The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State¶

Core Argument¶

Engels's The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State sets out to demonstrate that the three institutions named in its title are not eternal features of human society but historical products that arose under specific material conditions and will therefore pass away. Drawing on Lewis Henry Morgan's anthropological discoveries, Engels argues that the monogamous patriarchal family, private property, and the state emerged together in a single historical process driven by the development of the productive forces. The overthrow of mother-right, which Engels calls "the world historical defeat of the female sex," occurred when men accumulated private wealth—first in herds, then in land—and required undisputed paternity to transmit that wealth to their biological heirs. Monogamy was thus from its origin the subjugation of one sex by the other, the first class opposition coinciding with the antagonism between man and woman.

The state, Engels contends, arose for the same reason: to sanctify and protect private property, to perpetuate class cleavage, and to secure the exploitation of the non-possessing by the possessing. The gentile constitution, which knew no soldiers, police, nobles, or prisons, and in which all were equal and free including women, was shattered by the division of labour and the emergence of class antagonisms. The state is always the instrument of the ruling class for holding down the oppressed. Yet civilisation has developed the productive forces to the point where classes become a hindrance. Engels predicts their inevitable fall, along with the state, to be replaced by a society of free and equal producers—a higher stage of socialism that will revive "the liberty, equality and fraternity of the ancient gentes" in a higher form.

Overview¶

The book opens with Rob Sewell's modern introduction, which establishes the enduring Marxist significance of Morgan's materialist anthropology and defends both Morgan and Engels against their critics. Sewell emphasises that only dialectical materialism can explain the laws of social change, and that Engels insisted history is determined by both the production of subsistence and the reproduction of human beings. Morgan's tripartite periodisation—savagery, barbarism, civilisation—correlates with transformations in the productive forces, and Morgan unconsciously applied dialectical materialism while avoiding crude unilinealism by recognising combined and uneven development.

Engels's own prefaces frame the work as the execution of a bequest from Marx, who had intended to synthesise Morgan's discoveries with the materialist conception of history. The first preface restates the materialist conception in its most developed form: the determining factor in history is the production and reproduction of immediate life, which is twofold—the production of the means of existence and the production of human beings themselves. The lower the development of labour, the more social order is dominated by kinship groups; as productivity develops, private property and class antagonisms emerge, eventually breaking up the old kinship-based order and replacing it with the state. The fourth preface provides a history of the study of the family from Bachofen to Morgan, defending Morgan's epoch-making discoveries against the chauvinistic silence of English anthropologists.

The chapter on prehistoric stages establishes Morgan's periodisation as the first systematic ordering of primitive history, with the progress of food production as its organising principle. Savagery is the period of appropriating natural products, barbarism the period of learning to increase them through animal breeding and agriculture, civilisation the period of advanced application of work to nature. The decisive inventions—the bow and arrow, pottery, animal domestication, iron smelting, alphabetic writing—mark the transitions between stages.

The chapter on the family is the theoretical heart of the book. Engels traces the evolution of the family from the consanguine family through the punaluan family to the pairing family and finally monogamy. Morgan's crucial insight is that systems of consanguinity are passive, recording change only after the family has radically altered. The overthrow of mother-right by father-right was driven by the domestication of animals and the accumulation of private wealth. Monogamy originated not from individual sex love but from economic conditions—the victory of private property over communal property. Its sole aims were male supremacy and the production of indisputable heirs. Among the proletariat, lacking property to preserve, the foundations of typical monogamy are cleared away, but the modern family still rests on the domestic slavery of the wife. The liberation of women requires bringing the whole female sex back into public industry and abolishing the monogamous family as the economic unit of society.

The following chapters trace the development of the gens among the Iroquois, Greeks, and Romans, showing the same fundamental structure at different stages of development. The Iroquois gens represents the classic form of the original gens under mother-right, with democratic councils, elected chiefs who can be deposed, and no public power separate from the people. The Greek gens shows the transition to father-right and the first breaches in the gentile constitution caused by private wealth. The Athenian state emerges as the purest known example of a state arising directly from gentile society, driven by commodity production, sea trade, and private land ownership. The Roman gens and state follow a parallel development, with the struggle of the plebs against the old gentile aristocracy producing a new constitution based on property and territory.

The chapters on Celts and Germans demonstrate the persistence of the gentile constitution among European peoples into historical times, with collective land cultivation, the high status of women, and the democratic assembly of the people. The formation of the state among the Germans shows how barbarian peoples rejuvenated a collapsing civilisation through their gentile institutions—their democratic instinct, their modification of monogamy, their preservation of mark communities, and their milder servitude.

The final chapter, "Barbarism and Civilisation," synthesises the entire argument. The first great division of labour separated pastoral tribes, making regular exchange possible and bringing slavery in its train. The second great division separated handicraft from agriculture, producing commodity production and commerce. Civilisation added a third division, creating the merchant class. The gentile constitution, which knew no internal contradictions, was shattered by the division of labour and class cleavage and replaced by the state. Civilisation achieved what gentile society could not, but only by unleashing base instincts; sheer greed for individual wealth was its sole driving spirit. Morgan's judgement concludes that a higher plane will revive the liberty, equality, and fraternity of the ancient gentes.

Chapter Guide¶

Introduction by Rob Sewell — Establishes the Marxist significance of Morgan's materialist anthropology and defends Engels against modern critics.
Preface to the First Edition — Frames the work as Marx's bequest and restates the materialist conception of history with its twofold determination by labour and the family.
Preface to the Fourth Edition — Reviews the history of family studies from Bachofen to Morgan, defending Morgan's discoveries against chauvinistic English anthropologists.
Stages of Prehistoric Culture — Endorses Morgan's tripartite periodisation of savagery, barbarism, and civilisation based on the progress of food production.
The Family — Traces the evolution of the family from group marriage through the pairing family to monogamy, arguing that the overthrow of mother-right was the world-historical defeat of the female sex.
The Iroquois Gens — Describes the classic form of the original gens under mother-right, with democratic councils and no public power separate from the people.
The Greek Gens — Traces the Greek gentile constitution at the threshold of civilisation, showing the first breaches caused by private wealth and the transition to father-right.
The Rise of the Athenian State — Demonstrates how the state arose from gentile society through the reforms of Theseus, Solon, and Cleisthenes, driven by commodity production and private property.
The Gens and the State in Rome — Shows the parallel development of the Roman gens and the emergence of the state through the Servian constitution based on property and territory.
The Gens Among Celts and Germans — Documents the persistence of gentile institutions among European peoples, including collective land cultivation and the high status of women.
The Formation of the State Among the Germans — Argues that the Germans rejuvenated Europe through their barbarism and gentile constitution, not innate racial qualities.
Barbarism and Civilisation — Synthesises the argument, showing how the three great divisions of labour shattered the gentile constitution and produced the state.
Addendum: A Recently Discovered Case of Group Marriage — Presents ethnographic evidence from the Gilyak people confirming the existence of group marriage.

Key Concepts¶

Materialist conception of history — The determining factor in history is the production and reproduction of immediate life, twofold: the production of the means of existence and the production of human beings themselves.

Gentile constitution — The kinship-based social organisation of primitive society, characterised by democracy, equality of the sexes, and no public power separate from the people.

Mother-right — Descent reckoned through the female line, the original form of the gens, based on the uncertainty of paternity and communal property.

World-historical defeat of the female sex — The overthrow of mother-right by father-right when men accumulated private wealth and required undisputed paternity for inheritance.

Punaluan family — A form of group marriage where a group of sisters are common wives of a group of husbands from whom their brothers are excluded, from which the gens originated.

Pairing marriage — The transitional family form between group marriage and monogamy, still dissoluble by either party, with descent through the mother.

Monogamy — The family form based on male supremacy to ensure undisputed paternity for inheritance, originating from economic conditions, not individual sex love.

State — A public force separate from the people, arising to sanctify private property, perpetuate class cleavage, and secure the exploitation of the non-possessing.

Savagery — The period of appropriating natural products, covering 98% of human existence, divided into lower, middle, and upper stages.

Barbarism — The period of learning to increase natural products through animal breeding and agriculture, divided into lower, middle, and upper stages.

Civilisation — The period of advanced application of work to nature, beginning with alphabetic writing and characterised by class exploitation, the state, and the monogamous family.

Division of labour — The three great social divisions (pastoral tribes, handicraft from agriculture, the merchant class) that shattered the gentile constitution and produced class society.

Chapters¶

13 chapters