This is perhaps the novel's strongest indication that socialism and religion work together as dream-ideals of the modern world.

The problem with this interpretation is that traditional Marxist Socialism is an atheist philosophy. By pairing it with religion, Conrad may be prophesizing that religion will continue to be a great motivating force for the People in the modern world -- a spiritual ideal to match socialism's materialist ideal. If so, the prophecy has certainly come true, as attested by the religious history of the Russian people under Communism in the 20th Century. But Conrad may be saying something else. Socialism bears more than a passing resemblance to Catholicism in many ways, such as its assumption of Original Sin (Man's innate desire to hoard surplus wealth), its dogmatic, staged approach to history (with the Revolution coming as surely and objectively as the Judgement Day), and its vision of a heavenly afterlife or future in which all strife dissolves into universal fulfilment for all. In this sense, socialism is not merely the "friend" of religion but is in fact its "humble servant," in that religion has led the way both psychologically and historically for the newcomer.