In 1820, Friedrich Engels was born in Germany into a wealthy family. That the transition to monogamy, reserving a certain woman exclusively to one man, implied the violation of the primeval religious law (i.e., practically a violation of the customary right of all other men to the same woman), which violation had to be atoned for its permission purchased by the surrender of the women to the public for a limited time.

That consequently women as mothers, being the only well known parents of younger generations, received a high tribute of respect and deference, amounting to a complete women's rule (gynaicocracy), according to Bachofen's idea.Ĥ. That such an intercourse excludes any absolutely certain means of determining parentage that consequently descent could only be traced by the female line in compliance with maternal law and that this was universally practiced by all the nations of antiquity.ģ. That in the beginning people lived in unrestricted sexual intercourse, which he dubs, not very felicitously, hetaerism.Ģ. The history of the family dates from 1861, the year of the publication of Bachofen's Mutterrecht (maternal law) Engles makes the following propositions:ġ. This suggestion, coming from the pulpit, platform and press, has hypnotized the minds of men and proves to be one of the strongest pillars of exploitation. An eternal being created human society as it is today, and submission to superiors and authority is imposed on the lower classes by divine will.

Engels origin of the family