Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE STATE BY FREDERICK ENGELS _TRANSLATED BY ERNEST UNTERMANN_ [Illustration: Logo] CHICAGO CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 1908 COPYRIGHT, 1902 BY CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Translator's Preface 5 Author's Prefaces 9-12 Prehistoric Stages 27 The Family 35 The Iroquois Gens 102 The Grecian Gens 120 Origin of the Attic State 131 Gens and State in Rome 145 The Gens Among Celts and Germans 158 The Rise of the State Among Germans 176 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. "An eternal being created human society as it is to-day, and submission to 'superiors' and 'authority' is imposed on the 'lower' classes by divine will." This suggestion, coming from pulpit, platform and press, has hypnotized the minds of men and proves to be one of the strongest pillars of exploitation. Scientific investigation has revealed long ago that human society is not cast in a stereotyped mould. As organic life on earth assumes different shapes, the result of a succession of chemical changes, so the group life of human beings develops different social institutions as a result of increasing control over environment, especially of production of food, clothing and shelter. Such is the message which the works of men like Bachofen, Morgan, Marx, Darwin, and others, brought to the human race. But this message never reached the great mass of humanity. In the United States the names of these men are practically unknown. Their books are either out of print, as is the case with the fundamental works of Morgan, or they are not translated into English. Only a few of them are accessible to a few individuals on the dusty shelves of some public libraries. Their message is dangerous to the existing order, and it will not do to give it publicity at a time when further intellectual progress of large bodies of men means the doom of the ruling class. The capitalist system has progressed so far, that all farther progress must bring danger to it and to those who are supreme through it.