The Marx-Engels Reader

[anticap]

Does anyone have this book (http://www.amazon.com/Marx-Engels-Reader-Second-Karl-Marx/dp/039309040X/), edited by Robert C. Tucker? I ask because, according to the table of contents (click "Look Inside!"), volume one of Capital is covered in only 145 pages. I'm wondering how Tucker manages that bit of magic.

[Sir Comradical]

It's pretty good. It's like a greatest hits album.

[anticap]

It's pretty good. It's like a greatest hits album.

But what about my real question? How does Tucker manage to reduce Capital to 145 pages? What aspects does he cover in that space?

[Sir Comradical]

But what about my real question? How does Tucker manage to reduce Capital to 145 pages? What aspects does he cover in that space?

Ask Niccolo Rossi, I borrowed it from him.

[Niccolò Rossi]

Ask Niccolo Rossi, I borrowed it from him.

Haha, you read it though, didn't you?


volume one of Capital is covered in only 145 pages. I'm wondering how Tucker manages that bit of magic.

I can assure you it's not by using very very small text. It's simply a matter of abridging the text. Well, abridge isn't really the right word. It's basically just a series of quotes (some longer than others).

If your looking at buying the book, I wouldn't buy it for the abridged version of Capital. Capital is a work that stands on its own. You have to read it beginning to end. When you do it really is a wonderful experience! Not to say that if you do pick up a copy of Tucker's book you shouldn't read the Capital excerpts, in fact if you read them before you go on to read Capital as a whole you might even find it a tad easier. I sure did.

Nic.

[Sir Comradical]

Haha, you read it though, didn't you?

I went through the parts of Capital mentioned by David Harvey in his audio lectures. I have a decent understanding of it now. The stuff on alienation was fantastic, I liked that the most.

[RED DAVE]

Is Capital available on Twitter?

RED DAVE

[anticap]

I can assure you it's not by using very very small text. It's simply a matter of abridging the text. Well, abridge isn't really the right word. It's basically just a series of quotes (some longer than others).

Thanks. I wondered if it might be something along those lines, or whether he simply included the first few chapters, or something else.


If your looking at buying the book, I wouldn't buy it for the abridged version of Capital. Capital is a work that stands on its own. You have to read it beginning to end. When you do it really is a wonderful experience!

I'm familiar with Capital (though I can't claim to have a firm grasp of it all), and I agree with you. I'm only looking at Tucker's book as something to bring along when I may be bored for extended periods (as on trips). I was hoping the section on Capital would more substantially cover the salient points, so that I might dwell on them further during those periods. But it sounds like he essentially glossed over what is for me Marx's most important work, which I find strange enough that I'll probably skip it.

I am looking for something of an abridged version, though, despite your generally accurate statement about abridged versions (I remember skimming through one at the library that was so bad that I suspected that it was done by anti-Marxists). David Harvey's new Companion to Marx's Capital (http://www.amazon.com/Companion-Marxs-Capital-David-Harvey/dp/1844673596/), which is basically his lectures (http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/) in text form, sounds like it might serve my purposes.


Is Capital available on Twitter?

RED DAVE

:lol:

[Niccolò Rossi]

Thanks. I wondered if it might be something along those lines, or whether he simply included the first few chapters, or something else.

I think most of Chapter 1, 2 and 3 are included. Along with the stuff on the working day and other bits of interest.


I'm only looking at Tucker's book as something to bring along when I may be bored for extended periods (as on trips).In that case it is a good buy. I found the book an important element in my political maturation at the time I read it. Alot of Marx is very profound, including Capital and the 1844 Manuscripts.


But it sounds like he essentially glossed over what is for me Marx's most important work, which I find strange enough that I'll probably skip it.Well, Capital is a very big book you know, its as long as Tucker's reader itself! If you buy the book, I recommend you read the excerpts of Capital. I think it helped me alot when I read Capital itself. Alot of people struggle with the first three chapters and give up whilst reading them. On the other hand, I found them riviting.


I am looking for something of an abridged version, though, despite your generally accurate statement about abridged versions (I remember skimming through one at the library that was so bad that I suspected that it was done by anti-Marxists). David Harvey's new Companion to Marx's Capital (http://www.amazon.com/Companion-Marxs-Capital-David-Harvey/dp/1844673596/), which is basically his lectures (http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/) in text form, sounds like it might serve my purposes.I didn't like Harvey's lecturers actually. I seem to be one of the few people. They are good in some respects. The early chapters. But as they go on they become really really pointless and a struggle to watch.

Again, Capital is an adventure of its own that really needs to be read in-full. Its alot of work but well worth it. Steer clear of abridged versions!

Nic.

[anticap]

I'm only looking at Tucker's book as something to bring along when I may be bored for extended periods (as on trips).

In that case it is a good buy.

In that case I think I'll grab it after all. Thanks again. :)

[mikelepore]

The table of contents says:
Capital, volume 1 - pages 294-438
Capital, volume 3 - pages 439-442

(Nothing from volume 2)

[anticap]

I know:


according to the table of contents (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039309040X/sofa-20/ref=nosim#reader_039309040X), volume one of Capital is covered in only 145 pages.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Reading Capital is about as interesting as reading the ingredients on a bottle of shampoo.

The edition I have was originally printed in the early 1930's. It was my grandmother's, and it includes an essay by Lenin and an introduction by Max Eastman (before he became a libertarian) that lambasts dialectics. It's pretty awesome, actually, and it comes in at about 300 pages altogether.

Honestly I've never felt the burning urge to complete my knowledge of Capital, despite it's status in the socialist world as a much-cited-but-seldom-read Holy Relic. I guess I probably just don't have the desire/willpower to wade through that much turgid economic prose.

[BAM]

Reading Capital is about as interesting as reading the ingredients on a bottle of shampoo.

The edition I have was originally printed in the early 1930's. It was my grandmother's, and it includes an essay by Lenin and an introduction by Max Eastman (before he became a libertarian) that lambasts dialectics. It's pretty awesome, actually, and it comes in at about 300 pages altogether.

Honestly I've never felt the burning urge to complete my knowledge of Capital, despite it's status in the socialist world as a much-cited-but-seldom-read Holy Relic. I guess I probably just don't have the desire/willpower to wade through that much turgid economic prose.

get the Penguin edition. It's a much better translation.

The first few chapters are dry and difficult, but just plough through them. It doesn't matter much if you understand it all there and then. There are some amazingly vivid chapters, eg., on machinery or the struggle over the working day in the English factories.

Marx was a hugely talented writer and once he gets going he's very rewarding.

[Niccolò Rossi]

Reading Capital is about as interesting as reading the ingredients on a bottle of shampoo.

[...]

I guess I probably just don't have the desire/willpower to wade through that much turgid economic prose.

Capital is a wonderful read. Most of Volume 2 and certain sections of Volume 1 (e.g. Chapter 10 and the working day) are turgid and a struggle to read, however Capital Volume 1 has more than it's fair share of poetry and wit.

[BAM]

Reading the Unreadable Marx (http://marxmyths.org/humphrey-mcqueen/article.htm) by Humphrey McQueen is a great essay extolling Marx's literary prowess.

[which doctor]

There's no doubt Capital is a really daunting read, and I think it should be. Its not just prose-poetry, but a really heavy book of theory. I don't think it makes a good beginner book, but if you're going to read it, you really need to do a disciplined study of it or else you're not going to get much out of it. In my opinion, one should make sure to re-read several times over Vol 1. Ch. 1. Sec. 4 on Commodity Fetishism, as this bit provides a *key* to understanding the rest of the book. And when reading Capital, one needs to understand that it is not merely a book on economics, but a dialectical understanding of one's social being under capitalism. Of course not everyone needs to read the book, but I think the nuanced understanding it provides is valuable.

[Axle]

I just got Capital along with the Marx-Engels Reader.

[anticap]

And then there's The Portable Karl Marx (http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Karl-Marx-Library/dp/014015096X/). Hmm...

[BAM]

And then there's The Portable Karl Marx (http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Karl-Marx-Library/dp/014015096X/). Hmm...

it's not bad, but the Tucker is better