Capital (Das Kapital)

Capital (Das Kapital)
Name	Capital (Das Kapital)
Caption	First edition title page
Author	Karl Marx
Country	Prussia
Language	German
Subject	Political economy
Publisher	Verlag von Otto Meissner
Pub date	1867–1894
Media type	Print
Pages	Various

Capital (Das Kapital) is a foundational work of political economy and critique authored by Karl Marx that analyzes the capitalist mode of production through modes of value, surplus extraction, and class relations. Written in German during the Industrial Revolution in Europe, it engages with predecessors and contemporaries such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Engels, and institutions like the British Museum where Marx conducted research. The work influenced movements and thinkers including Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Mao Zedong, and organizations such as the Second International and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Background and Composition

Marx developed the manuscript while in exile in London, drawing on archival materials from places like the British Library and correspondences with figures such as Friedrich Engels, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Karl Kautsky, and Joseph Weydemeyer. Influences include classical political economists Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and critics like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Søren Kierkegaard in their cultural contexts; philosophical roots trace to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach. Marx exchanged drafts with associates in networks spanning Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and Manchester, reacting to events like the Revolutions of 1848 and institutions such as the Prussian Secret Police. The composition process extended across decades, interrupted by political trials, expulsions from France and expulsions from Belgium, and sustained by patrons and publishers including Friedrich Engels and Otto Meissner.

Structure and Content of the Volumes

The work appears across multiple volumes: Volume I (1867) published in Hamburg by Otto Meissner during Marx's lifetime; Volumes II and III prepared posthumously by Friedrich Engels and published in 1885 and 1894 respectively. The content engages categories such as commodity, money, capital, circulation, production, and crises, with analytical moves borrowing from texts like Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Marx addresses historical instances involving industrial centers such as Manchester, Birmingham, Liège, Essen, and financial capitals like London and Paris, while referencing legislation and events including the Factory Acts, the Corn Laws, the Chartist movement, and the American Civil War. Later editions and appendix materials interact with publications like the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and periodicals such as Die Presse and Vorwärts.

Key Concepts and Theoretical Contributions

Marx formulates the labour theory of value building on Adam Smith and David Ricardo; central notions include commodity fetishism, use-value and exchange-value, surplus value, constant capital, variable capital, and the accumulation of capital. He develops theory about the reserve army of labour using empirical cases from industrial towns like Leicester, Bradford, and Glasgow, and examines crises of overproduction with reference to events like the Panic of 1873 and cycles observed in Great Britain and France. Marx engages concepts from philosophers and economists including Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Engels, Charles Darwin, Thomas Malthus, and John Stuart Mill to articulate class struggle, proletariat, bourgeoisie, and historical materialism. The work influenced later theoretical projects by Vladimir Lenin in Imperialism studies, Rosa Luxemburg in Accumulation of Capital, and György Lukács in reification analyses.

Publication History and Editions

Volume I appeared in 1867 in Hamburg; Marx prepared later German editions revising text with publishers and printers in Leipzig and Berlin. After Marx's death, Friedrich Engels edited Volumes II and III from Marx's Nachlass, publishing in 1885 and 1894 respectively, with editorial decisions later critiqued by editors such as David Riazanov at the Marx–Engels Institute in Moscow. Twentieth-century translations and editions include the Progress Publishers Russian editions, the International Publishers English translations by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling with editorial intervention by Friedrich Engels, and later annotated editions by scholars like David McLellan, Terrell Carver, Joseph O'Malley, and Siegbert Salomon Prawer. National responses produced editions in France, Italy, Spain, United States, Japan, and China, with state-sponsored printings in Soviet Union and People's Republic of China.

Reception and Influence

Reactions ranged from praise in socialist circles including the First International and Second International to criticism by liberal thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and conservative commentators in Prussia and United Kingdom. Political leaders and movements citing Marx include Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Salvador Allende; intellectuals like Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, Werner Sombart, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and Herbert Marcuse engaged critically. The book informed policies and debates in institutions such as the Soviet Union, Weimar Republic, People's Republic of China, trade unions like the Trades Union Congress, and parties including the Socialist Party of America and Communist Party of France. Cultural and academic receptions involved venues such as Cambridge University, University of Oxford, Humboldt University of Berlin, and journals including Monthly Review and New Left Review.

Criticisms and Debates

Critiques arose from classical economists like Alfred Marshall and William Stanley Jevons contesting the labour theory of value, from marginalists in Vienna and Cambridge School, and from revisionists such as Eduard Bernstein within socialist movements. Debates include the transformation problem addressed by scholars like Piero Sraffa, Paul Sweezy, Ian Steedman, Michael Heinrich, and John Roemer, and methodological disputes with Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter over historical and statistical approaches. Political critiques emerged during the Cold War involving Cold War adversaries and defenders in Prague, Budapest, and Berlin; contemporary assessments by economists and scholars include contributions from David Harvey, Erik Olin Wright, Nancy Fraser, Fredric Jameson, and Saskia Sassen.

Category:Works by Karl Marx