Primitive Communism in Prehistoric Societies

[the last donut of the night]

The subject of primitive communism, the role of gender, and egalitarianism in prehistoric (up to Neolithic) societies has always interested me. However, I´ve never read up too much on it. Could you recommend some books that aren´t too technical on these societies?

[New Tet]

Try this for starters:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/morgan-lewis/ancient-society/

[superiority]

The very beginning of Chris Harman's A People's History of the World I think deals with this. Link (http://www.istendency.net/pdf/1_00_prologue.pdf), link (http://www.istendency.net/pdf/1_01_neolithic_revolution.pdf), and link (http://www.istendency.net/pdf/1_02_first_civilisations.pdf).

[anti-authoritarian]

If you can get hold of it (it should be in most University libraries) - Erich Fromm's "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" has a great section on prehistoric society (under Anthropology). It's primary focus is explaining the cause of violence in precapitalist society (i.e. a rigid social hierarchy, an emphasis on private property and internal economic competition etc. etc.) but it also discusses 'benign' societies (e.g. the Apache, the Navajo) with an emphasis on Egalitarianism (and the subsequent lack of internal violence). Definitely worth a read (not too technical either :) )

[Mephisto]

There is a Homepage called www.urkommunismus.de which deals with this subject. I never took a deeper look, so I can say nothing about the quality but you maybe want to check it out, there is an english section on the site, too.

[Oneironaut]

What may further interest you is to study present day cultures that have survived for upwards of 15,000 years...

Trobrianders- Papua New Guinea
Yanamamo- Amazonia
Aborigines- Australia
Gebusi- Papua New Guinea

While they may not be primitive communist, most do have aspects of it. And its current!

[ellipsis]

From tiny acorns mighty oaks do grow.

[Glenn Beck]

The classic work on this subject is Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. Many of his conclusions have been vindicated or expanded upon by modern anthropologists, and the US anthropologist Eleanor Leacock wrote a great introduction summing up how Engels' ideas held up after a century.

Here's a google books link: http://books.google.com/books?id=XEhShj8kdXUC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=eleanor+leacock+origin+of+the+family&source=bl&ots=DytrRxiTEq&sig=O5X5k9T8LfmRyKDgHtm9nc7RKUI&hl=en&ei=leLQSvrwBYnBtweg_M2ABA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Also check out the works of Marshall Sahlins and Karl Polanyi on the subject.

The view that hunter-gatherer and early horticultural societies were primarily egalitarian is a mainstream view within the field.

[Glenn Beck]

What may further interest you is to study present day cultures that have survived for upwards of 15,000 years...

Trobrianders- Papua New Guinea
Yanamamo- Amazonia
Aborigines- Australia
Gebusi- Papua New Guinea

While they may not be primitive communist, most do have aspects of it. And its current!

Comrade, while yours are all excellent suggestions of hunter-gatherer societies that much excellent work has been done on, I would like to point out that the cultures you named are far from 'living fossils'. Saying that these cultures have survived for more than 15,000 years gives the false impression of pre-capitalist societies being generally static anachronisms when in reality all cultures are constantly changing and evolving whether or not that evolution takes the form of increased complexity. For example, the Yanomami are now largely believed to have been driven to their current home in the Orinoco basin in only the past few centuries.

Also, sadly, this way of life has essentially gone extinct, with many of the traditional attributes of these cultures predominantly practiced in the present just as a gimmick to get tourist money (they call this strategic essentialism). The fate of the last hunter-gatherer cultures in the past two centuries can teach us a hell of a lot about how capitalism takes over societies, but it isn't pretty.

[Oneironaut]

Comrade, while yours are all excellent suggestions of hunter-gatherer societies that much excellent work has been done on, I would like to point out that the cultures you named are far from 'living fossils'. Saying that these cultures have survived for more than 15,000 years gives the false impression of pre-capitalist societies being generally static anachronisms when in reality all cultures are constantly changing and evolving whether or not that evolution takes the form of increased complexity. For example, the Yanomami are now largely believed to have been driven to their current home in the Orinoco basin in only the past few centuries.

Also, sadly, this way of life has essentially gone extinct, with many of the traditional attributes of these cultures predominantly practiced in the present just as a gimmick to get tourist money (they call this strategic essentialism). The fate of the last hunter-gatherer cultures in the past two centuries can teach us a hell of a lot about how capitalism takes over societies, but it isn't pretty.

I couldn't agree with you more here. It seems that all around the world, 'tradition' has faded. However, much like you said, these cultures are not static and will make use of their constantly changing reality as most people find appropriate.
An interesting note is that as global capitalism reached even the most remote groups by the mid-1990's, much of the cultural change has been recorded. For example, the Gebusi of Papua New Guinea by 1998 had a functioning airstrip, 3 local christian churches (Catholic, Evangelical, Seventh Day Adventist), an open farmers market two days a week, a permanent national government station in the community, and all the cultural change that comes with these new additions to the economic foundation of their society. What is even more interesting is that by 2008, the airstrip had become un-usable, the only church that remained was the Catholic church (which has a wonderful priest there), the market had disappeared, and the national government office abandoned. The Gebusi have had a resurgence of their traditional identity along with some modern changes, but no where near how it looked in 1998. An excellent book on the subject is by Bruce Knauft. I find it fascinating to see how cultures react and the amount of resistance they can potentially have against imperialism. Knauft also records some first hand effects of alienation as the Gebusi went from literally owning their lives to being exposed to external factors.