The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man

A document in which Engels comprehensively inquired into the origin and development of mankind, one of the ten essays in the Dialectics of Nature, first published in 1896 in Die Neue Zeit.

The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man consists of 26 paragraphs. In this article, Engels took labor as the main line and conducted a comprehensive inquiry into the origin of man and his future development in terms of the fundamental viewpoint of dialectical and historical materialism. In the opening paragraph, Engels directly pointed out the central viewpoint of the full text: labor created man himself. Around this center, the full text is elaborated in three parts. First, it expounded the part played by labor in the genesis of mankind. Engels pointed out that it was labor that gradually led to the beginning of erect gait and the liberation of the hands, and that the development of the hand in turn led to changes in the whole body. At the same time, language emerged from labor, and consciousness gradually emerged under the joint impulse of labor and language. The emergence and development of consciousness in turn drove the development of labor and language. Thus, labor played the decisive part in the evolution from a particularly highly-developed race of anthropoid apes to man. Engels wrote: “Labor is the prime basic condition for all human existence, and this to such an extent that, in a sense, we have to say that labor created man himself.” Second, it pointed out that that labor is the fundamental hallmark that distinguishes man from other animals. Engels pointed out that the animal can only passively use nature, and brings about changes in it simply by its presence; man is capable of exploiting and mastering nature according to his own purposes, and the fundamental feature that makes this difference lies in labor. Third, it elaborated how man should become the true master of the nature. Engels held that man could purposefully use, change, and master nature through his labor, but “let us not flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us.” Therefore, man is bound to know the laws of nature and act in accordance with them before he can truly become the master of the nature. Meanwhile, in order to deal with the relationship between man and nature, man is also bound to know and respect the laws of social development. “It requires a complete revolution in our hitherto existing mode of production, and simultaneously a revolution in our whole contemporary social order.”

The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man is an important work in the development history of Marxist thought. The work brilliantly elaborated the part played by labor in the process of transformation from ape to man from the two aspects of biological evolution and social development, thus permeated materialist dialectics throughout the sphere of nature and the sphere of society, and realized the organic unity of the conception of nature and conception of history of dialectical materialism. While perfecting the theoretical system of Marxism, it also refuted the denigration and reproach of Marxism by the bourgeoisie, and provided an important theoretical ground for the proletariat to establish a correct conception of nature and history.