Synopses & Reviews
A new edition of a pioneering materialist treatise Exploring the way that production affects the social issues of class division and family, Engels develops his arguments on private property and its relationship to the subjugation of women. Engels then analyzes in detail the rise of the territorial state, ultimately extending his theory further to consider how class and exploitation arose out of the division of labor. One of Engels's most vital works, this book was groundbreaking when it appeared in 1884 in that it emphasized development in terms of power and control over resources, rather than psychological evolution.
About the Author
Born in Westphalia in 1820, Friedrich Engels was the son of a textile manufacturer. After military training in Berlin and already a convert to communism, Engels went to Manchester in 1842 to represent the family firm. A relationship with a mill-hand, Mary Bums, and friendship with local Owenites and Chartists helped to inspire his famous early work, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844. Collaboration with Marx began in 1844 and in 1847 he composed the first drafts of the Manifesto. After playing an active part in the German revolutions, Engels returned to work in Manchester until 1870, when he moved to London. He not only helped Marx financially, but reinforced their shared position through his own expositions of the new theory. After Marx’s death, he prepared the unfinished volumes of Capital for publication. He died in London in 1895.