The aim of Marxists is to fight for the socialist transformation of society on a national and international scale. We believe that the capitalist system has long ago outlived its historical usefulness and has converted itself into a monstrously oppressive, unjust and inhuman system. The ending of exploitation and the creation of a harmonious socialist world order, based on a rational and democratically run plan of production, will be the first step in the creation of a new and higher form of society in which men and women will relate to themselves as human beings. We believe that it is the duty of any humane person to support the fight against such a system which involves untold misery, disease, oppression and death for millions of people in the world. We wholeheartedly welcome the participation in the struggle of every progressive person, irrespective of nationality, the colour of their skin, or their religious beliefs. However, in order to fight effectively, it is necessary to work out a serious program, policy and perspective that can guarantee success. We believe that only Marxism (scientific socialism) provides such a perspective.

The chains of class oppression and slavery are not only material but psychological and spiritual. It will take time, even after the abolition of capitalism, to eliminate the psychological and moral scars of this slavery. Men and women who have been formed all their lives in a servile spirit will not emancipate their minds and souls immediately from the old prejudices. But once the social and material conditions are given to permit men and women to enter into a genuinely human relationship, their conduct and way of thinking will be similarly transformed. When that day dawns, people will have no need of policemen - either of the material or spiritual kind.

From time immemorial, men (and still more women) have been educated in a spirit of servility. We have been taught to think that we are weak, impotent, that, no matter what we do, it makes no difference, that "man proposes, but God disposes". The prevailing idea was one of fatalism. On the great problems facing us, nothing can be done. This sense of fatalistic acceptance, of servile worship of the established fact, lies deeply embedded in all religions. The Christian is advised that if someone should strike him in the face, he should turn the other cheek, the word Islam means "submission", and the prophets of the Old Testament assure us that "all is vanity". Out of this sense of impotence comes the need for a Higher Being who is everything we ourselves are not. Man is mortal; God is immortal. Man is weak; God is strong; Man is ignorant before the mysteries of the universe; God is all-knowing, and so on.

The belief that human beings must look to the heavens for salvation also gives rise to a belief in miracles. This is by no means confined to the uneducated classes. One finds a similar superstitious cast of mind among economic forecasters and stock exchange merchants, who merely replicate on a higher level the mentality of the gambler who holds a rabbit's foot in one hand while throwing a dice with the other. In the Bible, the hungry were fed, the blind saw, the lame walked... - all through the intervention of divine miracles. Nowadays we do not require the intervention of supernatural elements to perform such miracles. The achievements of modern science and technology already permit us to do all these things. It is only the artificial constraints imposed by private ownership of the means of production and the profit system which prevents the extension of these benefits to every man, woman and child on the planet.

To the degree that men and women are able to take control of their lives and develop themselves as free human beings, Marxists believe that interest in religion - that is, the search for consolation in an afterlife - will decline naturally of itself. Of course, believers will disagree with this prediction. Time will tell who is right. In the meantime, disagreements on such matters should not prevent all honest Christians, Hindus, Jews or Moslems who wish to participate in the fight against injustice from joining hands with the Marxists in the struggle for a new and better world.

Recommended further reading:

• Marxism and Religion - By Alan Woods
• Socialism and The Churches - By Rosa Luxemburg
• Socialism and Religion - By VI Lenin