI form of power’. 6 In this way the denial of the existence only be broken by revolutionary action and the revolu- of a dominant ideology (or the insistence that only tionary change in social structure and ideas that come counter-ideologies like are actual ideologies) with that action. Equally misleading are the attempts to KDYHQHYHUKDGDQHTXDOLQÀXHQFHWRWKRVHRIWKHULFK is a part of ideology itself. DVVRFLDWH WKH UHYROXWLRQDU\ VRFLDOLVW $QWRQLR *UDPVFL RZQHUV RI ODQG RU IDFWRULHV DQG WKLV D̆HFWV ZKDW WKH It is notable, for example, how the word ideology or with a one-sided emphasis on winning the ideological even the name of the dominant economic system, ‘cap- battle separate from other political or economic strug- italism’, go through extended periods of rarely being gles or the inevitability of violent confrontation. 7 mentioned by anyone bar socialists, until an economic crisis, such as in 2007, comes along. Equally ‘imperial- Marx and Religion ism’ or ‘nationalism’ as key elements of the ideologies For Marx and Engels religion was a system of ideas of modern capitalist states are often not named but just about supernatural forces controlling humans that, WDNHQIRUJUDQWHGDVDµQDWXUDO¶DQGXQLYHUVDOO\EHQH¿ - like all systems of ideas, had its origins at a particu- FLDOVWDWHRID̆DLUVDV9ROWDLUHVDWLULFDOO\SXWLWLQ Can- lar time in history. The earliest human belief systems, dide : ‘the best of all possible worlds’. in societies with a hunter-gatherer mode of produc- Later, in , in his description of ‘ fe- tion, were driven by a need to understand the natural tishism’, Marx describes the way in which a dominant world and involved magical explanations and practices ideology is promoted not just by the work of a super- that were often sensible in terms of the level of exist- structure of cultural production, powerful though that ing knowledge. Religion arose with the development of may be, but is also reinforced by the reality of the so- agriculture and incorporated magic into a more organ- FLDODQGHFRQRPLFVWUXFWXUHRUµEDVH¶LWVHOI$IHWLVKLV ised system of stories and ideas to explain the world, an object treated as if it is supernatural when in fact increasingly controlled, and documented, along with it is something you or your society has produced, and the surplus, by a class of priests. With increasing trade Marx applies this religious notion to our relationship to came the social base for the development of philosophy commodities, noting however the real material impact and with industrial capitalism the social basis for exper- on our lives of the system of commodity production and imental science. Religion continued to provide a way of exchange, whatever we may believe about it. incorporating human cultural practices, including mu- $W D VLPSOH OHYHO QR PDWWHU KRZ PXFK D VRFLDOLVW sic, art, literature, science and law as well as addressing GH¿QLWHUHODWLRQVWKDWDUHLQGLVSHQVDEOHDQGLQGH may hate the money system, they have to acknowledge the ordinary fears and frustrations of life due to the in- and usually comply with the exchange of money to get creasing lack of control over social forces of poverty and FRUUHVSRQGWRDGH¿QLWHVWDJHRIGHYHORSPHQWRIWKHLU goods and services because that is the actual system in RSSUHVVLRQ DQG QRW MXVW QDWXUDO IRUFHV OLNHV ÀRRGV RU IRUFH$WDPRUHFRPSOH[OHYHOFDSLWDOLVPSURYLGHVWKH droughts. 8 However, Marx is always clear that religion

IRISH MARXIST REVIEW 30 LVD¿FWLRQDQGRQHZHDUHQRWGRRPHGWREOLQGO\IROORZ popular forms of solace in modern urban society: yoga ‘The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man and mindfulness are often not even recognised as hav- $VZHKDYHVHHQ0DU[¶VYLHZRIUHOLJLRQDQGLGHRORJ\ makes religion, religion does not make man.’ ing a religious foundation in Buddhism. He goes on to explain the persistent social power and The notable failure of secular philosophy or science use of religion in terms of its social function for the mass to adequately address working class concerns of alien- of ordinary people: ation, exploitation and oppression is of course due to ‘Religion is the general theory of this world, its ency- their shared ideological role, along with religion, in de- clopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its fending their current ruling class. Ideas of nationalism LQWHUHVWVRIWKRVHZKRDGYRFDWHWKHPLQWKHSUHVHQW$V spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral and religion for example share the notion that member- sanction, its solemn complement, and its univer- ship of a cultural group, by faith or tradition, or both, VDOEDVLVRIFRQVRODWLRQDQGMXVWL¿FDWLRQ5HOLJLRXV binds the rich to the poor and the real enemy are those VX̆HULQJLVDWRQHDQGWKHVDPHWLPHWKHH[SUHVVLRQ RXWVLGHUV ZKR GR QRW EHOLHYH RU EHORQJ WR GHÀHFW WKH RIUHDOVX̆HULQJDQGDSURWHVWDJDLQVWUHDOVX̆HULQJ poor and oppressed from following their own interests Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the to overthrow their actual oppressors. heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless When viewed from below, however, religion, as a conditions. It is the opium of the people’. 9 channel for protest and rebellion, had been at the heart In Marx’s view religion was both an expression of RIWKHSHDVDQWZDULQ*HUPDQ\LQWKHWKFHQWXU\$ VX̆HULQJ EXW DOVR D SURWHVW DJDLQVW LW :KLOH LW FRXOG revolutionary movement against the feudal aristocracy be consoling and calming like opium, it could also be with the protestant, anabaptist Thomas Müntzer lead- DQG RWKHU ṘFLDO FXOWXUDO LQVWLWXWLRQV OLNH PHGLD RU a source of protest (though this full version of what he ing the peasants, opposed by the champion of the rising said is rarely quoted). Marx was keen to emphasise that , another protestant, Martin Luther, who while ideas were important in politics, winning hearts despite his brave opposition to the corrupt catholic hi- and minds to a cause was not necessarily advanced by erarchy took the side of the nobles against the peasant simply demonstrating that an idea or ideology was mis- rebels. ,QWKHH[DPSOH,RSHQHGZLWK0DU\0F$OHHVHWKH)L leading or untrue, as he goes on to say: Religion was also at the centre of the English revo- ‘The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness lution a century later this time as a uniting ideology, of the people is the demand for their real happiness. with the Calvinist Puritans at its centre, that was cast To call on them to give up their illusions about their R̆IRUVHFXODUVFLHQFHVRRQDIWHUEXWZLWKDUHVXUJHQFH WKHSHUVRQDOH[SHULHQFHWKDW0F$OHHVHKDVKDGLQH[SH condition is to call on them to give up a condition of religion in the 19th century with the rise of socialist that requires illusions. The is, movements like the Chartists. The revolutionary role of therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of UHOLJLRQV¿JKWLQJRQWKHVLGHRIWKHRSSUHVVHGWHQGVYHU\ tears of which religion is the halo.’ quickly to decay into a dominant ideology as seen with WKHFKXUFKRSHQXSLWVṘFLDOSRVLWLRQV LQFOXGLQJWKH It is important to address the ‘conditions’ (i.e. class early Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 10 Christianity as society) that cause the distress that leads to accepting an exemplar moved from being the religion of the op- the illusions of religion. Otherwise it will be replaced pressed masses with features of mutual aid, sharing of by another illusion or by despair and the revolutionary possessions and resistance to tyranny to becoming the IRUFHV ZLOO ¿QG WKHPVHOYHV VLGLQJ ZLWK WKRVH ZKR RS - religion of that very tyranny, the Roman Empire. It later 7KH SROLWLFDO VWDQGSRLQW RI 0F$OHHVH KHUVHOI KDV EHHQ pose religion but are supporters of other forms of ruling transformed itself into the civil service and ideological class ideology supporting oppression and exploitation. backbone of the feudal aristocracy, and later still into WKHSDVWWRGD\0F$OHHVHLVDVLJQRIFKDQJHUDWKHUWKDQ It is not progressive just to criticise people that their the defenders and obfuscators of the oppression and ex- source of comfort is an illusion. In some way all sourc- ploitation of the Capitalist elites in modern times. 7KHHUDRI7UXPSKDVVHUYHGIRUPDQ\DVDFRQ¿UPD es of comfort in an alienated, exploitative and oppres- Sudden upsurges of progressive liberation move- sive class system are illusory part-solutions: hobbies, ments can still take a religious form, from the protes- vocational jobs, socialising, self-decoration, shopping, tant Martin Luther King and the Islamic Malcolm X of psychotherapy, drug-taking (the actual opiate of the the US civil rights movement to the Liberation theology masses) and even sport, art, science or learning. Two FDWKROLFSULHVWVRI/DWLQ$PHULFDLQWKHVDQGV 31 LVD¿FWLRQDQGRQHZHDUHQRWGRRPHGWREOLQGO\IROORZ Conclusion means showing solidarity to the oppressed including, $VZHKDYHVHHQ0DU[¶VYLHZRIUHOLJLRQDQGLGHRORJ\ and sometimes, as with Islamophobia or anti-Semitism, is one that takes a complex historical view of how ideas especially oppression on religious grounds, while at the arise from social circumstances and are further changed same time arguing for the development of a truly lib- by the actions and ideas of the mass of human agents. erated social structure, free of alienated labour, where This means that ideas from the past can be useful but control of production is truly in the hands of the masses are limited by the needs of the new situation and by the and where the ideas and practices of art, science, moral- LQWHUHVWVRIWKRVHZKRDGYRFDWHWKHPLQWKHSUHVHQW$V ity, interpersonal relations and emotion are truly freely Marx put it: entered into and/or discarded: ‘Men make their own history, but they do not make it ‘In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes VDOEDVLVRIFRQVRODWLRQDQGMXVWL¿FDWLRQ5HOLJLRXV as they please; they do not make it under self-select- and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in VX̆HULQJLVDWRQHDQGWKHVDPHWLPHWKHH[SUHVVLRQ RXWVLGHUV ZKR GR QRW EHOLHYH RU EHORQJ WR GHÀHFW WKH ed circumstances, but under circumstances existing which the free development of each is the condition for RIUHDOVX̆HULQJDQGDSURWHVWDJDLQVWUHDOVX̆HULQJ already, given and transmitted from the past. The the free development of all’. 11 tradition of all dead generations weighs like a night- mare on the brains of the living’. This requires a concrete interpretation of all ideology, RIWKHSHDVDQWZDULQ*HUPDQ\LQWKHWKFHQWXU\$ whether the dominant ideology of support for capital- VX̆HULQJ EXW DOVR D SURWHVW DJDLQVW LW :KLOH LW FRXOG ism, like the church hierarchy of mainstream religions Notes DQG RWKHU ṘFLDO FXOWXUDO LQVWLWXWLRQV OLNH PHGLD RU 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1818&v=2oFn3gW- universities, or whether it is other counter-ideologies Prd8 attempting to undermine and overthrow the capitalist 2 For a very accessible introduction to Marx’s philosophy and approach to ideology (Chapter 10) see: Molyneux, John. The Point is to Change It!. system, at least in part, such as in social movements BOOKMARKS. against oppression, exploitation and alienation. 3 , , available at: https://www.marxists.org/ ,QWKHH[DPSOH,RSHQHGZLWK0DU\0F$OHHVHWKH)L - archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm anna Fáil candidate for president in the past, now pos- 4 Karl Marx, (1859) Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Polit- ing as spokesperson for the oppressed, we should obvi- ical Economy, available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/ ously be more than cautious. While having sympathy for works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm R̆IRUVHFXODUVFLHQFHVRRQDIWHUEXWZLWKDUHVXUJHQFH WKHSHUVRQDOH[SHULHQFHWKDW0F$OHHVHKDVKDGLQH[SH - 5 Mann, Scott (1999) Heart of a Heartless World; Religion as Ideology, p35, Black Rose Books, London. riencing church oppression and the recent revelation of 6 Eagleton, Terry. Ideology , Longman Critical Readers, p7, Taylor and her brother’s abuse by a Catholic priest, and that, while Francis. Kindle Edition. UHOLJLRQV¿JKWLQJRQWKHVLGHRIWKHRSSUHVVHGWHQGVYHU\ supporting many of her demands, for example that 7 For a review of Gramsci’s approach to ideology see Chris Harman WKHFKXUFKRSHQXSLWVṘFLDOSRVLWLRQV LQFOXGLQJWKH (1977), ‘Gramsci versus ’, International , 98, pope) to women, we also have to caution of her desire to May 1977, http://isj.org.uk/gramsci-versus-eurocommunism/ rescue the church hierarchy rather than destroy it, and 8 For an excellent introduction to the Marxist view of religion see Paul N. to emphasise the intrinsically ideological role of church Siegel (1986) The Meek and the Militant; Religion and Power Across the World , Zed Books, London. hierarchies in supporting oppression and exploitation. 9 Karl Marx, (1843) Introduction to: A Contribution to the Critique of He- IRUFHV ZLOO ¿QG WKHPVHOYHV VLGLQJ ZLWK WKRVH ZKR RS 7KH SROLWLFDO VWDQGSRLQW RI 0F$OHHVH KHUVHOI KDV EHHQ gel’s Philosophy of Right , available at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/ one of defending a socially conservative capitalism in marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm WKHSDVWWRGD\0F$OHHVHLVDVLJQRIFKDQJHUDWKHUWKDQ 10 For an excellent account of the interaction of liberation and oppression a viable leader of that change. in Islam see Chris Harman, The Prophet and the , International 7KHHUDRI7UXPSKDVVHUYHGIRUPDQ\DVDFRQ¿UPD - Socialism 64 (autumn 1994), http://www.marxists.org/archive/har- tion that the long-term demise of any progressive role man/1994/xx/islam.htm and John Molyneux, More than Opium: , International Socialism 119 (summer 2008), http://www.isj. for capitalism or the church is well advanced and that org.uk/index.php4?id=456&issue=119 the importance of religion for revolutionaries is to form 11 Marx, Karl and (1848) , united fronts with all genuine liberation movements and available at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/com- FDWKROLFSULHVWVRI/DWLQ$PHULFDLQWKHVDQGV movements against oppression and exploitation. This munist-manifesto/ch02.htm

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