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  • The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

  • By: Friedrich Engels
  • Narrated by: Adam Douglas
  • Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (44 ratings)

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The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

By: Friedrich Engels
Narrated by: Adam Douglas
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Publisher's summary

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.

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What listeners say about The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

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Brilliant

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

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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.

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Engels Again

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

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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

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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.

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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.

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