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I. General Overview Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels strove to put into practical effect the humanitarian concept of Feuerbach. In so doing, they founded a new economic movement called Socialism. According to Marx, the supreme end of man is an immanent and material one, and consists in happiness. This material happiness must be obtained through organized collectivism. In fact, according to Marx, reality is governed by economic needs (historical materialism). Economic reality develops according to …

…their exploited and slavish existence could not afford them. However, the exploiters (feudalists, capitalists, etc.) regard religion as a superb means of keeping the masses under their yoke; firstly, it makes them obedient to their exploiters and, secondly, it prevents the proletariat from revolting through promising them a better lot after death. The proletariat exploits no one, and so needs no religion. While morality and aesthetics are only subject to change, religion must vanish completely.