The Family

[Comrade Castro]

Hello Comrades,

There are some parts of the Communist Manifesto that I don't really understand, when it talks about the family and then something about 'free love' or something. And what I really want to ask is about whether it is true that in communist society the structure of family as it is now will change somehow? How is that?

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

I just read that bit today, and like you didnt understand it! Iv never heard it before this and was curious....

[Janus]

And what I really want to ask is about whether it is true that in communist society the structure of family as it is now will change somehow?
Yes, it is quite possible that many aspects of our current societal structure and values will change in a communist society. I think that the normal nuclear family will most likely give way (something which it is already doing) to a much more open/diverse family in which the entire society helps to take care of the child.

[Marukusu]

I've also read it.
I think Marx and Engels meant that the family as we know it is a bourgeoise institution and that it should be abholished in a communist society.
On the other hand, when they wrote the manifesto in the 19th cenury the family was more strict and hierarchial than it is nowadays. Families ruled by a tough but fair "pater familias" with a timid housewife and a bunch of disciplined kids below him is something that has become, and are becoming, increasingly rare in our world today.

But of course, among the many social changes that are to be done after the revolution, we will also need to rethink our indoctorinated family structures and such.

[RevMARKSman]

Articles:
Libertarian Families (from Anarchist FAQ) (http://geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/secJ6.html)
Children's Liberation and Communism (by redstar2000) (http://rs2k.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082768760&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&)
Kollontai: The Family and Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1920/communism-family.htm)

These should be pretty useful. Views range from the total destruction of the family as a structure, to equality for women, to women's and youth liberation...

[RebelDog]

Marx thought that the family itself would disappear because society will change with the changed economic model. Marx saw that the modern family basically exists as a economic necessity, both for the capitalist and the worker. One parent works (usually the male in Marx's time, but not always) and the other stays at home and brings up the kids (the new generation of workers from the capitalists angle). If it is no longer necessary to have the family because the economic necessity no longer exists, then one should expect in a co-operative, altruistic, society based on equality and sharing that there will be communial living and the bringing up of kids will be a shared task by all. The family is again, like the state an entity that is generally related to modern humans and was/is the best unit to survive in feudalism/capitalism. It has not been around for ever and it will eventually fade away. The family is a one manfestation of how proletarians survive their material reality under capitalism. Material conditions give rise to the family. Humans in a communist society will think more along the species lines because their individual needs will be readily satisfied without the stress of a competitive, individualistic, capitalist society.

[The Grey Blur]

Originally posted by [email protected] 31, 2006 12:49 am
Articles:
Libertarian Families (from Anarchist FAQ) (http://geocities.com/CapitolHill/1931/secJ6.html)
Children's Liberation and Communism (by redstar2000) (http://rs2k.fightcapitalism.net/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082768760&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&)
Kollontai: The Family and Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1920/communism-family.htm)

These should be pretty useful. Views range from the total destruction of the family as a structure, to equality for women, to women's and youth liberation...
It's a shame that you put Redstar and some Anarchist next to Kollentai... :(

Still, I found this amazing quote in the Kollentai article; "everything is subject to change and no customs, political organisations or moral principles are fixed and inviolable"

I love succint commie quotes like that :D

[JKP]

The state is responsible for the upbringing of children

But even if housework disappears, you may argue, there are still the children to look after. But here too, the workers’ state will come to replace the family, society will gradually take upon itself all the tasks that before the revolution fell to the individual parents.

Well isn't that just dandy; replace the authority of the family the authority of the state. Thanks but no thanks.

This is the problem with statism; we're not here to replace one totalitarianism with another; we're here to abolish it all together.

[Morpheus]

Originally posted by The [email protected] 31, 2006 01:26 am
Marx thought that the family itself would disappear because society will change with the changed economic model. Marx saw that the modern family basically exists as a economic necessity, both for the capitalist and the worker. One parent works (usually the male in Marx's time, but not always) and the other stays at home and brings up the kids (the new generation of workers from the capitalists angle).
Most workers can't afford to do this. Both parents have to work because the average working class family can't afford to get by without two parents. Because of patriarchy, female workers usually have to do the majority of work required to generate the next generation of workers but they also have to work for a capitalist to bring in money. The people who can actually afford to have a stay at home parent are usually drawn from the capitalist or coordinator classes or the aristocracy of labor. It was only during the period of social democracy during the mid-twentieth century, when workers made more and were treated better in order to avoid revolution, that this model was practiced by the majority of workers. It was the exception, not the norm.

[bezdomni]

The first thing that pops into my head when anybody asks about the family is:

Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State - Engels (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm)

Specifically, Chapter Two - The Family (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/ch02.htm).

[Fawkes]

I thought this article was going to have to do with the Mafia.