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Das Kapital
Well, I'm looking into buying Das Kapital (all three volumes, yes I am going to be a busy boy) in the next couple of weeks, preferably before September, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend me a good translation of all the three volumes (in English, obviously)? So far I've found Penguin classics translations on Amazon Canada for C$54.00, that sounds like a great deal to me, and that's in their *new conditions. But I am still wondering if I can find easier translations because, well, I'm a newbie when it comes to Marxist literature, and I don't want to be ripped off if the books turn out to be not as good because they're hard to read.
Also, if anyone could give me a small summary to the books that'd be awesome, I just want to be prepared before I read this monster of a series.
I do have a list of books (check "My Reading List" in the literature section of the forums) that I am reading before this, so I hope I am ready to read it in the next few months.
*I don't like reading used books for some reason.. you don't know what people have done to them
I think you will find that, unfortunately, any summary of Das Kapital will be, if not wrong, then highly controversial to at least one group of Marxists. My reccomendation would simply be to read the books carefully and draw your own conclusions.
"From the relationship of estranged labor to private property it follows further that the emancipation of society from private property, etc., from servitude, is expressed in the political form of the emancipation of the workers; not that their emancipation alone is at stake, but because the emancipation of the workers contains universal human emancipation – and it contains this because the whole of human servitude is involved in the relation of the worker to production, and all relations of servitude are but modifications and consequences of this relation."
- Karl Marx -
Nope, Penguin is the best you're going to find. The translation's great, the editor's footnotes are very helpful, and Ernest Mandel's introductory essays are superb.Well, I'm looking into buying Das Kapital (all three volumes, yes I am going to be a busy boy
If they're hard to read it's just because, well, they're hard books. It's not like with Shakespeare where they produce entire sets of Marx that are rewritten to be very easy.
Don't forget to watch David Harvey's chapter-by-chapter video lectures as you read!
EDIT: If you're afraid you might really struggle with Capital, there are a number of reading guides for it available on Amazon and the Marxists Internet Archive.
Yes i agree with Zanthorus, i myself am going through Das Kapital. Just take MANY notes all i can say, read and reread bits you find hard. But im also finding out that things seem to make more sense as you go through it.
There are two groups i know of here on rev left that seem to be a little slow atm but i know there are people who still look into them.
Das Kapital Volume I group:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=324
Also a group for all volumes i think:
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=494
Maybe party uniforms would be an idea. When the Party marches into a town, it should look like a military occupation is on the way.
-Azula
^for proof all leftists are just roleplaying
Thanks for the recommendation.
I'll try to use David Harvey's lectures. Thank you for the information, I'll look into the reading guides.Nope, Penguin is the best you're going to find. The translation's great, the editor's footnotes are very helpful, and Ernest Mandel's introductory essays are superb.
If they're hard to read it's just because, well, they're hard books. It's not like with Shakespeare where they produce entire sets of Marx that are rewritten to be very easy.
Don't forget to watch David Harvey's chapter-by-chapter video lectures as you read!
EDIT: If you're afraid you might really struggle with Capital, there are a number of reading guides for it available on Amazon and the Marxists Internet Archive.
I already have 10 pieces of lined paper to make notes on! LOLI'll be rereading a lot, lol. Yeah, I figure by the 500th page it'll make a lot more sense to me, I hope.
Thanks for showing me those groups. I think you guys are going to be seeing me a lot in those groups. :P
Thanks so far for the recommendations guys!
Also, don't worry about summarizing the books.
Get a whole book filled with lined paper trust me, you should use all 10 pages on the first chapter, i know i did =P, well close to.I already have 10 pieces of lined paper to make notes on! LOL
Thanks for showing me those groups. I think you guys are going to be seeing me a lot in those groups. :P
Maybe party uniforms would be an idea. When the Party marches into a town, it should look like a military occupation is on the way.
-Azula
^for proof all leftists are just roleplaying
With Volume 1, it is advisable to purchase the 1990 Penguin Edition, translated by Ben Fowkes. As far as I am aware it is considered the most accurate translation when it comes to some of the more sensative concepts contained in the early chapters.
With Volume 2 and 3 I'm not aware of the different translations being so controversial. Buy what's cheap.
Also, remember you don't have to buy online. Look in used book stores. You can often find brilliant vintage copies published in China or the USSR for pennies.
Nic.
My own recommendations are a bit different, FWIW:
1. Don't worry about what edition you get.
2. As you read it, try and read some things not so "economics" orientated along with it-- like the historical analysis Marx does on city vs. countryside in the Grundrisse, and something on a era in history of where you can see the classes in motion-- like the history of Reconstruction post US Civil War, or the enclosures in 18th, 19th century England and dispossession of the population. Helps keep you grounded in the fact that these are really people acting with real economic necessities.
3. Take lots of notes-- see if in the daily reportings like in the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal you can find examples, demonstrations of what Marx is explaining.
4. Don't be afraid to NOT understand it the first, second, third, fourth time around.
"Marx's Kapital for beginners" is good for the finer points. We;re never going to win over the workers by expecting them to read a 3000 page economic text, I like having this very accessible book, with the actual Kapital to back it up.Well, I'm looking into buying Das Kapital (all three volumes, yes I am going to be a busy boy
Also, if anyone could give me a small summary to the books that'd be awesome, I just want to be prepared before I read this monster of a series.
I do have a list of books (check "My Reading List" in the literature section of the forums) that I am reading before this, so I hope I am ready to read it in the next few months.
*I don't like reading used books for some reason.. you don't know what people have done to them
"The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and getting stronger in their fight to overthrow the bourgeoisie and their accomplices, the educated classes, the lackeys of capital, who consider themselves the brains of the nation. In fact they are not its brains but its shit."
—Lenin
"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy."
—Albert Einstein
Yes, it seems like I will be getting the Penguin Editions, and they are very, very cheap where I am buying them from (Amazon Canada). Actually, my mother is the one buying me the books, since I've been working my butt off for the last 2 months to buy the books.
Problem with China and the USSR (Russia) is that I live in Canada, and I can't afford to fly over there. If you meant to go on Chinese and Russian websites than I could do that.
2. Yes, I am going to read things on Historical Materialism, and I am also planning to read the Communist Manifesto at the same time. I also will try to read Grundrisse.
3. I'll be taking a lot of notes.
OK, I'll try to go on those websites, if I have time. ;P
4. I think I'll understand after awhile.
I may read Marx's Kapital for Beginners today. So I can at least get ready.
Thanks guys!
Previously known as MarceauWorkers of All Countries, Unite!
I got an even bigger surprise (from my mother). She said she'll also buy me the Communist Manifesto, instead of reading it on the internet.
Best damn presents of my life!
Previously known as Marceau
This is by far the best advice. There is also a small pamphlet that's been turned into a book called Introduction to Marxist Economic Thought by Ernest Mandel too. A good little Cliff Notes.Nope, Penguin is the best you're going to find. The translation's great, the editor's footnotes are very helpful, and Ernest Mandel's introductory essays are superb.
If they're hard to read it's just because, well, they're hard books. It's not like with Shakespeare where they produce entire sets of Marx that are rewritten to be very easy.
Don't forget to watch David Harvey's chapter-by-chapter video lectures as you read!
EDIT: If you're afraid you might really struggle with Capital, there are a number of reading guides for it available on Amazon and the Marxists Internet Archive.
GOOD BOOK: Chris Harman's A People's History of the World. It has the history of the human race, with side by side analysis of historical materialism in action and Anti systemic movements. My favorite part is his outlining of the development of fascism and the post October revolution europe
"The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and getting stronger in their fight to overthrow the bourgeoisie and their accomplices, the educated classes, the lackeys of capital, who consider themselves the brains of the nation. In fact they are not its brains but its shit."
—Lenin
"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy."
—Albert Einstein
Engels' summary of Capital Vol. 1 is worth reading, too, because Engels' prose and line of thought are so much clearer and easier to digest than Marx's.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx...-syn/index.htm
My mother just bought the books.
It says I'll have to wait till AUG 31 or SEPT 9 though.Hey, at least it gives me time to read stuff that you guys have suggested.
EDIT: One last question. Is Das Kapital mainly based on criticizing Capitalist economics, or does Marx actually write how a Communist/Socialist economy would be run?
Last edited by Nikolay; 12th August 2010 at 02:36.
Previously known as Marceau
No, I dont mean fly over there, or use Russian or Chinese websites. What I meant was you can find English Language copies of Capital published in the USSR/China or by the 'official CPs' for very cheap in used bookstores. For example I've seen a 3 volume, hardcover edition of Capital (published 1972 IIRC), nearly perfect condition, white pages, no creases or wear to covers/spine for $50AU in a used book store in Glebe. Back in the day they were worth nothing though, they published them dirt cheap by the millions.
Nic.
I more or less agree with this. Don't read any exegeses, not Mandel, not Engels, not even the better works on Capital, until you have finished reading it. I tend to follow the method of Bernard Grebanier with Hamlet when it comes to these kinds of texts. Essentially, he had spent his first few years teaching Hamlet by generally quoting critics, and ended up having no real idea what Shakespeare was on about. Then, for the fourth year, "I explained by my classes my current dilemma and confessed frankly that I had no idea what the play actually said. I told my students that if we cooperated I thought we may discover what Shakespeare intended us to understand, provided we read Hamlet with no preconceptions." "George Bernard Shaw says that one of the troubles with mankind is that we are forever distressed to find that our pails contain dirty water, but that we never throw out the dirty water before dipping into the clear well."
As such, they read Hamlet as though they were all an audience at the first day's performance in Elizabethan London, having no idea about what would unfold, and speculated only on what had already been read, charting carefully what they had discovered thus far. As a result, the bloke suddenly found some clarification about what the play was trying to do.
The point of that somewhat overlong story being: read Marx first, then concern yourself with the others. It's really not all that complex, especially if you take some notes. Indeed, Marx states some of his fundamental ideas (concerning alienation and such) more explicitly in the second and third volumes than the first, as summaries of sorts.
I don't know how I feel about this, TBH, but I figured I'd mention it.
Louis Althusser, in his article "How to Read Marx's Capital," recommends reading some shorter texts first, then reading Capital in a particular order:
As you may have noticed, he never mentions Part VI. This may be a transcription error; in his preface to Capital he says:
So to sum up, his advice is to read in the following order:
1. Wage Labour and Capital
2. Engels's synopsis of Capital
3. Capital in the following order:
Part II (Chapters 4, 5, 6)
Part III (Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Part IV (Chapters 12, 13, 14, 15)
Part VI (Chapters 19, 20, 21, 22)
Part VII (Chapters 23, 24, 25)
Part VIII (Chapters 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
then go back and read Part I (Chapters 1, 2, 3)
and, finally (it is implied), Part V (Chapters 16, 17, 18)
4. Value, Price and Profit
His reasoning, given in the article, for following up with this much simpler text, is so that...
And then we can assume that Althusser would consider it "safe" to move on to Capital Volumes II and III.
Again, I don't know if it's worth following his advice or not, but I've seen it mentioned several times, so you ought to at least be made aware of it.
GL, HF
Free your mind, and your ass will follow. --George Clinton
Free your ass, and your mind will follow. --Karl Marx
My advice is to ignore all advice from Louis Althusser; to ignore Louis Althusser.
My other advice is to only listen to people who tell you not to take anyone's advice about reading "studies of" Capital, introductions to Capital, etc. Just start reading the work itself.
I still prefer the original Moore @aveling translation to the Fernbach.
