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Capital is a tough read.
First, there's Marx's thick, weighty prose -- not just in style, but
also in content, implication; Marx rarely wrote "lightly".
That, coupled with a modern reader's unfamiliarity with 19th century
economics, the history of sociological thought, dialectical philosophy,
etc., produces a tome not well suited to bedtime reading.
This, unfortunately, leads to gross misunderstandings and
misinterpretations of Marxian economics. (Actually, is there a more
misunderstood writer, by both friend and foe alike, in recent history?)
Rather than slog through the work, people rely on "academics" to
interpret for them, to condense. Therein lies the genesis of all the
bullshit surrounding Marx that proliferates on the net, as well, of
course, as in the "real" world.
To overcome that "entry barrier", if you will, Marx and Engels
considered several tactics. One of these is offered below.
It is a synopsis of _Capital_ vol.I, written by Engels.
Upon the first edition release of _Capital_, Engels began constructing a
comprehensive summation.
On April 17, 1868, he wrote Marx:
"I have a limited time at my disposal and the summarising of your
book requires more work than I thought; after all, once having
taken up the work, I must do it properly...."
It was published in _Fortnightly Review_.
Engels' synopsis provides two useful contributions: First, Engels was a
far more rapid writer than Marx, much more readable. Second, Engels
could distance himself from the massive web of ideas without "losing his
place in it", and identify the real points to be made.
Engels could achieve this because he was intimately involved with the
production of _Capital_. Marx forwarded sheets to Engels as they were
printed; Engels sent back his impressions and thoughts.
*
Engels only summarized the first four chapters of volume I of _Capital_.
Note that in the first edition, volume I was divided into six
_chapters_. Subsequent editions renamed these chapters "parts" -- the
5th chapter was broken into two parts -- so that a total of seven parts
resulted. The four chapters summarized by Engels therefore correspond
to the first four parts of _Capital_ as found today.
Also note that Marx made additions and alterations to the text in
subsequent editions. For example, Marx did not dwell in the 1st
chapter/part (Commodities) on value and exchange-value -- so Engels'
synopsis doesn't deal with that subject, which is today integral to
chapter 1.
In the hardcopy introduction (Progress) , we find:
The reviews and the synopsis made by Engels are inestimable aids to
the study of _Capital_. The contents of _Capital_ are given for
the greater part in Marx's own words.
The centre of gravity, in the synopsis, as well as in the reviews,
lies in the _theory of surplus-value_, the corner-stone of Marx's
economic doctrine. Engels summarized Marx's theory of
surplus-value with special care, characterizing in detail the
historical circumstances in which the relations of capital
exploitation spread, the working class made its first steps in the
struggle and the first skirmishes took place between labor and
capital.
Engels' synopsis that the transition from one category to another
is not a freak of reason but the reflection of the real historic
process of development. Keeping to the order of Marx's exposition,
he shows how, in the course of historic development, capital
emerged on the basis of commodity production, how it subordinated
to itself the whole of production, how simple co-operation was
replaced by manufacture and this, in turn, by machine production.
Ken.
--
"Don't HATE the media... | K.K.Campbell
beCOME the media!" --*-- <zodiac@io.org>
- J. Biafra | . . . . cum grano salis
--
"Don't HATE the media... | K.K.Campbell
beCOME the media!" --*-- <zodiac@io.org>
- J. Biafra | . . . . cum grano salis
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