The Rise of the State in Athenian Society

Engels notes how the state arose naturally to manage the interests of the new upper classes while also curbing their worst excesses. The rise of private property led to class stratification and exchange between individuals which in turn gave rise to commodity production or the production of goods for their exchange value instead of their use value. In turn this produced the division of labor and the division of Athenian society into occupation groups, agricultural workers or peasants,. handicraftsmen, workers in the shipping industry, etceteraWhich solidified into classes with their own distinct interests. And it was this new power suddenly sprung to life without knowledge or will of its creators which now in all the brutality of its youth gave the