Formation of a family of private property and the state. Brief summary of the work of F. Engels “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

01.10.2019

Brief summary of the work of F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State"

Prehistoric Stages of Culture

The entire history of the development of mankind of the genus can be divided into three main eras - the era of savagery, barbarism and civilization. The first two epochs, savagery and barbarism, are further subdivided into three stages: lower, middle and higher, in accordance with the progress in the production of means of subsistence, since. all the great epochs of human progress coincide more or less directly with the epochs of the expansion of livelihoods

Along with this, the development of the family takes place, but it does not provide such characteristic signs for distinguishing between periods.

wildness

The lowest step. Childhood of the human race. People were still in their original places of residence, in "tropical or subtropical forests. They lived, at least in part, on trees; this is the only way to explain their existence among large predatory animals. Fruits, nuts, roots served as food for them; most importantly the achievement of this period is the emergence of articulate speech. Of all the peoples that have become known in the historical period, not one was already in this primitive state. And although it probably lasted for many millennia, we cannot prove its existence on the basis of direct evidence; but Having recognized the origin of man from the animal kingdom, it is necessary to allow such a transitional state.

Middle step. It begins with the introduction of fish food and the use of fire. The two are mutually related, since fish food is made completely fit for consumption only thanks to fire. But with this new food, people became independent of climate and locality; following the course of rivers and along the seashores, they could even settle in the wild over most of the earth's surface. Roughly made, unpolished stone tools of the early Stone Age, the so-called Paleolithic, wholly or mostly belonging to this period, are distributed on all continents and are clear evidence of these migrations. The settlement of new places and the constant active striving to search, combined with the possession of fire, produced by friction, brought new means of nutrition: starchy roots and tubers baked in hot ash or baking pits (earth ovens), game that, with the invention of the first weapon , clubs and spears, has become an additional food obtained on an occasional basis. Exclusively hunting peoples, as they are described in books, that is, those who live only by hunting, never existed; for this prey from hunting is too unreliable. Due to the constant lack of food sources at this stage, apparently, cannibalism arose, which has persisted for a long time since then. The Australians and many Polynesians are still in this middle stage of savagery.

Highest level. It begins with the invention of the bow and arrow, thanks to which game became a permanent food, and hunting became one of the usual branches of labor. The bow, bowstring, and arrow already constitute a very complex tool, the invention of which presupposes a long accumulation of experience and more developed mental faculties, and, consequently, the simultaneous acquaintance with many other inventions. Comparing with each other peoples who already know the bow and arrow, but are not yet familiar with the art of pottery (which Morgan considers the beginning of the transition to barbarism), we actually find already some rudiments of settlement in villages, a certain degree of mastery of the production of means of subsistence: wooden vessels and utensils , hand weaving (without a loom) from wood fiber, wicker baskets from bast or reeds, polished (Neolithic) stone tools. Fire and a stone ax usually also make it possible to already make boats from solid wood, and in some places make logs and boards for building a dwelling. We meet all these achievements, for example, among the Indians of the North-West of America, who, although they know the bow and arrow, do not know pottery. The bow and arrow were to the age of savagery what the iron sword was to barbarism and the firearm was to civilisation, the decisive weapon.

The work of K. Marx and F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" is one of the main works of Marxism. This work provides a scientific analysis of the history of mankind in the early stages of its development, reveals the process of decomposition of a primitive communal society and the formation of a class society based on private property, shows the common features of this society, clarifies the development of family relations in various socio-economic formations, reveals the origin and the essence of the state and proved the historical inevitability of its withering away with the final victory of the classless communist society.

F. Engels made an overview of the development of views on the history of the family from Bahoven to Morgan and added some sections, and also Engels reworked Morgan's economic justifications.

F. Engels in Morgan's study made critical remarks that relate to this topic: “According to the materialistic understanding, the defining moment in history is, ultimately, the production and reproduction of immediate life. But it is itself of two kinds. On the one hand, the production of means of subsistence: food, clothing, housing and the tools necessary for this; on the other hand, the production of man himself, the continuation of the race. The social order in which people of a certain historical epoch of a certain country live is determined by both types of production: the stage of development, on the one hand, of labor, on the other, of the family. The less developed labor is, the more limited the quantity of its products, and consequently the wealth of society, the stronger the dependence of the social system on tribal ties becomes. Meanwhile, within the framework of this gentile structure of society, labor productivity is increasingly developing, and with it, private property exchange, property differences, the ability to use other people's labor power and thus the basis of class contradictions: new social elements that, for generations, try to to adapt the old social system to the new conditions, until finally the incompatibility of both leads to a complete overturn. The old society, resting on ancestral icings, explodes as a result of the collision of the newly formed social classes; its place is taken by a new society, organized into a state, the lower links of which are no longer tribal, but territorial associations - a society in which the family system is completely subordinated to property relations and in which class contradictions and class struggle, which form the content of all written history, are now freely developing. up to our time."

The study of the family begins in 1861, when Bahoven's work "Mother's Right" was published. The author put forward the following propositions in this work:

people originally had unrestricted sexual relations, which he designated by the expression "hetaerism",

such relations exclude any possibility of reliably establishing the father, and therefore the origin could only be determined along the female line - according to maternal law - as it was originally among all peoples of antiquity;

as a result, women as mothers, the only known parents of the younger generation, and they enjoyed respect and honor, reaching, according to Bachofen, to the complete domination of women;

Bachofen finds proof of these propositions in quotations from the classical literature of antiquity. The development of "hetaerism" from maternal to paternal law occurs, in his opinion, as a result of religious ideas, the emergence of new deities, new views, in traditional gods, personifying old views, are pushed into the background first. Thus, according to Bachofen, it was not the development of the actual conditions of people's lives, but the religious reflection of these conditions in the minds of the same people that caused historical changes in the mutual social position of men and women.

This book was written by Engels within two months. While examining Marx's manuscripts, Engels discovered a detailed synopsis of the book "Ancient Society" by the American scientist L.G. Morgan, compiled by Marx in 1880-1881. and containing a lot of criticism and its own provisions, as well as additions from other sources After reading the summary and making sure that Morgan's book confirms the materialistic understanding of history developed by Marx and primitive society. Engels found it necessary to write a special work, making extensive use of Marx's remarks, as well as some of the conclusions and factual material contained in Morgan's book. Engels regarded this as "to a certain extent, the fulfillment of Marx's testament".

Economic forces.

The socio-economic factors of development are based on primitive society, the Neolithic revolution, the social division of labor, the rise in labor productivity and tools, as well as the emergence of profit and private property.

Morgan was the first who tried to introduce the prehistory of mankind into a certain system. This system consists of three main eras - savagery, barbarism, civilization. He divides each of these first two epochs into a lower, middle, and higher stage, according to the progress of production and means of subsistence.

Wildness.

The lowest step. Childhood of the human race. People were still in their original places of residence, in tropical forests. Their food was fruits, nuts, roots; the main achievement of this period is the emergence of articulate speech.

Middle step. It begins with the introduction of fish food and the use of fire. But with this new food they people became independent of climate and locality; they could have settled at a great distance. The settlement of new places and the constant striving to search, combined with possession with fire obtained by friction, provided new means of nourishment.

The highest level. It begins with the invention of the bow and arrow, thanks to which game became a permanent food, and hunting became one of the usual branches of labor. Comparing with each other peoples who already know the bow and arrow, but are not yet familiar with pottery, one can find some rudiments of settlement in villages, a certain stage in mastering the production of means of subsistence: wooden vessels and utensils, hand-weaving stone tools. Fire and a stone ax already make it possible to make boats and make logs and planks for building a dwelling.

Barbarism.

The lowest step. Begins with the introduction of pottery. It owed its origin to the coating of wicker vessels with clay in order to make them fireproof.

A characteristic feature of this period is the domestication and breeding of animals and the cultivation of plants. The eastern continent, the so-called Old World, possessed almost all kinds of animals suitable for breeding and kinds of cereals, except for one; the western mainland, America, of all tameable animals, only llama, and of cultivated cereals, only one - maize. As a result of this difference in natural conditions and conditions, the population of each hemisphere develops according to its own scenario, and the landmarks at the boundaries of individual stages of development become different for each of the hemispheres.

The middle stage, in the east begins with the domestication of domestic animals, in the west with the cultivation of edible plants by means of irrigation and the use of buildings made of adobe and stone. The domestication of herds and the formation of large herds led to a pastoral life. The cultivation of cereals was caused, first of all, by the need for fodder for livestock, and only later became an important source of nutrition for people.

The highest level. It begins with the smelting of iron ore and passes into civilization as a result of letter writing and the application of its recording to verbal creativity. This stage, traversed by itself only in the Eastern Hemisphere, is richer in production success than all the previous stages. The Greeks of the heroic era, the Italian tribes shortly before the founding of Rome, the Germans of Tacitus, the Normans of the Vikings belong to it.

There was an invention of an iron plow, an ax, a shovel; thanks to this, agriculture became on a large scale, field cultivation, an increase in subsistence supplies. The rapid growth of the population also began, which became more dense in small spaces, the makings of a central government appear. Iron tools appeared, metalworking, turning into an artistic craft, the beginnings of architecture as an art, cities surrounded by battlements with towers, the Homeric era, all mythology - this is the main legacy that the Greeks transferred from barbarism to civilization.

3 Social factors.

Barbarism is a period of cattle breeding and agriculture, a period of mastering the methods of increasing the production of natural products with the help of human activity. Civilization is the period of introduction by further processing of the products of nature, the period of industry and art.

Having arisen at the middle stage of savagery and continued to develop at the highest stage, the genus, as far as the sources allow us to judge, reaches its peak at the lower stage of barbarism. The tribal system is a simple organization that fully corresponds to the social conditions from which it arose. It is a naturally grown structure; he is able to settle all the conflicts that may arise within such a society. The greatness of the tribal system, but at the same time its limitations, is manifested in the fact that there is no domination and enslavement here. Within the tribal system there is still no distinction between rights and duties. The division of labor is of natural origin, it exists only between the sexes. A man fights, goes hunting and fishing, and makes the tools necessary for this. The woman works at home and is busy preparing food and clothes. Everyone is the owner of the tools he has made and uses. The household is run on communist lines by several, often many, families. Here, then, there is the "property obtained by one's own labor" invented by the jurists and economists of a civilized society, on which modern capitalist property is based. Among some of the most advanced tribes - Aryans, Semites, Turans - the main branch of labor was first the domestication of cattle, and then breeding after it. The pastoral tribes stood out from the rest of the mass of barbarians - this was the first division of labor. At this stage of development, exchange could arise only within the nutria of the tribe. Initially, the exchange was carried out between the tribes through the tribal elders of each side. The main object of exchange was cattle, cattle became a commodity by which all other goods were valued.

At the next stage, a major division of labor took place, along with an increase in the productivity of labor, and consequently in wealth, and with the expansion of the sphere of productive activity, slavery entailed. From the first major division of labor arose the first two classes - masters and slaves. There was a need to attract labor force. The war delivered it: prisoners of war began to be turned into slaves.

At the highest stage of barbarism, iron began to serve man. It made farming on larger areas. Wealth increased rapidly, but also as the wealth of individuals. The degree of diversity and perfection of crafts increased, such a diverse activity could no longer be performed by one person. A second major division of labor took place: handicrafts separated from agriculture. With the division of production into two large branches, commodity production arises, and with it, trade, and not in the interior of the tribe, but with overseas countries. Gold becomes the predominant commodity - money, they are not yet minted, but exchanged by weight.

The difference between rich and poor appears along with the difference between free and slaves - with the new division of labor, a new division of society into classes arises. Differences in property between individual heads of families explode the old communist community wherever it survives; along with it disappears, and the joint cultivation of the land by the means of this community, arable land is provided for the use of individual families - first for a while, then for always. The individual family becomes the economic unit of society. The union of kindred tribes becomes a necessity everywhere, even their merging becomes necessary, and thus the merging of individual tribal territories into one common territory of the whole people. The assembly appears. The military leader, the council, the people's assembly, form the organs of a tribal society, which is developing into a military democracy. War becomes regular. The wealth of neighbors excites the greed of nations. They are barbarians: robbery seems to them easier than labor. War, which used to be fought only to avenge attacks or to expand territories, takes the form of robbery, becomes a constant trade. It is not for nothing that the formidable walls around the cities rise: in their ditches the grave of the tribal system gapes, their towers already reach civilization. The same thing happens in the nutria of society.

Predatory wars strengthen the power of the supreme commander, as well as his entourage; the customary selection of their successors from the same families passes into hereditary power, the foundations of hereditary royal power are laid. The organs of the clan break away from their roots and gradually turn into civilization.

In these three eras: savagery, barbarism and civilization, a process of gradual evolution can be traced in the social and political sphere of the social life of the tribal society. Thus, antagonism and differentiation are manifested here.

Antagonism is one of the forms of contradictions, an irreconcilable struggle between different forces, classes, a struggle between different political systems. From the emergence of society, from the era of savagery to civilization, there is a struggle between classes in the slave, feudal, capitalist systems in formations towards socialism, it is significant that antagonism is resolved through class struggle, forms of ownership. The content of antagonism is determined specifically by the historical conditions of their development.

Differentiation is the division in the process of evolution of a single group into two several groups, leading to the emergence of a new group. Inevitably accompanied by the emergence of a hierarchical system forming classes, different types of power. related to integration; becomes more complex in its life manifestations, the individual parts harmoniously complement each other and the possibility of evolution arises.

As a result of differentiation, the dismemberment of the social whole occurs, leading to the formation of rationalization of norms, values, and relations. Cash components leads to the emergence of different classes and social roles. Associated with the division of labor, the sphere of production, relationships in the nutria of society, the allocation of individual spheres of society.

The emergence of the state.

The tribal system has outlived its time. It was blown up by the division of labor and its consequence, the division of society into classes. It has been replaced by the state.

Civilization strengthens all the divisions of labor that have arisen before it, through the opposition between town and country. A new class is being created - the merchants, this is a class that, without taking part in production, economically subjugates the producers, becomes their intermediary and quickly acquires wealth. In the period of civilization, production subdues itself until periodic trade crises are created. Metal money appears, minted coins are a new means of domination of the non-producer over the producer. A commodity of goods was discovered, which turned into any commodity. Following the purchase of goods with money, money loans appear, and with them interest and usury.

The state rises on the ruins of the tribal system. Athens represents a pure classical form: here the state arises directly and predominantly from class antagonisms that develop within a tribal society. In Rome, the tribal society turns into a closed aristocracy, surrounded by a disenfranchised society. Among the German conquerors of Rome, the state arises as a direct result of the conquest of vast foreign territories, for the domination of which the tribal system does not create any means.

So, the state is by no means a force imposed on society from the outside. The state is the product of society on a certain stage of development; the state is the recognition that society has become confused, split into irreconcilable opposites, classes. And so that these opposites do not devour each other, a force is needed that stands above society, a force that moderates the collision, keeps it within the boundaries of order. This force, originating from society, is the state.

Compared with the old tribal organization, the state differs:

division of the subjects of the state into territorial divisions

an institution of public authority that no longer coincides directly with the population organizing itself as an armed force. This special public authority is necessary, because the self-acting force of the army has become impossible since the split of the population into classes.

There were contributions from citizens - taxes. They were not known to the tribal society, loans, public debts.

For the state arose out of the need to keep the opposition of classes in check; since it at the same time arose in these conflicts themselves, the state is the most powerful political class and exploits all other classes. The state is the organization of the propertied class to protect it from the propertyless.

So, the state does not exist forever. There were societies that did without it. At a certain stage of development, which was necessarily connected with the split of society into classes, the state became a necessity because of this split. We are approaching a stage in the development of production when classes become an obstacle to production. Classes will disappear as inevitably as they inevitably arose in the past. With the disappearance of classes, the state will also disappear. A society that organizes production in a new way on the basis of a free and equal association of producers will send the state machine to the museum of antiquity, next to the spinning wheel and the bronze axe.

Possessing public power and the right to collect taxes, officials become, as organs of society, above society. The free and free respect with which the organs of tribal society were treated is no longer enough for them, even if they could win it, they must earn respect by means of exclusive laws, by virtue of which they acquire holiness and inviolability. The most powerful monarch or statesman might have envied the respect that was given to the most insignificant elder, not from hard-won, acquired respect. The latter stands within society, while the former are forced to represent something outside and above it.

With the advent of civilization, the growth of wealth has become so enormous, its forms so varied, its application so extensive, and its management so skillful, that this wealth is an irresistible force that opposes the people. The pursuit of wealth alone is not the ultimate destination of mankind unless progress remains in the future. If wealth is the only ultimate goal, it threatens people with death. Democracy in government, brotherhood within society, equality of rights, universal education will sanctify the next, highest stage of society, to which experience, reason and science aspire.

Conclusion.

Thus, according to what has been said, civilization is the stage of social development at which the division of labor and the exchange between individuals resulting from it, and the commodity production uniting both these processes, reach their full flowering and bring about a revolution in the whole of the former society.

Production at all other previous stages of social development was essentially collective, and likewise consumption was reduced to the direct distribution of products within large communist communities. This collective character of production is carried out within the narrowest limits, but it entailed the dominance of the producers over their production process, the product of production. They know what is done with the product: they consume it, it does not leave their hands, and as long as production is carried out on this basis, it cannot outgrow the producers, cannot give rise to forces alien to them, as happens in the era of civilization.

The stage of commodity production from which civilization begins is economically characterized by:

The introduction of money, capital, usury;

The emergence of merchants as an intermediary class between producers;

The emergence of private ownership of land;

the emergence of slave labor as the dominant form of production.

So, if the basis of civilization is the exploitation of one class by another, then all its contradictions are accomplished in development. Every good thing for some is evil for others, every new emancipation of one class is new oppression for another.

Bibliography

F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" Moscow 1985.

SUMMARY OF THE WORK F. ENGELS

"ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY, PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE STATE"

This work was done by F. Engels in 1884. It reveals the patterns of development of the primitive communal system, the main stages of its development and the reasons for its inevitable death. Here, in a dialectical connection, the processes of development and the emergence of the family, private property and the state are shown, which led to the emergence of a class society.

The work of F. Engels has not lost its significance even today. It convincingly exposes the myths of modern nationalists about the chosenness of some peoples and the inferiority of others.

In the first preface, written by F. Engels in 1844, it is noted: “According to the materialistic understanding, the decisive moment in history is, in the final analysis, the production and reproduction of life itself. But it itself, again, is of two kinds. On the one hand - the production of means of subsistence, food, clothing, housing, tools necessary for this; and on the other hand, the production of man himself, the continuation of the race.

The first section of the work is called "Prehistoric Stages of Culture". Of the three main epochs of the existence of mankind, F. Engels singles out three: savagery, barbarism and civilization. The work focuses on the second era and the process of transition to civilization. Savagery and barbarism are divided into three stages and their brief description is given. The final part of the first section states:

“Savagery is a period of predominantly appropriation of finished products of nature; works created by man serve mainly as auxiliary tools for such appropriation.

Barbarism - the period of introduction of cattle breeding and agriculture, the period of assimilation of methods for increasing the production of natural products with the help of human activity.

Civilization is the period of assimilation of the further processing of the products of nature, the period of industry in the proper sense of the word and art.

The second section is called "Family».

Here, based on the analysis of a large amount of factual material, it is concluded that in primitive human society there was such a state when every woman belonged to every man and equally every man belonged to every woman. This was the period of the so-called group marriage. From this primitive state of disordered intercourse gradually developed:

BUT. consanguineous family , is the first step in the family. Here the marriage groups are divided into generations: all grandparents within the family are husbands and wives to each other, as well as their children, i.e. fathers and mothers; similarly, the children of the latter form the third circle of common spouses, and their children, the great-grandchildren of the former, form the fourth circle.

B. Punal family. In it, parents and children, as well as brothers and sisters, are excluded from sexual intercourse. From the punaluan family, the institution arose kind. Genus is understood as a community of relatives who have one woman - an ancestor. In group marriage, of course, kinship could only be established through the female line.

AT. Paired family.

At the stage of savagery, wealth consists of dwellings, coarse ornaments, clothes, boats, household utensils of the simplest kind.

"The overthrow of maternal right was world-historic defeat of the female. The husband seized the reins of government in the house, and the woman lost her honorable position, was turned into a servant, into a slave to his lust, into a simple instrument of procreation.

G. monogamous family.

“So we have three main forms of marriage, generally corresponding to the three main stages of human development. Wildness corresponds to group marriage, barbarism to pair marriage, civilization to monogamy. “Monogamy arose as a result of the concentration of great wealth in one hand, namely, in the hands of a man, and from the need to transfer these wealth by inheritance to the children of this man, and not another.”

In conclusion of the second section, F. Engels makes a prediction: “since the monogamous family has improved noticeably since the beginning of civilization, and especially noticeably in recent times, it can at least be assumed that it is capable of further improvement until it is achieved gender equality. If the monogamous family proves in the distant future unable to fulfill the requirements of society, then it is impossible to predict in advance what character its successor will have.

In sections 3 to 8, the work of F. Engels discusses the tribal system among the Iroquois, Greeks, Romans, and Germans. On a large factual material, he analyzes the features, decomposition and emergence of the state. Naturally, each of the societies under consideration has its own specifics, is characterized by a number of deviations due to many subjective and objective factors. It is indicated that the classic example of the tribal system is Greek.

In the 5th section “The emergence of the Athenian state, F. Engels draws attention to the following circumstances: “The emergence of the state among the Athenians is an extremely typical example of the formation of the state in general, because, on the one hand, it occurred in its pure form ... - on the other hand, because that in this case a very developed form of the state, the democratic republic, arises directly from a tribal society and, finally, because we are sufficiently aware of all the essential details of the formation of this state.

Summing up, F. Engels writes:

“Above, we examined separately the three main forms in which the state rises from the ruins of the tribal system. Athens represents the purest, most classical form: here the state arises directly and predominantly from the class antagonisms that develop within the tribal society itself. In Rome, the tribal society turns into a closed aristocracy among the numerous, standing outside it, disenfranchised, but bearing the duties of the plebs; the victory of the plebs explodes the old tribal system and erects a state on its ruins, in which both the tribal aristocracy and the plebs soon disappear. Finally, among the German conquerors of the Roman Empire, the state arises as a direct product of the conquest of vast foreign territories, for the domination of which the tribal system does not provide any means.

The 9th section is called " Barbarism and Civilization". This final section is a generalization of the above, and is devoted to the general economic conditions that undermined the tribal organization of society and, with the advent of civilization, completely eliminated it. Here we cannot do without extensive quotations from the work of F. Engels, since they formulate in a generalized form the results of what has been stated in the work.

The clan, notes F. Engels, "reaches its heyday at the lowest stage of barbarism." “The greatness of the tribal system, but at the same time its limitations, is manifested in the fact that there is no place for domination and enslavement. Within the tribal system, there is still no distinction between rights and duties ... ".

Later, among a number of advanced tribes, the main branch of labor was not hunting and fishing, but taming, and then raising livestock. "…It was the first major division of labor. An exchange of livestock began between the tribes. Cattle became a commodity through which all commodities were valued, it acquired the functions of money. The loom was invented and metal smelting began. The tools of production and weapons were rapidly improved.

The first major division of labor, together with the increase in the productivity of labor, and consequently also in wealth, and with the expansion of the field of productive activity, under the totality of these historical conditions, necessarily entailed slavery. Out of the first major social division of labor arose the first major division of society into two classes - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.

The “wild” warrior and hunter was content in the house with the second place after the woman, the “more meek” shepherd, boasting of his wealth, moved to the first place, and pushed the woman to the second. And she couldn't complain. The division of labor in the family served as the basis for the distribution of property between a man and a woman ... ".

Wealth increased rapidly, it was the wealth of individuals. The production activities of people have expanded and become differentiated. "... A second major division of labor took place: handicraft separated from agriculture. “With the division of production into two main branches, agriculture and handicraft, there arises production directly for exchange - commodity production, and with it trade not only within the tribe and on its borders, but also overseas.” "The difference between rich and poor appears along with the difference between free and slave, with a new division of labor - a new division of society into classes." Exchange between individual producers becomes a vital necessity for society. going on third major division of labor- there is a "class, which is no longer engaged in production, but only in the exchange of products." A class is created merchants.

Along with the emergence of merchants, metallic money also appeared. This was a new means of domination, the commodity of commodities was discovered, which in a latent form contains all other commodities. "Following the purchase of goods with money, there was a money loan, and with it - interest and usury." In the same period, new land relations arise. Previously, the land was the property of the family. Now it began to belong to individuals with the right to inherit, that is, private property. The land was sold and mortgaged.

“Thus, along with the expansion of trade, along with money and monetary usury, landed property and mortgages, the concentration and centralization of wealth in the hands of a small class quickly took place, and along with this, the impoverishment of the masses grew and the mass of the poor increased.” The tribal system turned out to be powerless in the face of new elements that grew up without assistance from it. “The tribal system has outlived its time. It was blown up by the division of labor and its consequence, the division of society into classes. He was replaced state.

Thus, “the state is a product of society at a certain stage of development; the state is the recognition that this society has become entangled in an insoluble contradiction with itself, has split into irreconcilable opposites, from which it is powerless to get rid of. And so that these opposites, classes with conflicting economic interests, do not devour each other and society in a fruitless struggle, for this a force became necessary that would moderate the collision, keep it within the boundaries of "order". This force is the state.

Distinctive features of the state - the territorial division of subjects and public authority

Making a forecast for the future, F. Engels concludes by writing the following.

“So, the state does not exist forever. There were societies that did without it, that had no idea about the state and state power. At a certain stage of economic development, which was necessarily connected with the division of society into classes, the state became a necessity because of this division. We are now rapidly approaching a stage in the development of production at which the existence of these classes has not only ceased to be a necessity, but has become a direct hindrance to production.

Classes will disappear just as inevitably as they inevitably arose in the past. With the disappearance of classes, the state will inevitably disappear. A society that organizes production in a new way on the basis of a free and equal association of producers will send the entire state machine to where it will then be its proper place: to the museum of antiquities, next to the spinning wheel and the bronze axe.

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Abstract on the work of F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State"

abstract by F. Engels The origin of the family, private property and the state.docx

Abstract on the work of F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State"

The first edition of this work appeared in 1884 under the authorship of Friedrich Engels. His work "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" is based on the factual material contained in the work of L. Morgan "Ancient Society".

Then, in 1891, F. Engels publishes a new edition of his work, with some additions, because seven years have passed since the first edition was published, and during these years great success has been achieved in the study of the primitive forms of the family.

In his work, Engels revised the data of Morgan and other scientists on this topic, made additions and expressed his point of view and his theory. Thus, F. Engels, in Morgan's study, made critical remarks that relate to this topic and wrote them down in the first preface of 1884: “According to the materialistic understanding, the defining moment in history is, ultimately, the production and reproduction of immediate life. But it is itself of two kinds. On the one hand, the production of means of subsistence: food, clothing, housing and the tools necessary for this; on the other hand, the production of man himself, the continuation of the race. The social order in which people of a certain historical epoch of a certain country live is determined by both types of production: the stage of development, on the one hand, of labor, on the other, of the family. The less developed labor is, the more limited the quantity of its products, and consequently the wealth of society, the stronger the dependence of the social system on tribal ties becomes. Meanwhile, within this tribal structure of society, the productivity of labor is increasingly developing, and with it private property exchange, property differences, the possibility of using other people's labor power and thus the basis of class contradictions: new social elements that, for generations, try to to adapt the old social system to the new conditions, until finally the incompatibility of both leads to a complete overturn. The old society, resting on ancestral icings, explodes as a result of the collision of the newly formed social classes; its place is taken by a new society, organized into a state, the lower links of which are no longer tribal, but territorial associations - a society in which the family system is completely subordinated to property relations and in which class contradictions and class struggle, which form the content of all written history, are now freely developing. up to our time."

This work reveals the patterns of development of the primitive communal system, the main stages of its development and the reasons for its inevitable death. Here, in a dialectical connection, the processes of development and the emergence of the family, private property and the state are shown, which led to the emergence of a class society.

The first chapter is called "Prehistoric Stages of Culture" and are divided into 3 main eras: savagery, barbarism, civilization. But this work describes only the first two epochs, which within themselves are still divided into 3 stages of development - lower, middle and higher.

Let us briefly characterize these 2 epochs.

wildness

Barbarism

The middle stage, In the east, begins with the domestication of domestic animals, in the west with the cultivation of edible plants by means of irrigation and the use of buildings made of adobes (raw bricks dried in the sun) and stone. The domestication of herds and the formation of large herds led to a pastoral life. The cultivation of cereals was caused, first of all, by the need for fodder for livestock, and only later became an important source of nutrition for people.

The second chapter is called "Family", in which, based on an analysis of vast factual material, it is concluded that in primitive human society there was such a state when every woman belonged to every man and equally every man belonged to every woman. This was the period of the so-called group marriage, in which there was very little room for jealousy. This marriage can be called disordered.

And According to Morgan, from this primitive state of disordered relations, it probably developed quite early:

consanguineous family- the first step of the family. Here the marriage groups are divided into generations: all grandparents within the family are husbands and wives to each other, as well as their children, i.e. fathers and mothers; similarly, the children of the latter form the third circle of common spouses, and their children, the great-grandchildren of the former, form the fourth circle.

This type of family is already extinct. Even among the most savage peoples of which history tells, one cannot find a single indisputable example of it. But that such a family must have existed, we are forced to admit by the Hawaiian system of kinship, which is still in force in all Polynesia and expresses such degrees of consanguinity as can arise only with this form of family; All further development of the family, which presupposes the existence of this form as a necessary initial stage, forces us to recognize this.

Punalual family. In it, parents and children, as well as brothers and sisters, are excluded from sexual intercourse. The institution of the genus arose from the punaluan family. Genus is understood as a community of relatives who have one woman - an ancestor. In group marriage, of course, kinship could only be established through the female line.

According to Hawaiian custom, a certain number of sisters, of the same uterine or more distant degrees of kinship (cousins, second cousins, etc.), were common wives of their common husbands, from which, however, their brothers were excluded; these husbands no longer called each other brother, they were no longer supposed to be brothers, but “punalua”, that is, a close comrade. Likewise, a number of brothers, of the same uterine or more distant degrees of relationship, were married to a certain number of women, but not their sisters, and these women called each other punalua.

Paired family. In it, a man lives with one woman, but polygamy takes place, although rarely. From a woman for the entire time of cohabitation, the strictest fidelity is required. The prohibition of marriages between relatives leads to the strengthening of the vitality and the development of the mental abilities of people.

“A woman among all savages and among all tribes standing on the lower, middle, and partly even the highest level of barbarism, not only enjoys freedom, but also occupies a very honorable position.” The era of barbarism is distinguished by the presence of matriarchy. This is explained by the fact that the women who run the communist household belong to the same clan, while the men belong to different ones.

During the era of barbarism, herds of horses, camels, donkeys, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs appeared. This property multiplied and delivered plentiful dairy and meat food. The hunt has receded into the background. Slaves appeared. The emergence of slavery is due to the fact that the human labor force began to provide a significant income that prevails over the cost of its maintenance. The husband thus became the owner of cattle and slaves.

Gradually, tribal wealth becomes the property of the heads of families (herds, metal utensils, luxury items and slaves). “Thus, as wealth grew, it gave the husband a more powerful position in the family than the wife, and gave rise, on the one hand, to using this established position in order to change the usual order of inheritance in favor of children.” But this could not be, as long as the origin was considered by maternal right. It had to be cancelled, and it was cancelled. At the same time, the origin began to be determined not by the maternal, but by the male line, and the right to inherit from the father was introduced.

“The overthrow of motherhood was a world-historic defeat for the female sex. The husband seized the reins of government in the house, and the woman lost her honorable position, was turned into a servant, into a slave to his lust, into a simple instrument of procreation.

monogamous family.“She arises from a paired family, as explained above, at the turn between the middle and highest stages of barbarism; its final victory is one of the signs of the beginning of civilization. It is based on the dominion of the husband, with the express purpose of producing children whose descent from the father is unquestionable, and this indisputable descent is necessary because the children must eventually come into possession of the father's property as direct heirs. It differs from pair marriage in a much greater strength of marriage bonds, which are no longer terminated at the request of either party.

The emerging monogamy is nothing but the enslavement of one sex by the other. F. Engels writes: “The first class opposition that appears in history coincides with the development of antagonism between husband and wife during monogamy, and the first class oppression coincides with the enslavement of the female sex by the male.”

So, we have three main forms of marriage, in general, corresponding to the three main stages of human development. Savagery corresponds to group marriage, barbarism - pair marriage, civilization - monogamy, complemented by adultery and prostitution. Between pair marriage and monogamy at the highest level of barbarism wedged the domination of men over slaves and polygamy.

“Monogamy arose as a result of the concentration of great wealth in one hand, namely, in the hands of a man, and from the need to transfer these wealth by inheritance to the children of this man, and not another.”

About the work of K. Marx and F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State"

About the work of K. Marx and F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State"

F. Engels made an overview of the development of views on the history of the family from Bahoven to Morgan and added some sections, and also Engels reworked Morgan's economic justifications.

F. Engels in Morgan's study made critical remarks that relate to this topic: “According to the materialistic understanding, the defining moment in history is, ultimately, the production and reproduction of immediate life. But it is itself of two kinds. On the one hand, the production of means of subsistence: food, clothing, housing and the tools necessary for this; on the other hand, the production of man himself, the continuation of the race. The social order in which people of a certain historical epoch of a certain country live is determined by both types of production: the stage of development, on the one hand, of labor, on the other, of the family. The less developed labor is, the more limited the quantity of its products, and consequently the wealth of society, the stronger the dependence of the social system on tribal ties becomes. Meanwhile, within this tribal structure of society, the productivity of labor is increasingly developing, and with it private property exchange, property differences, the possibility of using other people's labor power and thus the basis of class contradictions: new social elements that, for generations, try to to adapt the old social system to the new conditions, until finally the incompatibility of both leads to a complete overturn. The old society, resting on ancestral icings, explodes as a result of the collision of the newly formed social classes; its place is taken by a new society, organized into a state, the lower links of which are no longer tribal, but territorial associations - a society in which the family system is completely subordinated to property relations and in which class contradictions and class struggle, which form the content of all written history, are now freely developing. up to our time."

The study of the family begins in 1861, when Bahoven's work "Mother's Right" was published. The author put forward the following propositions in this work:

people originally had unrestricted sexual relations, which he designated by the expression "hetaerism",

as a result, women as mothers, the only known parents of the younger generation, and they enjoyed respect and honor, reaching, according to Bachofen, to the complete domination of women;

At the heart of the socio - economic factors of development are primitive society, the Neolithic revolution, the social division of labor, the rise in labor productivity and tools, as well as the emergence of profit and private property.

The lowest step. Begins with the introduction of pottery. It owed its origin to the coating of wicker vessels with clay in order to make them fireproof.

3 Social factors.

The difference between the rich and the poor goes hand in hand with the difference between the free and the slaves, and with the new division of labor there arises a new division of society into classes. Differences in property between individual heads of families explode the old communist community wherever it survives; along with it disappears, and the joint cultivation of the land by the means of this community, arable land is provided for the use of individual families - first for a while, then for always. The individual family becomes the economic unit of society. The union of kindred tribes becomes a necessity everywhere, even their merging becomes necessary, and thus the merging of individual tribal territories into one common territory of the whole people. The assembly appears. The military leader, the council, the people's assembly, form the organs of a tribal society, which is developing into a military democracy. War becomes regular. The wealth of neighbors excites the greed of nations. They are barbarians: robbery seems to them easier than labor. War, which used to be fought only to avenge attacks or to expand territories, takes the form of robbery, becomes a constant trade. It is not for nothing that the formidable walls around the cities rise: in their ditches the grave of the tribal system gapes, their towers already reach civilization. The same thing happens in the nutria of society.

The tribal system has outlived its time. It was blown up by the division of labor and its consequence, the division of society into classes. It has been replaced by the state.

So, the state does not in any way represent a force externally imposed on society. The state is the product of society on a certain stage of development; the state is the recognition that society has become confused, split into irreconcilable opposites, classes. And so that these opposites do not devour each other, a force is needed that stands above society, a force that moderates the collision, keeps it within the boundaries of order. This force, originating from society, is the state.

Compared with the old tribal organization, the state differs:

division of the subjects of the state into territorial divisions

There were contributions from citizens - taxes. They were not known to the tribal society, loans, public debts.

The stage of commodity production from which civilization begins is economically characterized by:

The introduction of money, capital, usury;

The emergence of merchants as an intermediary class between producers;

The emergence of private ownership of land;

the emergence of slave labor as the dominant form of production.

F. Engels "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" Moscow 1985.

FRIEDRICH ENGELS

THE ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY, PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE STATE

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF 1884

The following chapters represent, to a certain extent, the execution of the testament. None other than Karl Marx was going to present the results of Morgan's research in connection with the data of his - within certain limits, I can say our - materialistic study of history, and only in this way to clarify their full significance. After all, Morgan in America, in his own way, rediscovered the materialistic conception of history, discovered by Marx forty years ago, and, guided by him, in comparing barbarism and civilization, in the main points, he arrived at the same results as Marx. And just as the German sworn economists for years were as eager to write off Capital as they obstinately hushed it up, so the representatives of "prehistoric" science in England did with Morgan's Ancient Society. My work can only to a small extent replace what my late friend was not destined to do. But among his detailed extracts from Morgan, I have at my disposal critical remarks, which I, in so far as it is relevant to the topic, reproduce here.

According to the materialist understanding, the defining moment in history is ultimately the production and reproduction of immediate life. But it itself, again, is of two kinds. On the one hand, the production of means of subsistence: food, clothing, housing, and the tools necessary for this; on the other hand, the production of man himself, the continuation of the family. The social order in which people of a certain historical epoch and a certain country live is determined by both types of production: the stage of development, on the one hand, of labor, on the other, of the family. The less developed labor, the more limited the quantity of its products, and consequently the wealth of society, the stronger the dependence of the social system on tribal ties is manifested. Meanwhile, within the framework of this gentile structure of society, the productivity of labor develops more and more, and with it private property and exchange, property differences, the possibility of using other people's labor power and thus the basis of class contradictions: new social elements that for generations they try to adapt the old social system to new conditions, until, finally, the incompatibility of both leads to a complete overturn. The old society, based on tribal associations, explodes as a result of the collision of the newly formed social classes; its place is taken by a new society, organized into a state, the lowest links of which are no longer tribal, but territorial associations - a society in which the family system is completely subordinated to property relations and in which class contradictions and class struggle are now freely unfolding, which constitute the content of all written history. up to our time.

Morgan's great merit lies in the fact that he discovered and restored in its main features this prehistoric basis of our written history and found in the ancestral ties of the North American Indians the key to the most important, hitherto insoluble mysteries of ancient Greek, Roman and German history. His writing is the work of more than one day. For about forty years he worked on his material until he completely mastered it. But on the other hand, his book is one of the few works of our time that make up an era.

In the following exposition, the reader will by and large easily distinguish between what belongs to Morgan and what I have added. In the historical sections on Greece and Rome, I went beyond Morgan's data and added what was at my disposal. The sections on Celts and Germans are mostly mine; Morgan had almost only second-hand materials here, and about the Germans - except for Tacitus - only the base liberal falsifications of Mr. Firman. The business cases, which were sufficient for Morgan's goals, but wholly inadequate for my purposes, have all been revised by me. Finally, it goes without saying that I am responsible for all those conclusions that are made without direct reference to Morgan.

Printed in the book: F. Engels. "Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigent-hums und des Staats". Hottingen Zurich, 1884

FOREWORD TO THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITION OF 1891 TO THE HISTORY OF THE PRIMARY FAMILY (BAHOFEN, MCLENNAN, MORGAN)

Previous editions of this book, which were published in large numbers, sold out in their entirety almost half a year ago, and the publisher has long asked me to prepare a new one. More urgent work has so far prevented me from doing so. Seven years have passed since the publication of the first edition, and during these years great progress has been made in the study of the primitive forms of the family. Therefore, it was necessary to make careful corrections and additions here, especially since the proposed printing of this text from a stereotype will deprive me for some time of the opportunity to make further changes.

So, I have carefully revised the entire text and made a number of additions, which, I hope, have adequately taken into account the current state of science. I then give, later in this preface, a brief overview of the development of family history from Bachofen to Morgan; I am doing this mainly because the chauvinistic English school of primitive history is still doing its best to silence the revolution in the views of primitive history brought about by Morgan's discoveries, however, not at all embarrassed, however, at the same time appropriating Morgan's results. Yes, and in other countries, in some places too zealously follow this English example.

My work has been translated into various foreign languages. First of all into Italian: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", translated by Pasquale Martignetti, Benevento, 1885. Then into Romanian: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", translated by Ion Nadezhde; published in the Iasian journal "Contemporanul" from September 1885 to May 1886. Further in Danish: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, an edition prepared by Gerson Trier. Copenhagen, 1888; a French translation by Henri Ravet, taken from the present German edition, is in press.

Until the early sixties, the history of the family was out of the question. Historical science in this area was still entirely under the influence of the Pentateuch of Moses. The patriarchal form of the family, depicted there in more detail than anywhere else, was not only unconditionally considered the most ancient form, but also identified - with the exception of polygamy - with the modern bourgeois family, so that the family, in fact, did not experience at all, supposedly, no historical development; at most it was admitted that in primitive times there might have been a period of disordered sexual relations. - True, in addition to monogamy, Eastern polygamy and Indian-Tibetan polyandry were also known; but these three forms could not be arranged in historical sequence, and they figured side by side without any mutual connection. That among certain peoples of the ancient world, as well as among some still existing savages, descent was considered not through the father, but through the mother, so that the female line was recognized as the only one of importance; that among many modern peoples marriages are forbidden within certain, more or less large, groups, which at that time were not yet studied in detail, and that this custom is found in all parts of the world - these facts were, however, known, and such examples accumulated all more. But how to approach them, no one knew, and even in the "Studies in the primitive history of mankind, etc." E. B. Taylor (1865), they figure simply as "strange customs," along with some savages' prohibition against touching a burning tree with an iron tool, and similar religious trifles.

The study of family history begins in 1861, when Bachofen's work "Mother's Right" was published. The author put forward the following propositions in this work:

1) people originally had unrestricted sexual relations, which he denotes by the unfortunate expression "hetaerism";

2) such relations exclude any possibility of reliably establishing the father, and therefore the origin could be determined only along the female line - according to maternal law - as it was originally among all peoples of antiquity;

3) as a result of this, women as mothers, as the only reliably known parents of the younger generation, enjoyed a high degree of respect and honor, which, according to Bachofen, reached the complete domination of women (gynecocracy);

In 1884. It reveals the patterns of development of the primitive communal system, the main stages of its development and the reasons for its inevitable death. Here, in a dialectical connection, the processes of development and the emergence of the family, private property and the state are shown, which led to the emergence of a class society.

The work of F. Engels has not lost its significance even today. It convincingly exposes the myths of modern nationalists about the chosenness of some peoples and the inferiority of others.

The first section of the work is called " Prehistoric Stages of Culture". Of the three main epochs of the existence of mankind, F. Engels singles out three: savagery, barbarism and civilization. The work focuses on the second era and the process of transition to civilization. Savagery and barbarism are divided into three stages and their brief description is given. The final part of the first section states:

“Savagery is a period of predominantly appropriation of finished products of nature; works created by man serve mainly as auxiliary tools for such appropriation.

Barbarism - the period of the introduction of cattle breeding and agriculture, the period of assimilation of methods for increasing the production of natural products with the help of human activity.

Civilization is the period of assimilation of the further processing of the products of nature, the period of industry in the proper sense of the word and art.

The second section is called "Family».

From this primitive state of disordered intercourse gradually developed:

BUT. consanguineous family- the first step of the family. Here the marriage groups are divided into generations: all grandparents within the family are husbands and wives to each other, as well as their children, i.e. fathers and mothers; similarly, the children of the latter form the third circle of common spouses, and their children, the great-grandchildren of the former, form the fourth circle.

B. Punal family. In it, parents and children, as well as brothers and sisters, are excluded from sexual intercourse. The institution of the genus arose from the punaluan family. Genus is understood as a community of relatives who have one woman - an ancestor. In group marriage, of course, kinship could only be established through the female line.

AT. Paired family. In it, a man lives with one woman, but polygamy takes place, although rarely. From a woman for the entire time of cohabitation, the strictest fidelity is required. The prohibition of marriages between relatives leads to the strengthening of the vitality and the development of the mental abilities of people.

At the stage of savagery, wealth consists of dwellings, coarse ornaments, clothes, boats, household utensils of the simplest kind.

G. monogamous family.“She arises from a paired family, as explained above, at the turn between the middle and highest stages of barbarism; its final victory is one of the signs of the beginning of civilization. It is based on the dominion of the husband, with the express purpose of producing children whose descent from the father is unquestionable, and this indisputable descent is necessary because the children must eventually come into possession of the father's property as direct heirs. It differs from pair marriage in a much greater strength of marriage bonds, which are no longer terminated at the request of either party.

The emerging monogamy is nothing but the enslavement of one sex by the other. F. Engels writes: "The first class opposition that appears in history coincides with the development of antagonism between husband and wife in monogamy, and the first class oppression coincides with the enslavement of the female sex by the male."

Summing up, F. Engels writes:

Section 9 is titled "Barbarism and Civilization ». This final section is a generalization of the above, and is devoted to the general economic conditions that undermined the tribal organization of society and, with the advent of civilization, completely eliminated it. Here we cannot do without extensive quotations from the work of F. Engels, since they formulate in a generalized form the results of what has been stated in the work.

The first major division of labor, together with the increase in the productivity of labor, and consequently also in wealth, and with the expansion of the field of productive activity, under the totality of these historical conditions, necessarily entailed slavery. From the first major social division of labor arose the first major division of society into two classes - masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.

"The difference between rich and poor appears along with the difference between free and slave, with a new division of labor - a new division of society into classes." Exchange between individual producers becomes a vital necessity for society. going on third major division of labor- there is a "class, which is no longer engaged in production, but only in the exchange of products." A class is created merchants.

Along with the emergence of merchants, there appeared metal money. This was a new means of domination, the commodity of commodities was discovered, which in a latent form contains all other commodities. “Following the purchase of goods with money came the loan of money, and with it interest and usury.” In the same period, new land relations arise. Previously, the land was the property of the family. Now it began to belong to individuals with the right to inherit, that is, private property. The land was sold and mortgaged.

Distinctive features of the state - the territorial division of subjects and public authority /

Making a forecast for the future, F. Engels concludes by writing the following.