Reading Capital Politically

[Os Cangaceiros]

Reading Capital Politically, by Harry Cleaver.

Is it good? Or is it shit?

[volatesta]

Hi there, sorry for the late reply.

The book in question is worth getting and engaging with critically. The actual book is fairly short and made up of two main parts. There is the introduction which is almost half the text itself, followed by Cleaver's exposition of the first couple of chapters of Capital.

The book is worth getting for the introduction alone. Throughout the introduction Cleaver states his position in reference to many different theorists and tendencies. Some of the main points he argues are that the Labor Theory of Value is a theory of capitalist relations. It leads to an interpretation that Capitalism is understood as a system which attempts to subordinate as many people, for as long as it is possible, to work. Capital is to be understood as a social relation in which work is imposed, and therefore the refusal of work is an important strategy in class struggle. Another position Cleaver argues for is that students, housewives, and the unemployed are all parts of the working class. Following this he argues that each segment of the working class can act independently from other segments, and be a catalyst to crisis.

In the introduction he traces the history and development of different interpretations of Marx. He puts his reading in opposition to both economic and philosophical readings of Marx. This opposition is a central thread of the whole text. After the introduction, Cleaver sets to analyze the crisis in the late 60's and the 70's in terms of categories of the first couple of chapters of Capital. In doing so he provides a reinterpretation of them as categories of class relations .

It is a kind of reading that we should be doing a lot more of. The text itself is very readable. There are some highly abstract and theoretical parts that require a little extra effort to grasp, but overall the work is concrete and the arguments easy to follow. All in all, I highly recommend this work. It is excellent.

[Junius]

Hi,

The text is available online in a PDF file. Google 'Reading Capital Politically.'

Also, the rest of the chapters are available at libcom.

On the text itself, I have not read it so I cannot comment. I believe that Cleaver comes from the autonomist tradition - although I may be wrong about this - so some comrades have criticized his interpretation. Personally, I think it is better to read Capital by itself, without study or interpretative texts, since I think that what Marx says it not particularly complex, just demands close attention.

Good luck.