12. The Revolutionary Birth of Humankind¶
Core Argument¶
12. The Revolutionary Birth of Humankind
This chapter grounds the emergence of humanity in a materialist, dialectical framework, arguing that labour—not consciousness or language—was the decisive force in human evolution. The narrative begins with the climatic upheavals of the late Cenozoic, when glaciation and desertification destroyed vast forests across East Africa around 10–7 million years ago. Among the proto-apes, one group retreated into the remaining forests (ancestors of gorillas), another clung to forest margins (ancestors of chimpanzees), and a third, weaker group was forced onto the open savannah. This ecological pressure compelled the development of bipedalism, freeing the hands for the first acts of labour.
Drawing on Engels and Marx, the chapter insists that the human species is distinguished not by tool use—which some apes exhibit—but by toolmaking. No ape, not even the celebrated bonobo Kanzi, has ever fashioned a crude stone knife. Oldowan toolmakers possessed sophisticated flaking techniques that remain beyond any non-human primate, a gap reinforced by anatomical constraints: bipedalism reshaped the human hand, preventing apes from gripping stones effectively. Toolmaking demanded manual dexterity, foresight, and planning, which in turn stimulated rapid brain expansion. Labour created the hand, and through it, the entire human organism.
The chapter critiques idealist theories that prioritise brain over labour, noting that brain size remained static for five million years until the appearance of toolmaking, when a sudden leap occurred. With Homo habilis and stone tool production, brain volume increased qualitatively; another leap accompanied the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. Engels’ materialist account is endorsed by modern palaeontologists such as Stephen J. Gould. Language, too, emerged from collective production and co-operation. While Broca’s area exists in other animals, only humans depend on language for social production, and only humans possess a vocal tract capable of producing consonants—a product of upright posture. Yet the physiological capacity for speech was merely a precondition; language developed alongside manipulative skills and labour. Handedness, linked to both tool-use and language, appears in Homo habilis but is absent in Australopithecus.
The helplessness of human newborns—a consequence of the large brain combined with pelvic constraints of bipedalism—necessitates prolonged cultural absorption and a teacher-pupil relationship absent in apes. Survival on the savannah required highly organised, co-operative communities. A key shift in social organisation occurred with early Homo: male body size became only 20% larger than females (down from a far greater difference in Australopithecus), suggesting males remained in natal groups, enhancing co-operation. This shift is linked to meat-eating and stone-tool technology. The emergence of humanity represents a qualitative leap: matter becomes conscious of itself, and unconscious evolution gives way to history. Only conscious, planned social production can fully lift humanity above the animal world.