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'mprove|date=June 2009}} {{Expand German|Das Kapital|date=July 2011}} {{Lead rewrite|date=July 2011}} {{Infobox book | name =Capital: Critique of Political Economy | title_orig =Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie | translator = | image =[[Image:Kapital titel bd1.png|195px]] | image_caption = | author =[[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]] (editor) | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country =[[Germany]] | language =[[German language|German]], subsequently into many languages | series = | subject = | genre = [[Economics]], [[Political theory]] | publisher = Verlag von Otto Meisner | release_date =1867, 1885, 1894 | english_release_date = | media_type = | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie''''' ({{IPA-de|das kapiˈtaːl}}; '''''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'''''), by [[Karl Marx]], is a critical analysis of [[capitalism]] as [[political economy]], meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the [[socialist]] [[mode of production]]. {{Marxism}} == Themes == In '''''Capital: Critique of Political Economy''''' (1867), [[Karl Marx]] proposes that the motivating force of [[capitalism]] is in the [[exploitation]] of [[labour (economics)|labour]], whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of [[Profit (economics)|profit]] and [[surplus value]]. The [[employer]] can claim right to the profits (new output value), because he or she owns the [[Means of production|productive capital assets]] (means of production), which are legally protected by the State through [[property rights]]. In producing [[Capital (economics)|capital]] (money) rather than commodities (goods and services), the workers continually reproduce the economic conditions by which they labour. ''Capital'' proposes an explanation of the “laws of motion” of the capitalist economic system, from its origins to its future, by describing the dynamics of the accumulation of capital, the growth of [[wage labour]], the transformation of the workplace, the concentration of capital, commercial competition, the [[banking]] system, the [[Tendency of the rate of profit to fall|decline of the profit rate]], land-rents, et cetera. The critique of the political economy of capitalism proposes that: * The commodity is the foundational “cell-form” (trade unit) of a capitalist society, which has commercial value for the owner of the [[means of production]]. Moreover, because commerce, as a human activity, implied no [[Ethics|morality]] beyond that required to buy and sell goods and services, the growth of the market system made discrete entities of the economic, the moral, and the legal spheres of human activity in society; hence, subjective [[moral value]] is separate from objective economic value. Subsequently, [[political economy]] — the just [[distribution of wealth]] and “political arithmetick” about taxes — became three discrete fields of human activity: [[Economics]], [[Law]], and [[Ethics]], politics and economics divorced. * “The economic formation of society [is] a process of natural history", thus it is possible for a [[Political economy|political economist]] to objectively study the scientific laws of capitalism, given that its expansion of the market system of commerce had [[Objectification|objectified]] human economic relations; the use of [[money]] (cash nexus) voided religious and political illusions about its [[Theory of value (economics)|economic value]], and replaced them with [[commodity fetishism]], the belief that an object (commodity) has inherent economic value. Because societal economic formation is an historical process, no one person could control or direct it, thereby creating a global complex of social connections among capitalists; thus, the economic formation (individual commerce) of a society precedes the human administration of an economy (organised commerce). * The structural contradictions of a capitalist economy, the ''gegensätzliche Bewegung'', describe the contradictory movement originating from the two-fold character of labour; not the [[class struggle]] between [[Labour (economics)|labour]] and [[capitalism|capital]], the [[wage labour]]er and the [[Bourgeoisie|owner]] of the [[means of production]]. These capitalist economy contradictions operate “behind the backs” of the capitalists and the workers, as a result of their activities, and yet remain beyond their [[perception]]s as men and women and as [[social class]]es.<ref>Marx, Karl. ''Capital'': The Process of Capitalist Production. 3d German edition (tr.), p. 53.</ref> * The economic crises ([[recession]], [[Depression (economics)|depression]], etc.) that are rooted in the contradictory character of the economic value of the commodity (cell-unit) of a capitalist society, are the conditions that propitiate [[Proletariat|proletarian]] [[revolution]]; which the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'' (1848) collectively identified as a weapon, forged by the capitalists, which the working class “turned against the [[bourgeoisie]], itself”. * In a [[capitalism|capitalist]] economy, [[technology|technological]] improvement and its consequent increased production augment the amount of [[Wealth|material wealth]] ([[use value]]) in society, whilst simultaneously diminishing the [[Value (economics)|economic value]] of the same wealth, thereby [[Tendency of the rate of profit to fall|diminishing the rate of profit]] — a [[paradox]] characteristic of economic crisis in a capitalist economy; “poverty in the midst of plenty” consequent to over-production and under-consumption. '''BALLS AND MORE BALLS INSIDE OF A VAGINA''' == ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'' == {{Expand section|date=July 2011}} === Capital Volume I === {{main|Capital, Volume I}} === Capital Volume II === {{main|Capital, Volume II}} === Capital Volume III === {{main|Capital, Volume III}} == Intellectual influences == {{Unreferenced section|date=July 2011|date=August 2011}} The purpose of ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'' (1867) was a scientific foundation for the politics of the modern [[labour movement]]; the analyses were meant “to bring a [[Political economy|science]], by criticism, to the point where it can be [[Dialectics|dialectically]] represented” and so “reveal the law of motion of modern society” to describe how the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] mode of production was the precursor of the [[socialist]] [[mode of production]]. The argument is a critique of the [[classical economics]] of [[Adam Smith]], [[David Ricardo]], [[John Stuart Mill]], and [[Benjamin Franklin]], drawing on the [[dialectic]]al method that [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G.W.F. Hegel]] developed in ''The Science of Logic'' and ''The Phenomenology of Spirit''; other [[Intellectualism|intellectual]] influences upon ''Capital'' were the French [[Socialism|socialists]] [[Charles Fourier]], [[Comte de Saint-Simon]], and [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]; and the [[Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]], especially [[Aristotle]]. At university, Marx wrote a dissertation comparing the [[philosophy of nature]] in the works of the [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] philosophers [[Democritus]] (ca. 460–370 BC) and [[Epicurus]] (341–270 BC); from which academic speculation proposes is the derivation of the logical architecture of ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'', because [[exchange value]], the “[[syllogisms]]” ([[C-M-C']] and [[M-C-M']]) for simple commodity circulation, and the circulation of [[Value (economics)|value]] as [[capital]], derive from the ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'' and the ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'', by Aristotle. Moreover, the description of [[machinery]], under capitalist relations of production, as “self-acting [[automata]]” derives from Aristotle’s speculations about inanimate instruments capable of obeying commands as the condition for the abolition of [[slavery]]. In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx’s research of the available politico-economic literature required twelve years, usually in the [[British Library]], London. == Capital, Volume IV == [[File:Karl Kautsky 01.jpg|thumb|right|175px|''Das Kapital'': Karl Kautsky, author of ''Theories of Surplus Value''.]] At the time of his death (1883) Karl Marx had prepared the manuscript for ''Capital, Volume IV'', a critical history of theories of [[surplus value]] of his time, the nineteenth century. The philosopher [[Karl Kautsky]] (1854–1938) published a partial edition of Marx’s surplus-value critique, and later published a full, three-volume edition as ''Theorien über den Mehrwert'' (Theories of Surplus Value, 1905–1910); the first volume was published in English as ''A History of Economic Theories'' (1952).<ref>''Columbia Encyclopedia'', Fifth Edition (1994) p. 1707.</ref> == Publication == ''[[Capital, Volume I]]'' (1867) was published in Marx’s lifetime, but he died, in 1883, before completing the manuscripts for ''[[Capital, Volume II]]'' (1885) and ''[[Capital, Volume III]]'' (1894), which friend and collaborator [[Friedrich Engels]] edited and published as the work of Karl Marx. The first translated publication of ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'' was in [[Russian history, 1892–1917|Imperial Russia]], in March 1872. It was the first foreign publication, the English edition appeared in 1887.<ref>Ostler, Nicholas. ''Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World''. HarperCollins: London and New York, 2005.</ref> Despite [[Tsarism|Tsarist]] [[censorship]] proscribing “the harmful doctrines of [[socialism]] and [[communism]]”, the Russian censors considered ''Capital'' as a “strictly scientific work” of [[political economy]] the content of which did not apply to [[Absolute monarchy|monarchic]] Russia, where “capitalist [[exploitation]]” had never occurred, and was officially dismissed, given that “that very few people in [[Russian history, 1892–1917|Russia]] will read it, and even fewer will understand it”; nonetheless, Karl Marx acknowledged that Russia was the country where ''Capital'' “was read and valued more than anywhere.” The Russian edition was the fastest selling. 3,000 copies were sold in 1 year while the German edition took 5 years to sell 1,000 (15 times slower). <ref name="A People's Tragedy 1996 pg. 139">''A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924'' (London 1996) p. 139</ref> == Translations == The foreign editions of ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'' (1867), by [[Karl Marx]], include a Russian translation by the [[revolution]]ary [[Mikhail Bakunin]] (1814–1876). An English translation by Samuel Moore and [[Edward Aveling]] was reissued in the 1970s by [[Progress Publishers]] in Moscow; recent English translations are by [[David McLellan (academic)|David McLellan]] and Ben Fowkes. == See also == {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} * [[Accumulation by dispossession]] * [[Analytical Marxism]] * [[Étienne Balibar]] * [[Eduard Bernstein]] * [[G.A. Cohen]] * [[Capital (economics)]] * [[Capital accumulation]] * [[Capitalism]] * [[Commodity fetishism]] * [[Cost of capital]] * [[Crisis theory]] * [[Culture of capitalism]] * [[History of theory of capitalism]] * [[Immiseration thesis]] * [[Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism]] {{col-break}} * [[Krisis Groupe]] * [[Labor theory of value]] * [[Law of accumulation]] * [[Law of value]] * [[Marx's theory of alienation]] * [[Primitive accumulation of capital]] * [[Profit (economics)|Profit]] * [[Relations of production]] * [[Return on capital]] * [[Surplus labour]] * [[Surplus value]] * [[Valorisation]] * [[Value added]] {{col-break}} {{col-end}} == Online editions == *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm Capital, Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital] *[http://librivox.org/capital-volume-1-by-karl-marx/ ''Capital, Volume I''] in audio format, from [[LibriVox]]. *[http://books.google.com/books?id=afUtAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=capital+marx Capital, Volume I] 1906 edition, downloadable text and [[pdf]] from [[Google Books]] *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1885-c2/index.htm Capital, Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital] *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/index.htm Capital, Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole] *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1863/theories-surplus-value/ "Capital, Volume IV": Theories of Surplus Value] === Synopses === * [http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/ Reading Marx's Capital] -- Series of video lectures by professor [[David Harvey (geographer)|David Harvey]] *{{cite book |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Engels_Synopsis_of_Capital.pdf |title=Fredrick Engels' Synopsis of Capital |format=PDF |volume=I |pages=54 |year=1868 |publisher=Marxists }} (The first 4 parts (chapters) of the eventual 7 of Volume I) *{{cite book |url=http://www.workersliberty.org/system/files/fscache/FB/9B/FB9B4414 |title=Otto Ruhle's Abridgement of Karl Marx's Capital : A Critique of Political Economy |format=PDF |pages=48 |publisher=Workers' Liberty}} == Footnotes == {{reflist}} == Further reading == * [[Althusser, Louis]] and [[Balibar, Étienne]]. ''Reading Capital''. London: Verso, 2009. * [[Louis Althusser]] (1969) ''[http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpalthusser11.htm How to Read Marx's Capital]'' from ''[[Marxism Today]]'', October 1969, 302-305. Originally appeared (in French) in ''Humanité'' on April 21, 1969. * Bottomore, Tom, ed. ''A Dictionary of Marxist Thought''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. * [[Ben Fine|Fine, Ben]]. ''Marx's Capital.'' 5th ed. London: Pluto, 2010. * [[David Harvey (geographer)|Harvey, David]]. ''A Companion to Marx's Capital.'' London: Verso, 2010. * Harvey, David. ''The Limits of Capital''. London: Verso, 2006. * [[Ernest Mandel|Mandel, Ernest]]. ''Marxist Economic Theory''. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970. * ''Capital: An Abridged Edition'', Karl Marx (Author), David McLellan (Editor), 2008, Oxford Paperbacks; Abridged edition, Oxford, UK. ISBN 978-0-199535-70-5 * [[Postone, Moishe]]. ''Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory.'' Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1993. * Shipside, Steve. '' Karl Marx's Das Kapital: A Modern-day Interpretation of a True Classic''. Oxford: Infinite Ideas, 2009. ISBN 978-1-906821-04-3 * Wheen, Francis. ''Marx's Das Kapital--A Biography''. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0802143945. == External links == {{commons|Das Kapital|Das Kapital}} {{Wikisource|Das Kapital}} *[http://www.econ.utah.edu/ehrbar/akmc.htm Annotations, Explanations and Clarifications to Capital]. Will help with understanding the early concepts. *[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm Wage Labour and Capital]. An earlier document that deals with many of the ideas later expanded in Das Kapital. *[http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=11076 First in a series of accessible columns on Capital] by Joseph Choonara in [[Socialist Worker]] * [http://davidharvey.org Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey] A university open course, consisting of a close reading of the text of Marx's Capital Volume I in 13 video lectures. {{Marx/Engels}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapital, Das}} [[Category:1867 books]] [[Category:1885 books]] [[Category:1894 books]] [[Category:Books about capitalism]] [[Category:Economics books]] [[Category:Marxism]] [[Category:Political books]] [[Category:Communist books]] [[Category:Books by Karl Marx]] [[Category:Books in political philosophy]] [[ar:رأس المال (كتاب)]] [[ast:El capital]] [[bn:ডাস কাপিটাল]] [[zh-min-nan:Chu-pún-lūn]] [[bg:Капиталът]] [[ca:El capital]] [[cs:Kapitál (kniha)]] [[cy:Das Kapital]] [[da:Kapitalen]] [[de:Das Kapital]] [[es:El capital]] [[eo:La Kapitalo]] [[fa:سرمایه (کتاب)]] [[fr:Le Capital]] [[gl:Das Kapital]] [[ko:자본론]] [[hi:दास कैपिटल]] [[hsb:Das Kapital]] [[hr:Kapital (knjiga)]] [[id:Das Kapital]] [[it:Il Capitale]] [[he:הקפיטל]] [[ku:Kapîtal]] [[lt:Kapitalas (knyga)]] [[hu:A tőke]] [[ml:മൂലധനം (ഗ്രന്ഥം)]] [[arz:كتاب راس المال]] [[ro:Das Kapital]] [[nl:Het Kapitaal]] [[ja:資本論]] [[no:Das Kapital]] [[nn:Das Kapital]] [[pl:Kapitał (Marks)]] [[pt:O Capital]] [[ru:Капитал (Маркс)]] [[sq:Das Kapital]] [[sl:Kapital (knjiga)]] [[sr:Kapital (knjiga)]] [[sh:Das Kapital]] [[fi:Pääoma (Marx)]] [[sv:Kapitalet]] [[ta:மூலதனம் (நூல்)]] [[th:ทุน (หนังสือ)]] [[tr:Das Kapital]] [[uk:Капітал (книга)]] [[vi:Tư bản (tác phẩm)]] [[zh:资本论]]'