i needed to write this out anyway for my book so here is the actual dialectical materialist argument for family abolition and youth liberation, by the way:
the continued existence of capitalism depends not only on the circuit of production but also the circuit of reproduction. social reproduction is the process by which the working class prepares and maintains itself for the exchange of labor-power for a wage. this can also refer to how the bourgeoisie maintains its power generationally. marx introduced this concept in capital but did not explore it in depth.
there are two scales of social reproduction: day-to-day and intergenerational. the labor pool is replenished via three processes: gestation (having kids), immigration, and slavery.
day-to-day social reproductive labor is usually carried out by women. this includes the work of cooking, cleaning, budgeting, and all the other work that goes into running a household. the wife in a typical nuclear family does this labor unpaid, but many affluent households choose to hire cheap migrant laborers (usually also women) to carry it out for them.
intergenerational social reproductive labor is usually understood as the work of raising children - that's as far as it's been theorized in existing marxist feminist work. but i believe that children are responsible for the bulk of this type of labor. the work of formal and informal education for the dual purposes of developing job readiness and internalizing capitalist norms - it's not recognized as labor by, well, much of anybody but i hope that changes in the future.
one of the key features of capitalist education is establishing the alienation of labor, so that by the time children grow up, they're ready to integrate into a compliant labor force. another key feature of education is maintaining the reserve army of labor, which works to undercut attempts to organize labor or establish worker solidarity. the neoliberalization and globalization of the economy has extended this second feature of education both to adults and previously inaccessible labor markets around the world.
this (unpaid) labor occupies most of childhood and its imperative is reinforced by three pillars: the family, the market, and the state. you could argue for the education system to be considered a fourth pillar since it operates somewhat independently of other state apparatuses, at least in the US. depends on how you look at it. the family, the market, and the state work together (imperfectly, unevenly) to reproduce capitalism.
the family is the smallest unit of social reproduction. the nuclear family form developed around the same time as the industrial revolution and is inextricable from patriarchy, white supremacy, ableism, and all the other -isms we usually talk about. the family form in general developed after the agricultural revolution, as a mechanism for inheriting wealth and maintaining socioeconomic hierarchies. families aren't just a source of violence and coercion; they're also most people's primary source of care and support. but abolishing capitalism also necessitates abolishing the capitalist family form (as stated in the communist manifesto).
family abolition doesn't just mean tearing families apart. it means expanding systems of care so that the family isn't the only place that people can receive it. in their original writing, hegel, marx, and engels all used the word aufhebung to refer to abolition, which is really better translated as "positive supercession." so people should still be able to get care from their families if they like, but it shouldn't be their only option. marx believed that this principle was well represented in the paris commune. i believe that the 2022 cuba family code referendum also provides a great model.
to me (an adult), if a socialist/communist movement is going to last, it requires a thorough analysis of minors as an oppressed class. the continued existence of capitalism depends on the extended disenfranchisement of young people until they internalize capitalist norms and prove themselves capable of capitalist reproduction. this process is absolutely key to establishing the alienation of labor. dialectical analysis of children vs. their parents, children vs. the state, working class children vs. the bourgeoisie is all sorely needed. the thing is that hardly anyone has explored this! marx and engels make some passing references to it, and contemporary marxist feminist theorists like m.e o'brien and susan ferguson incorporate this idea into their analyses somewhat. but nobody that i can find has approached this question comprehensively or systematically. which is why i'm here! writing! a lot!
the communist manifesto (lol)
the origin of the family, private property, and the state by friedrich engels
capital by karl marx (heinrich's introduction to capital is much more beginner-friendly btw)
marx's 1844 economic and philosophical manuscripts (to understand the theory of alienation, specifically)
childhood in world history by peter n. stearns
social reproduction theory: remapping class, recentering oppression edited by tithi bhattacharya
family abolition: capitalism and the communizing of care by m.e. o'brien
making workers: radical geographies of education by katharyne mitchell
schooling in capitalist america: education reform and the contradictions of economic life by samuel bowles and herbert gintis
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
