The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884)

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The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State is an important and
detailed seminal work connecting capitalism with what Engels argues is an ever
changing institution - the family. It was written when Engels was 64 years of age
and contains a comprehensive historical view of the family in relation to the
issues of class, female subjugation and private property.
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STATE
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The state is not an eternal human institution but arises at a particular stage in
human development. The state is an instrument of class domination. Both violence
and ideology have a role to play in class rule. States based on a particular class
society can have different forms. Therefore a political revolution need not change
the class relations in a given society. Democracy is one form of the capitalist
state. A workers state is organized differently from the bourgeois state and may
be more democratic than the most democratic capitalist state.Questions for
discussion:
1. What is the distinction between society or the community as a whole and the
state?
2. When does the state become necessary in society?
3. What is wrong with the notion that the state is the result of a ’social
contract’ between the individuals who make up society?
4. Why is the ideology of the ruling class the dominant ideology?
5. What is the difference between a social revolution and a political revolution?
Do they always go hand in hand?
6. Why do marxists maintain that both parliamentary democracy and fascism are
forms of the dictatorship of the capitalist class? If they are does it matter what
form capitalist rule takes?
7. Why is the role of the state as an instrument of class rule more obvious in
times of crisis and instability?
8. Why is a workers’ state necessary after the overthrow of the capitalist state?
Why cannot the working class simply abolish the state altogether?
9. What measures do marxists advocate to ensure that the workers’ state is more
democratic than the bourgeois state?

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FAMILY
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The institution of the family arises in the era of private property and functions
as a prop of class society. Marriage and the family change throughout the various
stages of capitalism but always these institutions have two characteristics - the
subordination of women and the reinforcement of class rule. The revolt of women
against their inferior status is a powerful component of the socialist revolution
given correct leadership. The fight for women’s liberation does not end with the
socialist revolution but continues under new and more favourable conditions.
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Questions for discussion:

1. Why was the father family necessary for the development of class society?
2. What is the economic function of the family?
3. What impact has the ’Welfare State’ had on the family and the role of women?
4. Is the existence of the nuclear family as we know it indispensable to
capitalism?
5. How has the role of women in the family been reflected in the position of women
in society?
6. What is the difference between the role that the women’s liberation movement
can play in leading the struggle for women’s liberation and the role of the
revolutionary party?
7. Will there be a need for the autonomous women’s movement after the working
class seizure of power?

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FURTHER ESSENTIAL READING
V.I. Lenin- The State and Revolution