The “Opium Foundation Theory” Is a Distorted Summary of Lenin’s View on Religion

Regarding the Marxist-Leninist view on religion, our Party has always advocated studying it humbly and earnestly, understanding it completely and accurately, and grasping its basic principles in order to observe, analyze, and solve China’s religious problems, and through this practice to enrich and develop it. The basic views our Party put forward in the early days of the founding of New China—that religion has the characteristics of long-term nature, mass character, ethnic character, international character, and complexity—are the basic conclusions reached by applying the basic principles of the Marxist-Leninist view on religion to observe and analyze China’s religious problems. The basic policy our Party gradually improved and established after reform and opening up—fully implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief, managing religious affairs according to law, adhering to the principle of independence and self-management, and actively guiding religion to adapt to socialist society—is the basic policy formulated by applying the basic principles of the Marxist-Leninist view on religion and the above-mentioned basic views to handle contemporary Chinese religious problems. These basic views and basic policies are enrichments and developments of the Marxist-Leninist view on religion and have become the core content of the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics on religion.

对于马克思列宁主义宗教观，我们党一向主张虚心认真学习、完整准确理解、掌握基本原理，来观察、分析、解决中国的宗教问题，并通过这种实践来丰富和发展它。我们党在新中国成立初期提出的宗教具有长期性、群众性、民族性、国际性、复杂性的基本观点，就是运用马列主义宗教观的基本原理观察分析中国宗教问题得出的基本结论；我们党在改革开放后逐步完善并确立的全面贯彻党的宗教信仰自由政策、依法管理宗教事务、坚持独立自主自办的原则、积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应的基本方针，则是运用马列主义宗教观的基本原理和上述基本观点制定的处理当代中国宗教问题的基本政策。这些基本观点和基本政策，是对马列主义宗教观的丰富和发展，已成为中国特色社会主义宗教理论的核心内容。

However, whether during the period of socialist revolution and construction or during the new period of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, there have always been people who take certain words of the revolutionary mentors out of context, treat them as isolated and rigid dogmas, and apply them mechanically. When this dogmatic approach encounters setbacks in reality, instead of reflecting on it, they claim that the Marxist-Leninist view on religion is outdated and that it should be “revised” with a non-Marxist view on religion. Simply on the basis that Lenin said “Religion is the opium of the people—this saying of Marx is the cornerstone of the entire Marxist worldview on the question of religion,” they distort and summarize Lenin’s view on religion as the “opium foundation theory.” This is a relatively influential distortion of the Marxist-Leninist view on religion in recent years.

但是，无论在社会主义革命和建设时期，还是在改革开放和社会主义现代化建设的新时期，总有人把革命导师的某些话语断章取义，当做孤立僵化的教条，生搬硬套。当这种教条主义的做法在现实中碰壁之后，不但不作反省，反而声称马列主义宗教观已经过时，要用非马克思主义的宗教观去“修正”它。仅以列宁说过“宗教是人民的鸦片是马克思主义在宗教问题上的全部世界观的基石”这句话为根据，就把列宁的宗教观歪曲概括为“鸦片基石论”，便是近年来影响较大的一种对马克思列宁主义宗教观的歪曲概括。

Marx’s Original Meaning and Lenin’s Enrichment and Development

马克思的原意以及列宁的丰富和发展

In his “Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” Marx summarized the historical significance of the Young Hegelians’ “criticism of religion” with a passage outlining the role of religion for the people: “Religious suffering is at the same time an expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

马克思在《〈黑格尔法哲学批判〉导言》中总结青年黑格尔派“宗教批判”的历史意义时，用一段话概括了宗教对人民的作用：“宗教里的苦难既是现实苦难的表现，又是对这种现实苦难的抗议。宗教是被压迫生灵的叹息，是无情世界的情感，正像它是无精神活力的制度的精神一样。宗教是人民的鸦片。”

In “Socialism and Religion,” Lenin elaborated on Marx’s view of the role of religion for the people: “For those who toil and live in poverty all their lives, religion teaches submission and patience in this world, holding out the hope of reward in heaven. For those who live by the labor of others, religion teaches charity in this world, cheaply justifying their entire exploitative existence and selling them at a cheap price tickets to heavenly bliss. Religion is the opium of the people. Religion is a kind of spiritual rotgut, in which the slaves of capital drown their human image and their claims to any decent human life.” Lenin concretized Marx’s view, summarized it with Marx’s original words, and then used the “wine” that Russians love to drink as a metaphor to explain it, thereby enriching and developing Marx’s view on the role of religion for the people.

列宁在《社会主义和宗教》中对马克思关于宗教对人民作用的观点作了阐述：“对于辛劳一生、贫困一生的人，宗教教导他们在人间要顺从和忍耐，劝他们把希望寄托在天国的恩赐上。对于依靠他人劳动而过活的人，宗教教导他们要在人间行善，廉价地为他们的整个剥削生活辩护，向他们廉价出售进入天国的门票。宗教是人民的鸦片。宗教是一种精神上的劣质酒，资本的奴隶饮了这种酒就毁坏了自己做人的形象，不再要求多少过一点人样的生活。”列宁把马克思的观点具体化，再用马克思的原话来概括总结，最后用俄国人爱喝的“酒”来比喻说明，从而丰富和发展了马克思关于宗教对人民作用的观点。

In “On the Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion,” Lenin once again explained Marx’s view on the role of religion for the people: “Religion is the opium of the people—this saying of Marx is the cornerstone of the entire Marxist worldview on the question of religion. Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and all kinds of religious organizations, as instruments of the bourgeois reaction to defend exploitation and to stupefy the working class.”

列宁在《论工人政党对宗教的态度》中又一次阐释了马克思关于宗教对人民作用的观点，“宗教是人民的鸦片，——马克思的这句名言是马克思主义在宗教问题上的全部世界观的基石。马克思主义始终认为现代所有的宗教和教会、各式各样的宗教团体，都是资产阶级反动派用来捍卫剥削制度、麻醉工人阶级的机构。”

In this passage, Lenin cited Marx’s saying “Religion is the opium of the people” to illustrate that the Party must maintain ideological clarity and firmness when dealing with the “question of religion”—it must uphold materialism and atheism and oppose idealism and theism. Because according to the Marxist view on religion, religious ideas are merely fantastic reflections in the minds of people of external forces that dominate their daily lives; religious belief is only the helpless sigh and weak protest of people who cannot escape from real suffering. Although it can provide temporary spiritual comfort and alleviate some pain, it cannot solve the fundamental problem of throwing off exploitation and oppression and achieving liberation and happiness; on the contrary, it hinders them from making revolution. Clearly, “Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and all kinds of religious organizations, as instruments of the bourgeois reaction to defend exploitation and to stupefy the working class” is Lenin’s concrete explanation of the practical significance of Marx’s famous saying “Religion is the opium of the people.” It is a comprehensive exposition of the Party’s basic attitude and policy toward religion, combined with the concrete realities of the Russian revolution at that time. If we merely seize on the words “opium” and “cornerstone,” extract them from their context, and turn them into a rigid dogma divorced from specific context, historical background, and ideological system, summarizing them as the so-called “opium foundation theory,” this is clearly mistaken.

列宁在这段论述中引用马克思的“宗教是人民的鸦片”这句话，目的是要说明，党在对待“宗教问题”时必须保持“世界观”的清醒和坚定——要坚持唯物论和无神论，反对唯心论和有神论。因为按照马克思主义宗教观，宗教观念不过是支配着人们日常生活的外部力量在人们头脑中的幻想的反映，宗教信仰只是人民面对现实苦难无法摆脱时的无奈叹息和虚弱抗议，虽然可以获得一时的精神慰藉，让痛苦减轻一些，却不能解决摆脱剥削和压迫、获得解放和幸福的根本问题，反而会妨碍他们进行革命。显然，“马克思主义始终认为现代所有的宗教和教会、各式各样的宗教团体，都是资产阶级反动派用来捍卫剥削制度、麻醉工人阶级的机构”，是列宁对马克思“宗教是人民的鸦片”这句名言的现实意义所作的具体说明，是结合当时俄国革命的具体实际全面阐述党对宗教的这一基本态度和政策。如果我们仅仅抓住“鸦片”和“基石”那句话，把它从上下文中抽离出来，使之成为脱离具体语境、时代背景和思想体系的僵化教条，概括出所谓的“鸦片基石论”，显然是错误的。

The Attitude of the Communist Party of China

中国共产党的态度

During the period of the New Democratic Revolution, Li Da introduced the above-mentioned ideas of Marx and Lenin to some extent in *Modern Sociology* (1926) and *Outline of Sociology* (1937), but the above-mentioned works of Marx and Lenin had not yet been translated and published, so very few people in the Party knew the saying “Religion is the opium of the people.”

新民主主义革命时期，李达在《现代社会学》（1926年）和《社会学大纲》（1937年）中对马克思和列宁的上述思想有所介绍，但马克思和列宁的上述著作还没有翻译出版，因此党内知道“宗教是人民的鸦片”这句话的人很少。

After the founding of New China, with the translation and publication of Lenin’s above-mentioned works, the saying “Religion is the opium of the people” quickly attracted attention. In response, Zhou Enlai promptly conveyed the Central Committee’s attitude. On June 25, 1950, at the Party Group Meeting of the First Session of the Second National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Zhou Enlai pointed out in his “Speech on the Question of Religion”: “Comrade so-and-so said that Lenin stated in 1909 that religion is opium. Do not think that slogans raised during the revolutionary period become even more intense after victory; in fact, the opposite is true. During the revolutionary period, principles need to be clearly stated; now that we have political power, sometimes it is unnecessary to emphasize ‘religion is opium.’ The issue is to be good at isolating the handful of stubborn reactionaries.” On another occasion, Zhou Enlai again clearly stated: “Lenin said in 1909 that religion is opium; this was a slogan of the revolutionary period. Now that we have political power, we need not emphasize that religion is opium, but should respect the beliefs of the nationalities.” It is evident that our Party highly agrees with Marx and Lenin’s use of opium as a metaphor for religion’s spiritual stupefaction of the people, but at the same time clearly identifies it as a slogan of the revolutionary period, emphasizing that it should be downplayed after the victory of the revolution.

新中国成立后，随着列宁上述著作的翻译出版，“宗教是人民的鸦片”这句话很快就引起了人们的注意。为此，周恩来及时表明了中央的态度。1950年6月25日，周恩来在全国政协一届二次党组大会上《关于宗教问题的讲话》中指出：“某某同志说，列宁在1909年曾说过宗教就是鸦片。不要以为革命时期提出的口号胜利后就更厉害，其实恰相反，革命时期是要把原则讲清楚，现在有了政权，有些时候倒不必要去强调‘宗教就是鸦片’了。问题是要善于孤立少数顽固的反动分子。”在另外一个场合，周恩来再一次明确地表示：“列宁在1909年曾经说过宗教就是鸦片，这是革命时期的口号。现在我们有了政权，可以不必强调宗教就是鸦片，而要尊重其民族的信仰。”显而易见，对于马克思和列宁用鸦片来比喻宗教对人民的精神麻醉作用，我们党是高度认同的，但同时明确将它鉴定为革命时期的口号，强调在革命胜利后要淡化它。

After reform and opening up, our Party’s Document No. 19 of 1982 of the Central Committee, “The Basic Views and Basic Policy on the Question of Religion in the Socialist Period of Our Country,” which brought about the rectification of the guiding ideology for religious work, comprehensively expounded the Party’s basic views on the question of religion. When discussing the role of religion on the masses in class society, this document did not again cite the above-mentioned famous sayings of Marx or Lenin, indicating that our Party’s position and viewpoint on this issue are very clear and consistent.

改革开放以后，我们党实现宗教工作指导思想拨乱反正的中央1982年19号文件《中共中央关于我国社会主义时期宗教问题的基本观点和基本政策》，全面阐述了党对宗教问题的基本观点。该文件在论述宗教在阶级社会对人民群众的作用时，并没有再引用马克思或列宁的上述名言，这说明我们党在这一问题上的立场和观点是非常明确和一贯的。

The Error of the Distorted Summary

歪曲概括的错误所在

The “opium foundation theory” is a serious fragmentation and distortion of the Marxist view on religion. First, it separates our Party’s theory and policy on religion from the Marxist-Leninist view on religion, freezing and limiting the Marxist view on religion—which is continuously enriched, developed, and kept abreast of the times in practice—to certain specific expositions in the classical Marxist texts. Second, it seems to completely disregard the essence, roots, functions, and effects of religion, as well as the laws of its emergence, development, and extinction, and the basic principles of the Marxist-Leninist view on religion, such as the attitude and policy of the workers’ party toward religion. Instead, it one-sidedly reduces the Marxist view on religion to a certain historical attitude and policy toward religion. Consequently, it arrives at only one conclusion: religion is the opium of the people, and we must struggle against it. The error of this theory also lies in its failure to comprehensively and accurately grasp the rich content of Lenin’s view on religion based on the history of the development of the Marxist view on religion and the historical background of the Russian revolution in the early twentieth century. Instead, it arbitrarily fragments and distorts Lenin’s exposition in “On the Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion.” [4]4 Lenin’s 1909 article “On the Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion” argues that the Marxist party must oppose religion as an ideology but should not make anti-religious struggle the central task of the proletarian class struggle, and it advocates tactical flexibility in dealing with religious believers. The result is that it takes part of Lenin’s religious thought, which specifically discusses the Party’s religious policy, as Lenin’s entire view on religion, and distorts and summarizes it as the “opium foundation theory” (abbreviated as the “opium theory”) and the “theory of struggling against religion” (abbreviated as the “struggle theory”). It then claims that because our Party has long been influenced by Lenin’s “opium theory” and “struggle theory,” it has become rigid in thinking on religious issues, suppressing freedom of religious belief, and asserts that the Marxist view on religion is no longer suited to the current situation and must “take the lead in keeping pace with the times.” That is to say, it advocates introducing certain fashionable Western theories to “develop” the Marxist view on religion.

“鸦片基石论”是对马克思主义宗教观的严重割裂和歪曲。首先，它把我们党的宗教理论政策与马列主义宗教观割裂开来，把在实践中不断丰富发展和与时俱进的马克思主义宗教观凝固和限定为马克思主义经典著作的某些具体论述。其次，它似乎完全不顾宗教的本质、根源、功能作用及其产生、发展、消亡的规律，以及工人政党对待宗教的态度和政策等马列主义宗教观的基本原理，而是把马克思主义宗教观片面地理解为历史上对待宗教的某种态度和政策。于是，它只得出一个结论：宗教是人民的鸦片，我们要同它作斗争。这一理论的错误还在于没有根据马克思主义宗教观的发展史和上世纪初俄国革命的时代背景全面准确地把握列宁宗教观的丰富内容，而是把列宁在《论工人政党对宗教的态度》中的论述进行了随意割裂和歪曲。其结果，就是把列宁专题论述党的宗教政策的部分宗教思想说成是列宁的全部宗教观点，并把它歪曲概括为“鸦片基石论”（简称“鸦片论”）和“同宗教作斗争论”（简称“斗争论”），并宣称我们党因为长期受列宁“鸦片论”和“斗争论”影响，在宗教问题上思想僵化，压制宗教信仰自由，声称马克思主义宗教观已不适应当前形势，必须“率先与时俱进”。也就是说，要引进西方的某些时髦理论来“发展”马克思主义宗教观。

In fact, Lenin was a proletarian revolutionary who fully accepted the system of theory and policy on religion founded by Marx and Engels and insisted on continuously enriching and developing it in practice. The several articles in which Lenin discusses religious issues do not constitute an independent view on religion separate from that of Marx and Engels; on the contrary, they represent an enrichment and development of the Marxist and Engelsian view on religion. The practice of extracting certain of Lenin’s expositions from the history of the development of the Marxist view on religion and from its system of theory and policy, and then directly summarizing from them a so-called distinctive “view on religion” of Lenin’s own, is evidently metaphysical and violates the scientific attitude of historical materialism.

实际上，列宁是完全接受马克思、恩格斯创立的宗教理论政策体系并坚持在实践中不断丰富发展的无产阶级革命家。列宁论述宗教问题的几篇文章，并不构成一个离开马克思和恩格斯的宗教观的独立的宗教观，反而是对马克思和恩格斯宗教观的丰富和发展。那种把列宁的某些论述从马克思主义宗教观的发展史和理论政策体系中抽离出来，并直接从中概括出所谓列宁自己的独树一帜的“宗教观”的做法，显然是形而上学的，是违背历史唯物主义的科学态度的。