The formation of the State Among Germans - 9. Preface to the First Edition, 1884 - Preface to the Fourth Edition, 1891 - 1. Prepared for publication by Sankar Srinivasan (title page verso)

He studied the latest books on the subject-including those of Russian historian Maxim Kovalevsky.' (back cover)įirst published October 1884 in Hottingen-Zürich This text is essentially the English translation by Alick West, published in 1942, but it has been revised against the German text as it appeared in MEW Volume 21, Dietz Verlag 1962, and the spelling of names and other terms has been modernized Proofed and corrected by Mark Harris, 2010. Society, which will reorganize production on the basis of a free and equal association of the producers, will put the whole machinery of state where it will then belong: into th museum of antiquity, by the side of the spinning-wheel and the bronze axe.' In 1890, having gathered new material on the history of primitive society, Engels set about preparing a new edition of his book. Engels: 'Along with the state will inevitably fall. Engels looks into the origin and essence of the state, and concludes it is bound to wither away leaving a classless society.

It focuses on early human history, following the disintegration of the primitive community and the emergence of a class society based on private property.

'Engels wrote The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in just two months-beginning toward the end of March 1884 and completing it by the end of May.

Engels origin of the family