Introduction

After Marx's death Engels found among his papers extensive notes and comments on Ancient Society by the American anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan. Regarding it as 'the execution of a bequest', Engels wrote this book on the basis of that material. Morgan had lived for many years among the Iroquois and studied their clan system and kinship terms. Drawing on this, Engels traces humanity's development from savagery through barbarism to civilisation, describes the evolution of the family from group marriage through pairing marriage to monogamy, and argues that with the growth of productive forces and the appearance of a surplus, private property arose, women suffered their 'world-historical defeat', society split into opposed classes, and the state came into being to keep class conflict within the bounds of 'order'. It is a Marxist classic on the origins of society.