-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-admin at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Jon Johanning Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 4:56 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Merry Christmas!
> "opium of the people."
http://opioids.com/images/index.html
I've long been interested in this phrase, probably because it is oft quoted with a side remark, "But Marx was talking about the opium trade, not the drug itself." Unfortunately don't hear this side remark enough. If I'm not mistaken, opium was commonly available throughout Europe in the early 19th century, used as a sedative and painkiller - used for everything from hysteria to migraines as well as a juice to lull children to sleep - and used frequently by both the middle and working class. Places of laudanum resale were often located close to factories, for the convenience of the worker leaving work. The opium trade exceeded all other trades.
http://www.maritimeheritage.org/newtale/opium.html
From the 1770s to about 1850 (Marx wrote the passage in 1844, right?) Chinese consumption of opium had increased seventyfold - with massive social consequences. Wolfgang Schivelbusch compares the consequences to that of the gin epidemic in England. He also compares the paradoxical opium consumption in China (the result of gunboat diplomacy) with coffee consumption in Europe (stagnation vs. capitalism).
I even found a place that sells models of opium clippers: http://www.acrossthepond.net/GKmodellbau.htm
Marx's comment, I think, was directed less at the euphoric qualities of opium and more at the European use of the opium trade to create huge profits and render its buyers docile: opium dreams were not anticolonial. Opium was (and perhaps still is) the model formula for imperialism and typifies Europe's relationship to the 'third world.'
ken