Woman in the Past.

CHAPTER I.
The Position of Woman in Primeval Society.

1.—Chief Epochs of Primeval History.

IT is the common lot of woman and worker to be oppressed. The forms of oppression have differed in successive ages and in various countries, but the oppression itself remained. During the course of historic development the oppressed ones have frequently recognized their oppression, and this recognition has led to an amelioration of their condition; but it remained for our day to recognize the fundamental causes of this oppression, both in regard to the woman and in regard to the worker. It was necessary to understand the true nature of society and the laws governing social evolution, before an effective movement could develop for the purpose of abolishing conditions that had come to be regarded as unjust. But the extent and profoundness of such a movement depend upon the amount of insight prevailing among those strata of society affected by the unjust conditions, as also upon the freedom of action possessed by them. In both respects woman, owing to custom, education and lack of freedom, is less advanced than the worker. Moreover, conditions that have prevailed for generations finally become a habit, and heredity as well as education make them appear “natural” to both parties concerned. That explains why women accept their inferior position as a matter of course, and do not recognize that it is an unworthy one, and that they should strive to obtain equal rights with men, and to become equally qualified members of society.

But whatever similarities exist between the position of woman and that of the workingman, woman has one precedence over the workingman. She is the first human being which came into servitude. Women were slaves before men.

All social dependence and oppression is rooted in the economic dependence of the oppressed upon the oppressor. Woman—so we are taught by the history of human development—has been in this position since an early stage.

Our understanding of this development is comparatively recent. Just as the myth of the creation of the world, as taught by the Bible, could not be maintained in face of innumerable and indisputable facts founded upon modern, scientific investigation, it also became impossible to maintain the myth of the creation and development of man. Not all phases of the history of evolution have as yet been elucidated. Difference of opinion still exists among scientists in regard to one or another of the natural phenomena and their relation to each other; but, on the whole, clearness and a general consension of opinion prevails. It is certain that man has not made his appearance upon the earth as a civilized being—as the Bible asserts of the first human pair—but that in the long course of ages he gradually evolved from a mere animal condition, and that he passed through various stages during which his social relations as well as the relations between man and woman experienced many transformations.

The convenient assertion that is resorted to daily by ignorant or dishonest people, both in regard to the relation between man and woman as also in regard to the relation between the rich and the poor—the assertion that it has always been thus and will always continue to be so—is utterly false, superficial and contrary to the truth in every respect.

A cursory description of the relations of the sexes since primeval days is of special importance for the purpose of this book. For it seeks to prove that, if in the past progress of human development, these relations have been transformed as a result of the changing methods of production and distribution, it is obvious that a further change in the methods of production and distribution must again lead to a new transformation in the relation of the sexes. Nothing is eternal, either in nature or in human life; change is the only eternal factor.

As far as we can look backward along the line of human evolution, we see the horde[1] representing the first human community. Only when the horde increased in numbers to such an extent that it became difficult to obtain the necessary means of subsistence, which originally consisted of roots, seeds and fruit, a disbanding of the members resulted, and new dwelling places were sought for.

We have no written records of this almost animal-like stage, but studies of the various stages of civilization among extinct and living savages prove that such a stage has at one time existed. Man has not stepped into life as a highly civilized being, upon a command from the Creator, but has passed through a long, infinitely slow process of evolution, and in the ups and downs of wavering periods of development, and in a constant process of differentiation, in all climes and in all quarters of the globe, has passed through many stages until finally climbing the height of his present civilization.

And while in some parts of the globe great nations represent the most advanced stage of civilization, we find other peoples in various places representing varied stages of development. These present to us a vivid picture of our own past, and point out to us along which roads humanity has traveled in its long course of evolution. If we shall at some time succeed in establishing general and definite aspects according to which sociological investigations shall be conducted, an abundance of facts will result, destined to cast a new light upon the relations of men in the past and the present. Events will then seem comprehensible and natural, that at present are quite beyond our comprehension, and that superficial critics frequently condemn as irrational, sometimes even as immoral. Scientific researches, commenced by Backofen, and since continued by a considerable number of learned men as Taylor, MacLennon, Lubbock and others, have gradually lifted the veil from the earliest history of our race. These investigations were elaborated by Morgan’s able book, and to this again Frederick Engels has added a number of historic facts, economic and political in character. Recently these researches have been partly confirmed and partly corrected by Cunow.[2]

The clear and vivid descriptions given by Frederick Engels in his splendid work, that is founded upon Morgan’s investigations, have cast a flood of light upon many factors in the histories of peoples representing various stages of development; factors that until that time had seemed irrational and incomprehensible. They have enabled us to obtain an insight into the gradual upbuilding of the social structure. As a result of such insight we perceive that our former conceptions in regard to marriage, family and state, have been founded upon utterly false premises. But whatever has been proven concerning marriage, family and state, is equally true in regard to the position of woman, which, in the various stages of social development, has differed radically from what is supposed to be woman’s “eternal” position.

Morgan divides the history of mankind—and this division is also adopted by Engels—into three chief epochs: savagery, barbarism and civilization. Each of the two earlier periods he subdivides into a lower, a medium and a higher stage, because these stages differ in regard to fundamental improvements in the method of obtaining the means of subsistence. Those changes which occur from time to time in the social systems of nations as a result of improved methods of production, Morgan considers one of the chief characteristics in the progress of civilization, which is quite in keeping with the materialistic conception of history as laid down by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Thus the lowest stage in the period of savagery represents the childhood of mankind. During this stage men still were tree-dwellers, and fruit and roots constituted their chief nourishment; but even then articulated language began to take form. The medium stage of savagery begins with the consumption of small animals such as fish, crabs, etc., for food, and with the discovery of fire. Men begin to manufacture weapons, clubs and spears made of wood and stone, and this means the inception of the hunt and probably also of war among neighboring hordes, who contended with one another for the sources of nourishment and the most desirable dwelling places and hunting grounds. At this stage also cannibalism appears, which is still met with among some tribes in Africa, Australia and Polynesia. The higher stage of savagery is characterized by the invention of the bow and arrow; the invention of the art of weaving; the making of mats and baskets from bast and reeds, and the manufacture of stone implements.

As the beginning of the lowest stage of barbarism, Morgan denotes the invention of pottery. Man learns the domestication of wild animals with the resultant production of meat and milk, and thereby obtains the use of hides, horns and furs for the most varied purposes. Hand in hand with the domestication of animals, agriculture begins to develop. In the western part of the world corn is cultivated; in the eastern part, almost all kinds of grain, with the exception of corn, is grown. During the medium stage of barbarism we find an increasing domestication of useful animals in the East, and in the West we find an improved cultivation of nourishing plants with the aid of artificial irrigation. The use of stones and sun-dried bricks for building purposes is also originated at this time. Domestication and breeding favor the formation of herds and flocks and lead to a pastoral life, and the necessity of producing larger quantities of nourishment for both men and animals leads to increased agriculture. The result is a more sedentary mode of life with an accompanying increase in provisions and greater diversity of same, and gradually cannibalism disappears.

The higher stage of barbarism has been reached with the smelting of iron ore and the invention of alphabetical writing. The invention of the iron plough gives a new impetus to agriculture; the iron axe and spade and hoe make it easier to clear the forest and to cultivate the soil. With the forging of iron a number of new activities set in, giving life a different shape. Iron tools simplify the building of houses, ships and wagons. The malleation of metals furthermore leads to mechanical art, to an improvement in the manufacture of arms, and to the building of walled cities. Architecture is developed, and mythology, poetry and history are conserved and disseminated by means of alphabetical writing.

The Oriental countries and those situated about the Mediterranean Sea—Egypt, Greece and Italy—are the ones in which this mode of life was especially developed, and here the foundation was laid to later social transformations that have had a decisive influence upon the development of civilization in Europe and, in fact, in all the countries of the globe.