MANY readers will have come across Marx and Engels’ writings on history, from The Peasant War in Germany (Engels, on the 16th century “peasant’s revolt”) to those that deal with contemporary events such as The Civil War in France, (Marx, on the Paris Commune of 1871).  Engels’ The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man goes way back. It deals with the origin of us, humans, as a species.  

Humans are part of the ‘animal kingdom’ – and of nature in general – but also distinct from it and labour (work) is part of what makes us unique, declared Engels. His insights 150 years ago into how our species came to be and how we differ from the rest of nature, are as important today as they were then, says the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY

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