Quiz: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State

10 questions drawn at random. Score 80% for a silver medal.

1. 1. When, according to Engels, can the state gain a certain independence from the classes?

   Never; in every age it is always and wholly the instrument of the ruling class When warring classes balance each other, as under absolutism and Bonapartism When it commands a large standing army loyal to the government alone Only in a democratic republic, where all classes have the vote
2. 2. What was the second great division of labour?

   Merchants separated from producers Handicrafts separated from agriculture Cattle-raising separated from hunting tribes Priests and chiefs separated from warriors
3. 3. What does Morgan call the “syndyasmian” family?

   The pairing family, easily dissolved by either side Lifelong monogamy enforced on the wife alone Polygamy The patriarchal family of the Hebrews
4. 4. How does the state first differ from gentile organisation, according to Engels?

   It abolishes private property It has no laws It has no leaders It groups its members by territory, not kinship
5. 5. Which revolution, according to Engels, brought the final downfall of the gentile order in Athens?

   The democratic reforms of Pericles The Persian Wars The tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons The revolution of Kleisthenes
6. 6. What did the reforms before and under Solon do about Athenian debts?

   They were transferred to the state treasury They were doubled as a penalty They were declared illegal They were left wholly untouched
7. 7. Among which people did Morgan spend much of his life, being adopted into the Seneca tribe?

   The Iroquois The Inuit of the Arctic The Sioux of the Dakotas The Cherokee of Georgia and Carolina
8. 8. What did the maintenance of the state’s public power require that was absolutely unknown in gentile society?

   Leaders Taxes Customs Assemblies
9. 9. What two kinds of production does Engels say are decisive in history?

   The production of material goods, and the production of ideas and religion The production of wealth by labour, and its distribution through exchange The production of the means of existence, and the generation of children The production of food by agriculture, and the production of goods by industry
10. 10. How does monogamy enter history, according to Engels?

    As a gift of civilisation to women, protecting them from group marriage As a religious commandment imposed by the priesthood on the Greek and Roman family As the crowning form of individual sex love, freely chosen by both man and wife As the subjugation of one sex by the other, not as a reconciliation of man and wife