I have decided I need to read capital in it's entirety. How should I go about this? From what I have read it looks dry, difficult and of course long but simultaneously it is essential reading. Does anyone have any recommendations for guides or companions which shoe in as little of their own analysis as possible or are at least clear about when they are doing so?
I've heard some good things about David Harvey's comparisons but my trot friends react violently and I get the impression they may be right. Reading capital with said trot friends is not an option as they seem more concerned with converting me than actual discussion.
just read it, it's not that hard. reading commentary will inevitably skew your perception of it.
Samuel Foster
>>>/marx/7739
James Roberts
stay away from harvey, he literally denies that Marx believed in the LTV, and believes that the global south is imperialist on Britain
David Bell
If you feel intimidated start by wathing kapital101's "Law of Value" series on youtube. After that it is better to jump in and just power through it. Just read the whole thing through even if you have trouble with some things. You can always read it again for more depth
Zachary Howard
Why don't you just read the Manga version?
Nolan Kelly
Capital is a long and often dry work that will require serious time and energy to understand. But remember - the concepts themselves that Marx discusses are not overly complicated. Marx's arguments often seem difficult because he makes great efforts to explain each simple concept in a 3-dimensional way. This means that Marx might take 2-3 pages to discuss what is really only one key concept.
My advice is this: 1. Read a physical copy of the book. Either borrow from a library (if available) or better yet buy your own copy. You could probably find one in a used book store. Having a physical copy will make it much easier to flip through the pages, compare passages, and write your own notes in the margin.
2. Write notes to summarize each section as you read. This practice will force your mind to digest the information instead of simply skimming through the book without retaining anything.
3. If your version of the book has a long introduction by Ernest Mandel or another Marxist writer - skip it. The introduction isn't necessary and will just add time to your goal of finishing the book.
4. Marx uses a lot of terminology we don't see every day. It will probably be necessary for you to look up definitions as you read. marxists.org/glossary/frame.htm
4. Finally, if you're expecting some kind of grand political treatise describing a worker's revolution - this isn't it. Marx's Capital is his theory of capitalism and its "laws of motion." Capital is about capitalism as an economic system and that's pretty much it.
I don't get how the average worker who has thrown off his shades of false consciousness and wants to learn more theory can do this.
Leo Ward
Capital wasn't made with workers in mind. That's what the Commiefesto was for.
Jordan Butler
How do you know this? Much of it is written in very plain language, and Marx's footnotes provide extensive historical background that poorly educated people might not be aware of.
Matthew Bell
Looks like this is the road I will have to go down.
Are you serious?
That was my first introduction to the LTV, many years ago.
I would if I could.
Cheers for the advice. I plan to devote 6-8 weeks on volume one. And that's not at all what I was expecting. I haven't recently turned into a leftie,I've just been a lazy one and relied too much on others to analyse it for me.
funny how you can't refute it. and it's not my representation, it's Cockshott, John smith, Michael Roberts, and others all rightly calling Harvey out on his bullshit.
user, just dive in and start reading. Afterwards read all the companions and so on. Some things will be bougs etc., but will make more and more sense.
Ayden Lee
Stalin?!? I get that he's been slandered a lot but still. Stalin was v. bad. Does anybody who is not an ML think this is decent?
Jeremiah Bailey
Yes, it's good.
Bentley Bell
No, Stalin was good.
Dominic Bell
Stalin was the beginning of the end. He codified DIAMAT as a collection of religious text and afterwards only the people who could quote texts the best were appreciated - much like islamic clerics nowadays. His writing was mostly rubbish and his theory of socialism in a single state is what destroyed the possibility of an actual communist revolution on Earth.
Not a Trot, but even his writings are much better than uncle joe. One needs not to be a trot, to see Stalin's idiotic bullshit.
Marx's work is not a literal plan on how to make an utopia. It is a tool which you use for analyzing the situation you're in. It is meant to be criticized and developed, like Maksakovsky or Rubin or Pashunakis have done (two of them were purged for no reason)
Justin Allen
lol what did Stalin say or do that contradicts this you'd think if he was a utopian, he wouldn't see the need for purges
Jackson Thompson
He CODIFIED marx's, engel's and lenin's works into DIAMAT which was to become an untouchable collection of eternal wisdom and perfection. Any serious debate was dead and people were only competing in who can quote the "eternal masters" better.
Some brilliant minds (Rubin, Pashunakis) were purged by Stalin because they tried to develop marxism further.
Alexander Brooks
Dialectical and Historical Materialism is the core of Marxism, if you disagree you need to read Marx.
Stalin was against revisionist distortions, not additions or rational, fact-based criticism. While Marxism must of course keep up with the times, it is basically correct and unchallenged.
lol read Furr
Bullshit on many levels. People were vying to set the USSR on the right course, this necessarily meant they needed a deep understanding of Marxism and how to put it to use. Revisionism and opportunism are always a major threat to this, so extensively quoting Marx, Engels, and Lenin is a natural consequence of the need to combat them.
1. What was so great about their theory? 2. Prove that they were purged for their minor writings, and not for political actions and associations.
Isaiah Diaz
Yes. But marxism isn't a magical answer to life, meaning and everything else as people since Dühring, Kautsky and even Lenin to a point started to propagate.
David Gonzalez
nice strawman
Cameron Baker
DIAMAT is a strawman? An end to debate is a strawman? Ok, ☭TANKIE☭, whatever rock your prostate.
