The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

Download or read book The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State written by Friedrich Engels and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010-04-29 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), was a provocative and profoundly influential critique of the Victorian nuclear family. Engels argued that the traditional monogamous household was in fact a recent construct, closely bound up with capitalist societies. Under this patriarchal system, women were servants and, effectively, prostitutes. Only Communism would herald the dawn of communal living and a new sexual freedom and, in turn, the role of the state would become superfluous.