Page:May Walden - Woman and Socialism (1909).pdf/8

 8 the Socialist philosophy recognizes that the advancement of the race is dependent upon the changes in the form of industry, and that all of the changes in society have followed, and have been the results of the evolution of industry.

The evolution of industry is divided into four stages: First, the Family System; second, the Guild System; third, the Domestic System, and fourth, the Factory System. While it cannot be said that society has passed through and finished each of these stages to the exclusion of all the others (for in many places may be found several of these stages in operation at the present day), it is true that each stage has at some time in the evolution of a society been the highest form of that society. To make this clear let us take up these stages of the evolution of industry and explain them in their order. The first stage, the Family System, began with (a) Communal Production. All of the stores of food and tools for securing it were the common property of the tribe and were divided among the members in proper proportions. There was no division of labor and every member of the tribe was able to do any of the world which was to be done.

The second step in the Family System was (b) Slavery. In the constant warfare between the savage tribes the conquerors made slaves of their prisoners, and these slaves (probably women) were the first private property. The women cultivated the ground with sharpened