Edit filter log

'{{Original research|date=October 2012}} {{About|the book|the album by [[Capital Inicial]]|Das Kapital (album)}} {{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 = }} Come join the Sixth International, the legion of my followers who will make a revolution while riding on our tri-cycles! Roland Ran+ce '''''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 is the precursor of the [[socialist]] [[mode of production]]. {{Marxism}} == Themes == {{Section OR|date=October 2012}} {{unreferenced section|date=October 2012}} 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 basic "cell-form" (trade unit) of a capitalist society, but capitalism is distinguished from other forms of production based on commodities in that here [[labour power]] becomes a commodity like any other. 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{{citation}}. * "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 a historical process, no one person could control or direct it, thereby creating a global complex of social connections among capitalists; {{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} 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. After two decades of economic study and preparatory work (especially regarding the theory of [[surplus value]]) the first volume appeared in 1867: ''The production process of capital''. After Marx's death in 1883, [[Friedrich Engels]] introduced, from manuscripts and the first volume; Volume II: ''The circulation process of capital'' in 1885; and Volume III: ''The overall process of capitalist production'' in 1894. These three volumes are collectively known as Das Kapital. == ''Capital: Critique of Political Economy'' == {{Expand section|date=July 2011}} === ''Capital Volume I'' === {{main|Capital, Volume I}} ''Capital, Volume I'' (1867) is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic flaws of the [[capitalist mode of production]], how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production, and of the [[class struggle]] rooted in the capitalist social relations of production. The first of three volumes of Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie (Capital: Critique of Political Economy) was published on 14 September 1867, dedicated to [[Wilhelm Wolff]], and was the sole volume published in Marx’s lifetime. === ''Capital Volume II'' === {{main|Capital, Volume II}} ''Capital, Volume II'', subtitled ''The Process of Circulation of Capital'', was prepared by [[Friedrich Engels]] from notes left by Karl Marx and published in 1885. It is divided into three parts: ''The Metamorphoses of Capital and Their Circuits'', ''The Turnover of Capital'', and ''The Reproduction and Circulation of the Aggregate Social Capital''. In Volume II, the main ideas behind the marketplace are to be found: how value and surplus-value are realized. Its dramatis personae, not so much the worker and the industrialist (as in Volume I), but rather the money owner (and money lender), the wholesale merchant, the trader and the entrepreneur or 'functioning capitalist.' Moreover, workers appear in Volume II, essentially as buyers of consumer goods and, therefore, as sellers of the commodity labour power, rather than producers of value and surplus-value (although, this latter quality, established in Volume I, remains the solid foundation on which the whole of the unfolding analysis is based). Reading Volume II is of monumental significance to understanding the theoretical construction of Marx's whole argument. Marx himself quite precisely clarified this place, in a letter sent to Engels on 30 April 1868: 'In Book 1. . . we content ourselves with the assumption that if in the self-expansion process €100 becomes €110, the latter will find already in existence in the market the elements into which it will change once more. But now we investigate the conditions under which these elements are found at hand, namely the social intertwining of the different capitals, of the component parts of capital and of revenue (= s).' This intertwining, conceived as a movement of commodities and of money, enabled Marx to work out at least the essential elements, if not the definitive form of a coherent theory of the trade cycle, based upon the inevitability of periodic disequilibrium between supply and demand under the capitalist mode of production (Mandel, 1978, Intro to Vol. II of Capital). Volume II of Capital has indeed been not only a 'sealed book', but also a forgotten one. To a large extent, it remains so to this very day. Part 3 is the point of departure for a [[topic]] given its Marxist treatment later in detail by, among others, [[Rosa Luxemburg]]. === ''Capital Volume III'' === {{main|Capital, Volume III}} ''Capital, Volume III'', subtitled ''The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole'', was prepared by Friedrich Engels from notes left by Karl Marx and published in 1894. It is in seven parts: # The conversion of Surplus Value into Profit and the rate of Surplus Value into the rate of Profit # Conversion of Profit into Average Profit # The Law of the [[Tendency of the rate of profit to fall|Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall]] # Conversion of Commodity Capital and Money Capital into Commercial Capital and Money-Dealing Capital (Merchant's Capital) # Division of Profit Into Interest and Profit of Enterprise, Interest Bearing Capital. # Transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground Rent. # Revenues and Their Sources The work is best known today for part 3, which in summary says that as the organic fixed capital requirements of production rise as a result of advancements in production generally, the [[rate of profit]] tends to fall. This result, which orthodox Marxists believe is a principal contradictory characteristic leading to an inevitable collapse of the capitalist order, was held by Marx and Engels to, as a result of various contradictions in the capitalist [[mode of production]], result in [[Crisis_theory|crises]] whose resolution necessitates the emergence of an entirely new mode of production as the culmination of the same historical dialectic that led to the emergence of capitalism from prior forms. == Intellectual influences == {{Unreferenced section|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]], [[Sismondi]] 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 (economics)|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|Karl Kautsky, editor 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 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> In the wake of the global economic collapse of 2008-9, Marx's Capital was purportedly in high demand in Germany.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7679758.stm Marx popular amid credit crunch. BBC News. Monday, 20 October 2008]</ref> In 2012, [http://www.redquillbooks.com/Home_Page.html Red Quill Books] released [http://www.redquillbooks.com/Capital_Manga.html "Capital: In Manga!"], a comic book version<ref>[http://www.redquillbooks.com/Capital_Manga.html Karl Marx . Capital: In Manga!] [Narrated and Illustrated by: Variety Artworks Translated by: Guy Yasko ] Ottawa: Red Quill Books, 2012 SBN: 978-1-926958-19-4 </ref> of Volume I which is an expanded English translation of the wildly successful<ref>Marx's 'Das Kapital' comic finds new fans in Japan. [http://www.japantoday.com/category/arts-culture/view/marxs-das-kapital-comic-finds-new-fans-in-japan Japan Today]. Dec. 23, 2008.</ref> 2008 Japanese pocket version "Das Kapital" [[Manga de Dokuha]].<ref>Manga de Dokuha 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manga_de_Dokuha</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). Eventually Marx's work was translated into all major languages. An English translation by Samuel Moore and [[Edward Aveling]] was reissued in the 1970s by [[Progress Publishers]] in Moscow; a more recent English translation was made by Ben Fowkes and David Fernbach (the Penguin edition). The definitive critical edition of Marx's works, "MEGA II" (''Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe''), includes ''Das Kapital'' in German (and French, for the first volume) and shows all the versions and alterations made to the text, plus a very extensive apparatus of footnotes and (cross-)references. == 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 == ===Volumes=== Capital, Volume I (1867); published in Marx’s lifetime: *''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm Capital, Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital]'', from [[Marxists Internet Archive]]. *''[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]]. Capital, Volume II (1885); manuscript not completed by Marx before his death in 1883; subsequently edited and published, by friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, as the work of Marx: *''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1885-c2/index.htm Capital, Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital]'', from [[Marxists Internet Archive]]. Capital, Volume III (1894); manuscript not completed by Marx before his death in 1883; subsequently edited and published, by friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, as the work of Marx: *''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/index.htm Capital, Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole]'', from [[Marxists Internet Archive]]. Capital, Volume IV (190?); critical history of theories of surplus value; manuscript written by Marx; partial edition edited and published, after Marx's death, by Karl Kautsky, as Theories of Surplus Value; other editions published later: *''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1863/theories-surplus-value/ Capital, Volume IV: Theories of Surplus Value]'', from [[Marxists Internet Archive]]. === 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 four parts (chapters) of the eventual seven 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. * Althusser, Louis (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. * [[Thomas Bottomore|Bottomore, Thomas]], 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'', Vols. 1 and 2. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970. * ''Capital: An Abridged Edition'', Karl Marx (Author), David McLellan (Editor), 2008, Oxford Paperbacks; Abridged edition, Oxford, UK. ISBN 978-0-19-953570-5 * [[Postone, Moishe]]. ''Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory.'' Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1993. * Variety Artworks. [http://www.redquillbooks.com/Capital_Manga.html ''Capital: In Manga!''] Ottawa: [http://www.redquillbooks.com/Home_Page.html Red Quill Books], 2012. ISBN 978-1-926958-19-4. * [[Francis Wheen|Wheen, Francis]]. ''Marx's Das Kapital--A Biography''. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8021-4394-5. == External links == {{Wikisource|Das Kapital}} {{commons|Das Kapital|Das Kapital}} * [http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpalthusser11.htm How to Read Marx's Capital]. By [[Louis Althusser]]. * [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm Wage Labour and Capital]. An earlier work by Marx that deals with many of the ideas later expanded in Das Kapital. * [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Engels_Synopsis_of_Capital.pdf Synopsis of Capital]. By [[Friedrich Engels]]. * [http://davidharvey.org Reading Marx’s Capital]. University open courses by [[David Harvey]]. * [http://www.workersliberty.org/system/files/fscache/FB/9B/FB9B4414 Abridgement of Karl Marx's Capital]. By [[Otto Rühle]] * [http://content.csbs.utah.edu/~ehrbar/akmc.htm Annotations, Explanations and Clarifications to Capital]. Will help with understanding the early concepts. * [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]] {{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:Unfinished books]] [[Category:Communist books]] [[Category:Books by Karl Marx]] [[Category:Books in political philosophy]] [[Category:Stage theories]] [[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]] [[eu:Das Kapital]] [[fa:سرمایه (کتاب)]] [[fr:Le Capital]] [[gl:Das Kapital]] [[ko:자본론]] [[hi:दास कैपिटल]] [[hsb:Das Kapital]] [[hr:Kapital (Marx)]] [[id:Das Kapital]] [[it:Il Capitale]] [[he:הקפיטל]] [[ku:Kapîtal]] [[lt:Kapitalas (knyga)]] [[hu:A tőke]] [[ml:മൂലധനം (ഗ്രന്ഥം)]] [[arz:كتاب راس المال]] [[nl:Het Kapitaal]] [[ja:資本論]] [[no:Das Kapital]] [[nn:Das Kapital]] [[pa:ਦਾਸ ਕੈਪੀਟਲ]] [[pl:Kapitał (Marks)]] [[pt:O Capital]] [[ro:Capitalul]] [[ru:Капитал (Маркс)]] [[sq:Das Kapital]] [[sl:Kapital (knjiga)]] [[ckb:سەرمایە (پەڕتووک)]] [[sr:Kapital (knjiga)]] [[sh:Das Kapital]] [[fi:Pääoma (Marx)]] [[sv:Kapitalet]] [[ta:மூலதனம் (நூல்)]] [[th:ทุน (หนังสือ)]] [[tr:Das Kapital]] [[uk:Капітал. Критика політичної економії]] [[vi:Tư bản (tác phẩm)]] [[zh:资本论]]'