Friedrich Engels (1820–95) A German industrialist and life-long friend and
collaborator of Marx, Engels elaborated Marx’s ideas and theories for the
benefit of the growing socialist movement in the late nineteenth century. He
emphasised the role of the dialectic as a force operating in both social life and
nature, helping to give rise to dialectical materialism as a distinct brand of
Marxism, and portraying Marxism in terms of a specific set of historical laws.
Engels also extended materialist analysis to the family, arguing that
monogamous marriage involves the subjection of women by men and has
its origins in the institution of private property. Engels’ major works include
Anti-Du¨hring (1877–8), The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the
State (1884) and Dialectics of Nature (1925).