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Chris Harman

Engels and the origins of human society

(1994)

First published in International Socialism 2:65, Winter 1994.
Copyright © 1994 International Socialism.
Downloaded as a textfile from the International Socialism archive at http://www.istendency.org.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for REDS – Die Roten.

[Introduction]
 

I) The argument on human origins

Assessing Engels’ argument today

The established record: our relatives

Our ancestors

A species born from blood?

Brain, culture, language and consciousness

The new idealist challenge

The dialectic of labour and intellect

Loose ends
 

II) The origins of classes and the state

Primitive communism

The first agriculturalists

The first hierarchies

The origins of agriculture

The first class societies

How class began
 

III) The origins of women’s oppression

Minor mistakes

Engels’ argument revisited

Class, the state and women’s oppression

Conclusion

Start of the page

Last updated on 30.3.2002