Communist Revolution Replacinig the Religious Superstructure in China...woot
So, strangely enough, I'm having an awesome time writing this research paper based on a theme from Hobbes' Leviathan. I've chosen his theory that a sovereign has the right to establish and control its religious doctrines. Naturally, I've put a Chinese spin on it...just cause it'll interest me much more.
Mao’s thought is sinisized Marxist theory and is the basis of Communist ideology of the Communist government of China starting with the 1949 Revolution to present. His thought takes on many Marxist theories of religion, most importantly the theories of dialectical materialism and historical materialism (Aalderick 2.3). Dialectical materialism is a “Marxian interpretation of reality that views matter as the sole subject of change and all change as the product of a constant conflict between opposites arising from the internal contradictions inherent in all events, ideas, and movements” (Dictionary.com). Religion provides an explanation of the world based on unscientific means, often ignores present conditions instead reaching for the life beyond, emphasizes salvation in the afterlife, and says man does not create their own history by are directed by a supreme being (Aalderick 2.3). Historical materialism emphasizes the economic forces as a basis of civilizations. Religion is a means of escaping these exploitive capitalistic forces and also a tool of the exploiter to control the population. If a Marxist society were created with no capitalist exploitation, religion is unnecessary. From these two theories is where Marx concluded that “religion is the opiate of the masses” (Citation). Once a communist system could replace the religious societal superstructure, it would eliminate any need for religion. It would provide scientific means of explanation of the world, egalitarian prosperity to make a search beyond the present for happiness irrelevant, emphasize channeling energy for production in the present instead of an afterlife, and make man the sole creator of one’s destiny. This drive of production would propel the communist society farther than any other society, bound by the constrictions of religion. This ideology led Mao and the new Communist government to abolish religion, replace the religious superstructure with the State’s ideology and create an image of Mao as a God figure, propelling the Chinese masses into a Communist utopia.
Least it somehow justifies my being indoors on a rare sunny day in Boston.
P.S. I love buying booze from a sketchy friend of a friend of a friend who works at a laundromat at the end of the Green line in Brookline who ends up being a cool guy. T'was good times.
Mao’s thought is sinisized Marxist theory and is the basis of Communist ideology of the Communist government of China starting with the 1949 Revolution to present. His thought takes on many Marxist theories of religion, most importantly the theories of dialectical materialism and historical materialism (Aalderick 2.3). Dialectical materialism is a “Marxian interpretation of reality that views matter as the sole subject of change and all change as the product of a constant conflict between opposites arising from the internal contradictions inherent in all events, ideas, and movements” (Dictionary.com). Religion provides an explanation of the world based on unscientific means, often ignores present conditions instead reaching for the life beyond, emphasizes salvation in the afterlife, and says man does not create their own history by are directed by a supreme being (Aalderick 2.3). Historical materialism emphasizes the economic forces as a basis of civilizations. Religion is a means of escaping these exploitive capitalistic forces and also a tool of the exploiter to control the population. If a Marxist society were created with no capitalist exploitation, religion is unnecessary. From these two theories is where Marx concluded that “religion is the opiate of the masses” (Citation). Once a communist system could replace the religious societal superstructure, it would eliminate any need for religion. It would provide scientific means of explanation of the world, egalitarian prosperity to make a search beyond the present for happiness irrelevant, emphasize channeling energy for production in the present instead of an afterlife, and make man the sole creator of one’s destiny. This drive of production would propel the communist society farther than any other society, bound by the constrictions of religion. This ideology led Mao and the new Communist government to abolish religion, replace the religious superstructure with the State’s ideology and create an image of Mao as a God figure, propelling the Chinese masses into a Communist utopia.
Least it somehow justifies my being indoors on a rare sunny day in Boston.
P.S. I love buying booze from a sketchy friend of a friend of a friend who works at a laundromat at the end of the Green line in Brookline who ends up being a cool guy. T'was good times.