Vladimir Lenin followed this tradition, and considered religion as an opiate that must be always combated by true socialists.[33] He adapted the ideological ideas of Marx and Engels to the particular context of Russia and his interpretation of Marxism and its anti-religious doctrine was influenced by the intellectual tradition of his own country. Lenin considered that religion in Russia was the chief ideological tool of the ruling classes to exploit the masses in that it taught subjects to be submissive to their exploiters and it assisted the conscience of the exploiters to believe that acts of charity would merit eternal life.