marx, christianity and the afterlife

in an article on defending voodoo and why there was a bit about karl marx and his criticism of christianity:

Marx's critique of Christianity was that by getting people to concentrate on the afterlife, they would tolerate the oppressions which Marx so detested in the early capitalism of England in the early and mid-1800s.

i have also independently made this same observation in my own life. i sometimes find myself justifying laziness because "we're all going to die some time and when we do, things will be so much better".