“Naturally, this philosophy of ‘pie-in-the-Sky’, and an ultimate foreordained…”
The headline could not be read by machine (it read “Mai”); the title shown is the article’s opening words. Read the scan for the printed headline.
The Plough1973Church, state and civil libertiesChurch, state and civil liberties
Read the scan at the Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line (PDF, page 9) →Machine-read text, not corrected. Cut from the scan by machine, by the size of the headline type. Where columns were set close together, lines of a neighbouring article can run in, and a headline can be missed so that two articles share a page. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 9
Naturally, this philosophy of ‘pie-in-the-Sky’, and an ultimate foreordained purpose, was fostered and built up by the bourgeoisie. Any idea that encouraged the concept that the bourgeois state is preordained and unchangeable would of course appeal to thern. Many humns of all sects, written after the industrial revolution reflect this, e.g:
“The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, He made them proud and lowly, He ordered their estate’.
ROLE OF THE CHURCH AND MARXISM The church as an institution, of course has never been neutral in the class struggle. A look at the role of the church in our history and its ambigious attitude towards the National Independence struggle, makes this clear, Its present role in maintaining “‘law and order’’ supporting them as god-ordained rather than man-made merely confirms this. By cushioning these institutions they safe-guard the bourgeois state itself.
It is precisely this counter-revolutionary role played by the institution of the Church, that | +; encouraged currents in the Socialist Movement to advocate the forcible destruction of religion. Stalin's attempt at state-enforced atheism is a gocd example, because it shows very clearly the dange: of analysing any phenomenon at face value. They see the role of the Church, but not the real need religion represents.