THE PART
PLAYED BY LABOUR
IN THE TRANSITION
FROM APE TO MAN

page 24

  ^[1] This was the heading which Engels gave to the article in the list of contents of the second folder of materials for Dialectics of Nature. The article was originally written by Engels as the introduction to a more extensive work entitled "The Three Basic Forms of Slavery." Later Engels altered this title to "The Enslavement of the Worker. Introduction." Since, however, this work remained unfinished, Engels finally gave to its introductory portion the heading "The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man," which is in conformity with the bulk of the manuscript of this work. The article was apparently written in June 1876. Evidence for this assumption is the letter of W. Liebknecht to Engels, dated June 10, 1876, in which Liebknecht writes, among other things, that he is impatiently awaiting Engels' work "The Three Basic Forms of Slavery," promised by him for the newspaper Volksstaat (People's State ). Only in 1896 the article was published in the magazine Die Neue Zeit (New Time ) (Jahrgang XIV, Bd. 2, S. 545-54).    [p.1]

  ^[2] See Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Vol. I, London, 1871), Ch. VI, "On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man."    [p.1]

  ^[3] Engels is referring to the testimony of Labeo Notker, a German monk (c. 952-1022), quoted in J. Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer (Antiquities of German Law ), Gottingen, 1828, S. 488. Engels quotes Notker in his unfinished work A History of Ireland.    [p.9]

  ^[4] With regard to the effect of man's activity on plant life and climate, Engels uses C. Fraas, Klima und Pflanzenwelt in der Zeit (Climate and Plant Life in Time ), Landshut, 1847. Marx called Engels' attention to this book in a letter dated March 25, 1868.    [p.13]

page 25

  ^[5] Engels is referring to the economic crisis of 1873. In Germany the crisis began with a "terrific crash" in May 1873, foreshadowing a crisis that dragged on till the late seventies.    [p.17]