written by Lenin 12 March 1922 and published in No 3 of the magazine "Pod znameniem Marxism" ( Under the banner of Marxism) magazine of philosophy, politics and economics that was published in Russian and German. A magazine wanting to be the body of the militant materialism must be a body fighting, first in that it must terminate and tirelessly pursue the current "lackeys graduates clerical obscurantism," whether they act as representatives Journal of science or as snipers who call themselves journalists' democratic left or socialist ideas .
Secondly, this journal should be the body of 'militant atheism . We departments or at least the official bodies whose task this work. But it is conducted with extreme softness, in a completely unsatisfactory and suffers the burden of the very conditions of our typical Russian bureaucracy (although Soviet).
E 'is therefore very important to complete the work of state bodies, to correct it and animate it, the magazine, which aims to become the organ of the militant materialism, leads propaganda and a tireless fight for atheism . You have to follow carefully all the published material in all languages, by translating, or at least review, all that has a certain value.
Engels has long urged the leaders of the modern proletariat to translate and widely disseminate among the people atheistic publications, battles of the late eighteenth century. To our shame, we have not yet done so (and this is one of many tests that are far easier to win power in a revolutionary period, that knowing how to serve it properly).
It does sometimes justify the weakness, failure to act, our inability by all sorts of considerations "higher order", saying for example that the old atheistic literature of the eighteenth century is outdated, unscientific, childish, and so on. There is nothing worse than similar pseudo-scientific sophistry, which mask or pedantry, or a complete misunderstanding of Marxism.
course in the works of atheistic revolutionaries of the eighteenth century one can find many things are not scientific and puerile. But nothing prevents the publishers of these works to reduce them and accompany them with brief annotations remember that the progress of scientific criticism of religions made by humanity since the end of the eighteenth century, indicating the most recent works on the subject, etc..
would be the biggest mistake, and the worst that would commit a Marxist to believe that the popular masses, made up of millions of human beings (and especially the mass of peasants and artisans) to pay the darkness, all 'ignorance and prejudices of modern society as a whole, can get out of this darkness just following the right path to a purely Marxist education.
E 'imperative to give these people the most varied material of atheistic propaganda, put them in contact with the facts relating to the most different domains of life, approach them in one way or another for them, then awakened from their sleep religious , shake them from all sides by the most different, and so on.
Publications lively, clever old atheists of the eighteenth century, who openly attacked, and so witty dominant clerical obscurantism, will prove more often than a thousand times more suitable to awaken people from sleep, religious, not paraphrases Marxism, boring, dry, almost entirely lacking in facts cleverly chosen, to show that prevail in our literature, and (needless to hide the sin), often distort Marxism.
All the works of Marx and Engels of some importance that we have been translated. The fear that, for us, the old the old materialism and atheism will be left without the corrections that you have made Marx and Engels, is therefore unfounded. The essential - and often forget the fact that our community, self-proclaimed Marxist, which actually distort Marxism - is able to affect the masses quite yet uncultivated a conscious attitude towards religious issues and a critical awareness of religions.
On the other hand, look at the representatives of the modern scientific criticism of religions. Almost always, these representatives of the bourgeoisie Read "complete" denial of their own religious prejudices on the reasoning with them immediately unmasked as ideological slaves of the bourgeoisie as a "lackey graduates clerical obscurantism."
two examples: the prof. R. Iu. Vipper has published a booklet in 1918: The Origins of Christianity (ed. Pharos, Moscow). Paraphrasing the main achievements of modern science, the author, not only does not fight prejudice and deceit are the weapons of the church as a political organization, not only remains silent on these issues, but the claim really ridiculous and ultrareazionaria to rise above the two "extremes": the idealistic and the materialistic. This means that serve the ruling bourgeoisie, all over the world, draws hundreds of millions of rubles on the profits squeezed from workers to support religion.
Arthur Drews The well-known German scientist who, in his book entitled The Myth of Christ, refutes the tales and religious prejudices and demonstrates that no Christian has ever existed, at the end of the book be delivered to the religion, but for a religion renewed, cleaned, refined, able to cope with "the natural stream that is growing day by day" (p. 238 of 4. German edition, 1910). He is a reactionary said, conscious that helps openly pimps to replace the old and rotten religious bias, prejudice brand new, even more repugnant and vile.
This does not mean that we should not translate Drews. This means that the communists and all the material as a consequence, even allies, to some extent, with the progressive part of the bourgeoisie, must tirelessly denounce it when it falls in the reaction. Avoid the alliance with the representatives of the bourgeoisie of the eighteenth century, namely the era in which the bourgeoisie was revolutionary, it would mean betraying Marxism and materialism, because "the alliance" with the Drews, in one form or another and within various constraints, it is essential to that we are fighting against the dominant religious obscurantism.
magazine under the banner of Marxism, which aims to be the body of the militant materialism, much should reserve space for atheistic propaganda, the exhibition of publications on the subject and to correct the enormous weaknesses of our state action in this field. Particularly important is the use of books and pamphlets that contain many facts and many comparisons demonstrating the relationship between interests and organizations of the bourgeoisie and the modern institutions of religious organizations and religious propaganda.
particularly important is all the material for the United States of America, where the official connection, state, between religion and the capital is less apparent. But there is more clearly that the so-called "modern democracy" (before which they prostrated themselves so inconsiderately the Mensheviks, the Socialist rivoluzionaci and, in part, anarchists ) is nothing but the freedom to preach what the bourgeoisie should you preach, and preach it agrees the most reactionary ideas, religion, obscurantism, the defense of the exploiters , etc..
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
(Lenin)
UAACS - Union for the anti-religious atheism and Soviet Communism
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