Episode 4 – The Iroquois Gens: Democracy Before the State
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Episode 4 – The Iroquois Gens: Democracy Before the State
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About this listen
Welcome to Episode 4 of Origins . This episode dives into Section 3 of Friedrich Engels’ groundbreaking work—The Iroquois Gens. Today, we uncover how this ancient kinship system, rooted in equality and cooperation, reveals a powerful model of social organization long before the rise of class-based states.
In this episode, we explore Section 3: The Iroquois Gens from Friedrich Engels’ The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. Drawing on the pioneering research of Lewis Henry Morgan, Engels highlights the Iroquois gens—a form of kinship-based communal organization—as a fundamental structure of early human society. We examine its democratic practices, including the election and deposition of leaders, collective defense, and matrilineal inheritance, and trace how these gens were grouped into phratries and tribes. Engels argues that this system, though often overlooked, represents a more egalitarian and cooperative social order than later patriarchal and class-divided civilizations. This episode challenges traditional narratives by revealing how societies like the Iroquois thrived on simplicity, liberty, and collective responsibility—a contrast to the coercive institutions that followed.