The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

By: Friedrich Engels

Narrated by: Adam Douglas

The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State is an 1884 treatise by Friedrich Engels. The work is partially based on notes by Karl Marx to Lewis H. Morgan's book Ancient Society (1877) and is regarded as one of the first major works on family economics.

Engels argued that the traditional monogamous household was a recent construct, closely bound up with capitalism. He called it a patriarchal system in which women were servants and claimed that communism would herald the dawn of communal living and a new sexual freedom. The role of the state would then become superfluous.

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks

Brilliant

The best book I read or listened to in my life for sure thank you

Foundational literature for any beginner marxists

highly worth reading. gives a very solid dialectical materialist perspective on the named topics. obviously the language is outdated, but it's worth remembering the words it is using specifically refer the the level of over production, not the level of intelligence or advancement of the people themselves.

Engels Again

Engels write classics that resonate throughout all time. The struggle of humankind rather than the struggle of eras segmented off.

Communist Seal of Approval 👍

an excellent analysis of the evolution and relationships of various forms of communes/societies and it's progression towards the birth of the state

Fantastic Analysis

Fantastic and concise work. Very accessible to those who have yet dug into socialist theory. Particularly great was the section on the oppression of women in the family. If you're a radical looking to convert some people toward Socialist views, that section is worth emphasizing to your feminist friends.

Eye-opening

Using comparative anthropology and primary sources from the Roman Empire, Engels and his contemporaries paint a picture of property relations, kinship, and other facets of early human life before the Bronze Age, before agriculture, and before debt, and how patriarchy is likely to have evolved.

Excellence

Though some of the books topics and references can be a bit overwhelming at first listen, the way in which Engels is able to explain the content and connect it all in the end is fantastic.