Capital: Volume 1

A Critique of Political Economy (Penguin Classics)

by

1152 pages

Published May 5, 1992 by Penguin Classics.

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5 stars (1 review)

One of the most notorious and influential works of modern times, Capital is an incisive critique of private property and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging knowledge of its society to support his analysis. Arguing that capitalism would cause an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the working class'.

2 editions

reviewed Capital: Volume 1 by Karl Marx

Review of 'Capital: Volume 1' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Obligatory 5 stars because how could I not?

Very, very detailed and data-driven, plus humanistic. Will need to reread several times to fully grasp (especially by audio, where it’s especially hard to tell when one is in a footnote or not).

Makes it abundantly clear, though: there is no profit possible without worker exploitation, due to power differentials of the capitalist (owning means of production) versus the workers (possessing only their labor to sell).
And there is no economic activity without profit. And there is little human life without economic activity, meaning this exploitation is an undercurrent to nearly everything.

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