Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)

by Karl Marx

Paperback, 1992

Status

Available

Call number

335.41

Series

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (1)

Genres

Tags

Series - Penguin Classics, Communism, Capitalism, Marxism, Economics, Labor, Economic theory, Political theory, Political criticism, Literary criticism, Socialism, Person - Karl Marx, 19th Century

Collection

Penguin Classics

Original publication date

1867

Publication

Penguin Classics (1992), Edition: Reprint, 1152 pages

Description

Perhaps one of the most infamous works of the modern world, Capital is the German treatise on political economy by Karl Marx that critically analyzes capitalism. First published in 1867 as the beginning of an ambitious but unfinished six-volume series, this work extensively attempts to expose and explain the capitalist mode of production and the class struggles embedded within it. Capital was written while Marx was exiled in England, and many of the examples he uses to illustrate private property and its social relations are derived from his time there. Ultimately, this work argues that capitalism would create a divide between wealth and well-being, and the solution was the replacement of capitalism with a system of common possession for all concerned in the means of production. Marx's work gained wide readership in a very short span of time, proving highly influential in Russia, Germany, and eventually the entire world.… (more)

Subjects

Awards

Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List (30 — 2009)

Original language

German

Language

English

ISBN

0140445684 / 9780140445688

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User reviews

LibraryThing member futuresmkt
It/He becomes more germane by the day.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This was one of many books I read as part of my education n economic history. In it Marx describes his economic point of view which, surprising to me at the time, agreed with Adam Smith on at least one point. They both shared the "labor theory of value" which simply put argues that the value or
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 cost of an item is based on the amount of labor necessary to produce it. This was supplanted by the subjective theory of value in the nineteenth-century which argues that the value of any item is determined by the value the consumer is willing to place on it. This in turn is interrelated with the scarcity of the item. Beyond this similarity the views of Marx departed from those of Smith. I was not impressed with theses views on my first reading in college and subsequent reading reaffirmed the arbitrariness and contradictory nature of much of Marx's work.
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LibraryThing member cw2016
Beginning with a broad discussion of commodities and their place in capitalist economies, this controversial work by Karl Marx goes on to analyze the Western economic and political systems, while providing a commentary on the nature of value, the role of the working class, and the centrality of the
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 importance of the liberation of humanity from the oppressive class distinctions which Marx sees in the concept of capitalism.
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LibraryThing member RajivC
I am not an economist, so this should be the start of my critique. I cannot comment on the economic points made in the book.

Having said that, I must say that this is a book of extreme erudition, and the arguments are well marshalled. It is quite amazing to see how many people today, who claim to
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 be Marxists, actually know almost nothing of what has been written by him.

Now, the odd thing, is that what he writes about workers in the 1800's is something I have seen in many markets today. The effect of rampant capitalism on 'colonial markets' is documented by him, and is practised today, albeit in a more subtle form. This is amazing, as an insight.

It is indeed a book for today as well.

The essays on work conditions, the wage issues, and the link to capitalists is amazing. That a worker actually loans his time to a company is a perspective that had not occurred to me until I read the book.
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LibraryThing member b.masonjudy
My summer reading project, though I neglected to keep up with the David Harvey lectures I did work my way through Capital Vol. 1. What surprised me most was Marx's detailed accounts of lived experience of workers, visiting their homes, describing harrowing poverty, in his scathing and insightful
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 critique of capitalism. I felt that I was bearing witness to past injustice in a way that I didn't anticipate, although many of his critiques and insights about the degradation of the laborer are still so unfortunately pertinent.
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LibraryThing member Lapsus16
Still important today. It only takes a minute to extrapolate Marx's findings to today's reality.

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