CONTRADICTIONS IN THEORY AND APPLICATION OF MARXISM (PART 4)

                                                   STALINISM, MAOISM AS OPIUM OF MASSES 


 One of Marx's famous quotes is "Religion is the opium of the masses." In this context, "opium of the masses" refers to the things that distract or numb common people, preventing them from fully understanding their suffering and oppression. Decades later, figures like Stalin and Mao created their own cults of personality, turning Stalinism and Maoism into ideologies that attained the status of a monotheistic religion, based on Marxist theory.

In traditional monotheistic religions, there is typically one infallible figure—someone whose word is unquestionable, who cannot make mistakes, and whose authority is absolute. In Stalinism and Maoism, Stalin and Mao themselves became such figures. Their words and actions were seen as final, and any dissent was ruthlessly suppressed. These leaders were portrayed as infallible, and their decisions were unquestionable. Through mass propaganda and brutal repression, they built vast cults of personality around themselves, all in the name of Marxism.

As Marx described religion in the 19th century as the "opium of the masses," so, in the 20th century, Stalinism and Maoism became a form of opium for the masses in their respective countries. The common people were made to forget the suffering caused by the policies of these regimes, and instead, they were forced to worship Stalin and Mao as near-divine figures, the ultimate "godfathers" of their nations.

In this way, a distorted version of Marxism—one associated with the cult of personality, authoritarianism, and one-party rule—became known across the world. Critics of Marxism made sure to associate this perversion with the theory itself, ensuring that the image of Marxism as a tool for oppression and dictatorship would persist in global discourse.

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