Customer Reviews

Das Kapital

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I began reading "Capital" in 1982, and having begun from scratch to read Book One, with the famous Hegelian section on the nature of the commodity as the standard form of social wealth in capitalism - a section skipped by most Anglo-Saxon abridgers, who tend to treat Marx as only a "post-Ricardian", in Samuelson's (in)famous dictum - I should say that I fear any kind of abridgment done to this work.In my view, all abridgments tend to create a more palatable view of the work abridged, therefore skipping the most intersting and controversial passages. Better to read an abridgment than forswearing reading it altogether, but I would strongly recommend anyone interested in Marx to do as I've done and tackle the Penguin complete ed., not forgetting to begin with the huge and superb introductory essay by Ernest Mandel. It won't hurt you, as it will allow one to form his/her personal view. It may be somekind of snobbery from my part, given that I read such a difficult work in a translation not to my mother-language and aided by a lenghty commentary, but after so many years, I still think it paid.

The Gateway Edition of Capital is a great example right-wing capitalist economists distorting Marx for their own purposes. The introduction has a pro-capitalist bias, and substantial portions of the work have been cut out from this edition.

If you want to read Capital, Volume I, get the Penguin or Vintage edition, which is unabridged and has extensive footnotes.

As a student in Economics, I always engage in comparative analysis of Economics. Marxian Economics is generally presented as an early critique of classial economy, and a "difficult" one too. As to difficulty, it is not that unconscionably incomprehensible! There are many apsects of Marxian Economics that make a lot of sense (to me). True, Marx is most likely to be appealing to workers and below subsistence income earners, just as much as classical and neoclasscial economics is most likely to appeal to capital owners and free "marketeers". Not to forget Keynes who will garner support from those who prefer reasonable state intervention! So every school of thought has its own target and appeal. In this book, you will find basic concepts of labour theory of value (what determines the value of a commodity); monetary theory (the evolution of money); the Theory of Surplus Value (what is profit and how does it come about - to Marx, profit represents that portion of icome/value "improperly" appropriated by capital owners instead of accruing to workers. Since workers are the sole producers of goods from scratch to end, they should benefit from all income, or at least from most of it, as per Marxian argument); and lastly, the mechanism of production. Trust me, if you read Marxism with an open mind (and not with a bias attitude of it being revolutionary, inefficient, dictatorial and a threat), you will realize it has a very interesting, unique and relatively realistic method of explaning inequality and exploitation generally! Relative poverty does not exist exclusively in poor or so called "third-world" countries, even in UK, for example, there are relatively poor people (who for example cannot afford private schooling), despite its strong economy. As much as Communism/Socilaism is history, the ideas are still alive and very much interesting! Read it to enhance your understanding of this renowned work by Karl Marx!

When I ordered this edition to replace my dog-eared original copy I didn't
realize I would be getting the Readers' Digest version(complete with matching ideology). The introduction was a Milton Friedman travesty done
by the same individual who edited this edition(and eliminated anything that might place his paradigm in question...and it is VERY questionable).
I would strongly recommend the unedited(uncensored) version. I think Charles H. Kerr publishing still has it. Caveat Emptor!

As a loyal citizen of the United Kingdom, i must say, though this book has got to be one fo the most boring books i have ever read, it did bring some hope for me for the future. I remeber Orwell's words, "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever." I think that Das Kapital gave me more optomism and idealism for the future of our pitiful civilisation.

This review is limited by Amazon to 1,000 words. For Marx, that's about two sentences. I had been warned that Marx's prose is "difficult," but Holy Smokes I had no idea how difficult prose could get. Perhaps it's just the English translation, but this is one tough read.

Having said that, it is a fascinating book. It is easily one of the most influential books of modern times, and has influenced history to an outstanding degree. Moreover, it provides a critical insight into the thought of Marxist socialism in particular and anti-capitalists generally.

Kapital is as much a political work as an economic one, as it examines the then-current economic system within the then-current politcal context.

As an economic work, I believe it fails early in putting forth a theory of commodity value whereby a commodity is said to be "worth" the amount of labor that went into it. In truth, there is no rational basis for that belief - he mistakes cost with value. But it is an easy mistake to make and is frequently made even today by those who, rightly or wrongly, see workers who they believe are unfairly compensated.

From that flawed premise, he builds a theory of capital accumulation and allocation which, though also flawed, will similarly appeal to many. Finally, he calls for state appropration of capital from capitalists.

As a political work, it discusses labor and enterprise within the context of class struggle, as he sees a labor class struggling under the oppression of a capitalist class. It is this struggle - countless seemingly powerless workers fighting to survive in a society politically dominated by a few wealthy industrialists - which I believe Marx was really trying to solve.

Marx saw a change to state-controlled socialism to be the answer, which is why he wrote Das Kapital. Other observers might have found an answer in religious revival or elsewhere.

Marx is not the first - nor the last - to have many of the ideas put forth in this book. But he has certainly become an icon for those ideas. Through Kapital, he has influenced the course of history and affected the lives of many millions. The book is worth a read. Just don't expect it to be pleasant.

Marx's Kapital brings to climax the research programme of classical political economy by its throughgoing analysis of the contradictions inherent in capitalism. Marx's magnum opus shows capitalism to be a historically transitory system which arose from feudalism and which was to necessarily to give way to socialism. Marx set "understanding the laws of motion of capitalism" to be his task and he succeeded much better than many modern theorists.

I found myself, as we have endured a long and dismal recession, wondering just what exactly Marx had said about capitalism and what he didn't. Alas this is not the edition to find out. Published by Regnery, a noted right wing publishing house, this edition reminds me of the Monty Python routine about the Philosphy department of the University of Wallamaloo in Australia where the new professor is told that he can teach the ideas of the great socialist thinkers 'as long as you point out they were wrong". Which is what you told to think before reading this.

I'm not against abridgments per say - but in this case you really can't trust you're going to get an accurate feel of what Marx did say. It would be similar to reading a selection of the works of Martin Luther as edited by the head of the Roman Catholic Inquistion. The quote about removing details (i.e. the facts) that only Marx cared about raised a red flag in my mind.

The introdution features several standard right wing tropes, for example Marx wasn't really working class so his suport of them is not really authentic in a way I can't quite figure out. And as a bonus it features probbably the only postive sentances about the economic effects of Unions in the entire Regnery cataloge.

THIS IS AN ABRIDGED VERSION of Das Kaptial. It's cover is plastic-like and the entire thing comes off more like a toy than a book. I recommend getting a different one.

The editor of this volume claims that we must read Marx (and criticize him) because his philosophy is focused on who gets what economically, and ignores the 'spiritual' and human 'freedom,' which latter we're after. Unfortunately for this editor, Marx writes, in Capital volume III, that

"The realm of freedom really begins only where labour determined by necessity and external expediency ends; it lies by its very nature beyond the sphere of material production proper... freedom... can consist only in this, that socialized man... govern the human metabolism with nature in a rational way... but this always remains a realm of necessity. The true realm of freedom, the development of human powers as an end in itself, begins beyond it," pp 958-9.

That is to say, for Marx the key thing is freedom beyond the realm of material production or... the 'spiritual' and 'human freedom.' I understand that people feel free to criticize philosophers despite not knowing what they thought; but surely one should have read a book to the end before deciding to abridge it?