Reich strikes a note that will be of great significance in Marxist thinking (and, one might argue, eventually across the political spectrum in general): the traditional patriarchal family is a unit of oppression. This is a function of both Freud’s belief in childhood sexuality and his understanding of how sexual repression connects to the culture of civilization. In the hands of Reich it becomes a potent starting point for reflecting on what political revolution and liberation might look like and how these might be accomplished. By implication, those who argue for the traditional family as a
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