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.

Die Religion ist der Seufzer der bedrengten Kreatur, das Gemuth einer herzlosen Welt, wie sie der Geist geistloser Zustende ist. Sie ist das Opium des Volkes.

Karl Marx

Philosophers

Karl Marx

Born in 1818 in Trier, Prussia, Karl Marx inverted Hegelian dialectics into materialism and constructed historical materialism, locating the driving force of history in economic relations of production. With Engels he authored The Communist Manifesto, presenting the theory of class struggle, and in his life's work Das Kapital he dissected the structural contradictions of capitalism through the concept of surplus value. His analytical methods transformed the methodology of social science as a whole.

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