---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Communism is the opiate of the people."
description: "\"Communism is the opiate of the people.\" — Will Durant"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png"
---

#  Communism is the opiate of the people.

![“Communism is the opiate of the people.” quote by Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png)

> “Communism is the opiate of the people.”

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

It suggests that religion can be used to pacify and distract the masses from real issues.

**In simple terms:** Religion can distract people from problems.

Key Takeaway

Question authority, seek truth.

Themes

politics religion control

Mood

critical thoughtful

Type

analytical philosophical

When to use this quote

- activism
- education
- political debate
- personal reflection

Key Concepts

marxism psychology social control

Questions to Reflect On

- How does faith influence social movements?
- Can belief be both comforting and limiting?

A Different Perspective

May overlook genuine spiritual comfort people

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Communism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism/) [Communism Opiate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism-opiate-1637452/) [Opiate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opiate/) [Opiate People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opiate-people-300799/) [Opiates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opiates/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/)

## Related quotes

> [Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clare-boothe-luce/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-intellectuals/)

[Clare Boothe Luce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clare-boothe-luce/)

> [Opiates: Perk 30s, Oxy Contins, Morphine, Heroin, and many more… Iits all over the high schools and they just suck the life out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mccarty/opiates-perk-30s-oxy-contins-morphine-heroin-and-many-more-iits-all/)

[Kevin Mccarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mccarty/)

> [Religion is the opiate of the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/religion-is-the-opiate-of-the-people/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people. In the United States today, opiates are the religion of the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/marx-said-that-religion-was-the-opiate-of-the-people-in-the-united/)

[Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/)

> [ Television in its present form...\[is\] the opiate of the people of the United States. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-nixon/television-in-its-present-form-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-of-the/)

[Richard M. Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-nixon/)

> [Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals - With no cure except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clare-boothe-luce/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-intellectuals-with-no-cure-except-as-a/)

[Clare Boothe Luce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clare-boothe-luce/)

> [“Your partner may have injuries that you can't repair. Your partner may be trapped in a dark room without windows. Your life narrative might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ben-zehabe/your-partner-may-have-injuries-that-you-can-t-repair-your-partner-may/)

[Michael Ben Zehabe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ben-zehabe/)

> [“Answers are the opiate of the people!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandor-schuman/answers-are-the-opiate-of-the-people/)

[Sandor Schuman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandor-schuman/)

> [Religion is the opium of the people translated from the German Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkessometimes misquoted as opiate of the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/religion-is-the-opium-of-the-people-translated-from-the-german-die/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [“the media coverage of the ‘opiate epidemic’ as driven by pill pushing-doctors and by pain patients worries me a lot, and I think it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-gupta/the-media-coverage-of-the-opiate-epidemic-as-driven-by-pill-pushing/)

[Anita Gupta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-gupta/)

> [In 1844, Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He said this at a time when opium and opium derivatives were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/in-1844-karl-marx-said-religion-is-the-opiate-of-the-masses-he-said/)

[Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/)

> [Mystery fiction is, after all, a substitute for tranquilizers, strong drink, and bad, if diverting, companions. One slips into bed ... onto the train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-cantwell/mystery-fiction-is-after-all-a-substitute-for-tranquilizers-strong/)

[Mary Cantwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-cantwell/)

> [Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-labruce/heterosexuality-is-the-opiate-of-the-masses/)

[Bruce LaBruce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-labruce/)

> [In America, it is sport that is the opiate of the masses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-baker/in-america-it-is-sport-that-is-the-opiate-of-the-masses/)

[Russell Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-baker/)

> [The helpless ecstasy of loosing himself in her charm was a powerful opiate rather than a tonic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/the-helpless-ecstasy-of-loosing-himself-in-her-charm-was-a-powerful/)

[F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/)

## More by Will Durant

> [I came to think of myself, not as a dance and chaos of molecules, but as a brief and minute portion of that majestic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/i-came-to-think-of-myself-not-as-a-dance-and-chaos-of-molecules-but/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“This is the tragedy of almost every civilization—that its soul is in its faith, and seldom survives philosophy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/this-is-the-tragedy-of-almost-every-civilization-that-its-soul-is-in/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/education-is-a-progressive-discovery-of-our-own-ignorance/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/in-philosophy-as-in-politics-the-longest-distance-between-two-points/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [As long as there is poverty there will be gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/as-long-as-there-is-poverty-there-will-be-gods/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“Hence the uselessness of logic: no one ever convinced anybody by logic; and even logicians use logic only as a source of income. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/hence-the-uselessness-of-logic-no-one-ever-convinced-anybody-by-logic/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/it-is-a-mistake-to-think-that-the-past-is-dead-nothing-that-has-ever/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found flourishing somewhere in the present. Underneath all civilization, ancient or modern, moved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/there-is-hardly-an-absurdity-of-the-past-that-cannot-be-found/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/the-islamic-conquest-of-india-is-probably-the-bloodiest-story-in/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“Intellectualism—the conception of man as above all a thinking animal, consciously adapting means to rationally chosen ends—fell sick with Rousseau, took to its bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/intellectualism-the-conception-of-man-as-above-all-a-thinking-animal/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“All those fascinating varieties of terrain—mountains and valleys, fiords and straits, gulfs and streams—that make Europe a panorama of diverse delight, have broken the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/all-those-fascinating-varieties-of-terrain-mountains-and-valleys/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“To be great is not to be placed above humanity, ruling others; but to stand above the partialities and futilities of uninformed desire, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/to-be-great-is-not-to-be-placed-above-humanity-ruling-others-but-to/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“privately he composed—in French—a poem expressing his pleasure at having given the French a kick in the cul, which Carlyle delicately translated as “the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/privately-he-composed-in-french-a-poem-expressing-his-pleasure-at/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [ “\[N\]o language has ever had a word for a virgin man.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/n-o-language-has-ever-had-a-word-for-a-virgin-man/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

> [“And in the individual too, justice is effective coördination, the harmonious functioning of the elements in a man, each in its fit place and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/and-in-the-individual-too-justice-is-effective-co-rdination-the/)

[Will Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

[Explore all 320 Will Durant quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/)

## More Communism quotes

> [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/)

[Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/)

> [I didn't understand Southland Tales script at all! Is there a single word to describe it? Cacophony? It's celebrity meets pornography meets politics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-grant/i-didn-t-understand-southland-tales-script-at-all-is-there-a-single/)

[Beth Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-grant/)

> [It is popular to call it a crisis of the Western world. It is in fact a crisis of the whole world. Communism, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whittaker-chambers/it-is-popular-to-call-it-a-crisis-of-the-western-world-it-is-in-fact/)

[Whittaker Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whittaker-chambers/)

> [“Despite Soviet 'defeat' in 1991, the ideas associated with Communism remain shockingly reputable throughout what we still know as the Free World.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-west/despite-soviet-defeat-in-1991-the-ideas-associated-with-communism/)

[Diana West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-west/)

> [Capitalism, communism ... it's all garbage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mstislav-rostropovich/capitalism-communism-it-s-all-garbage/)

[Mstislav Rostropovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mstislav-rostropovich/)

> [Communism... is the genuine resolution of the antagonism between man and nature and between man and man; it is the true resolution of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-marx/communism-is-the-genuine-resolution-of-the-antagonism-between-man-and/)

[Karl Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-marx/)

> [“Occult Theft,--Theft which hides itself even from itself, and is legal, respectable, and cowardly,--corrupts the body and soul of man, to the last fibre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/occult-theft-theft-which-hides-itself-even-from-itself-and-is-legal/)

[John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/)

> [Motherland is our property and we have right to handle our properties as pleased. The jokes about death for the sake of the motherland…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/motherland-is-our-property-and-we-have-right-to-handle-our-properties/)

[Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/)

> [“Socialists and Progressives confuse compassion and compulsion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-e-samaan/socialists-and-progressives-confuse-compassion-and-compulsion/)

[A.E. Samaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-e-samaan/)

> [Your best friends are your principles, if you havent them, dont look for another friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/your-best-friends-are-your-principles-if-you-havent-them-dont-look/)

[Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/)

> [If I paint a hammer and sickle people may think it is a representation of Communism, but for me it is only a hammer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/if-i-paint-a-hammer-and-sickle-people-may-think-it-is-a/)

[Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/)

> [Our power does not know liberty or justice. It is established on the destruction of the individual will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/our-power-does-not-know-liberty-or-justice-it-is-established-on-the/)

[Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/)

> [A strong saying is not afraid of criticism, because it includes all the answers to criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/a-strong-saying-is-not-afraid-of-criticism-because-it-includes-all/)

[Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/)

> [I think it's sort of the hypothetical point where communism and fascism meet. They love tragedy, and they love surface beauty. You just watch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-forrest/i-think-it-s-sort-of-the-hypothetical-point-where-communism-and/)

[Emma Forrest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-forrest/)

> [Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-joseph-proudhon/communism-is-inequality-but-not-as-property-is-property-is/)

[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-joseph-proudhon/)

[Browse all 1,510 Communism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communism/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Communism is the opiate of the people.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Will Durant"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Communism"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/will-durant-948_communism_communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people-23_2340124.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Communism is the opiate of the people.” — Will Durant",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Will Durant",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-durant/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Communism is the opiate of the...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-durant/communism-is-the-opiate-of-the-people/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
