NEXT SESSION IS SUNDAY, MARCH 24 @ 1PM (CHAPTERS 15–18)
ABOUT karl marx’s Capital Vol. I
Karl Marx, a German philosopher, economist, and life-long revolutionary is perhaps the most influential political writer of the nineteenth century. Born on 5 May, 1818, in Trier, Marx earned his Ph.D. at Jena in 1841. Rather than enter the academy, Marx first undertook a career in journalism, ultimately joining forces with his life-long collaborator Friedrich Engels to publish works of criticism. While Marx wrote on politics and philosophy, he also undertook a thorough study of political economy, including the works of English classical liberal economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo, as well as French physiocrats, such as Francois Quesnay. This research, on which Marx endeavored for more than a decade, produced Marx’s magnum opus: the first volume of Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. (also known by its German name, Das Kapital). Volume I, first published 14 September 1867, is the first of three planned treatises that would make up the complete work. Unfortunately, it was the only piece of the full work to be published during Marx's life. It focuses on the method or mode of production of goods in capitalist society and how that mode shapes capitalist society.
Marx begins with an exploration of the commodity as an a priori foundation of production and exchange, and reviews thoroughly the precepts of classical political economy, including the nature of value and money. Marx defends and expands upon the labor theory of value as advanced by Smith and Ricardo. From this starting point, Marx explores the concept of “surplus value” (the value of a finished commodity minus the cost of production) and argues that the seemingly “pure” economic relations of capitalist production allow the owning class to benefit from investment in the productive process and the extraction of surplus value from workers. Through an exploration of the interests of workers and owners in general, as classes of society, Marx concludes that the economic relations between classes, of social production and reproduction, are in fact the source of nearly all social life under capitalism.
First edition title page of Volume I (1867).
UPCOMING SESSIONS
session 6 (chapterS 15–18)
Date and Time:
Sunday, March 24 at 1pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Chapter 15 Questions to Consider:
Coming soon!
Chapter 16 Questions to Consider:
Coming soon!
Chapter 17 Questions to Consider:
Coming soon!
Chapter 18 Questions to Consider:
Coming soon!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Reading Marx's Capital with David Harvey (YouTube video series)
Reading Capital Politically (The University of Texas at Austin)
A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics by Hadas Thier
A World to Win: Marxism 101 with Hadas Thier (Jacobin Radio Podcast)
A People’s Guide to Capitalism with Hadas Thier (Upstream Podcast)
Marxist.com Study Guide
Marxist.org Study Guide
“Why Marx’s Capital Still Matters” (Jacobin Magazine)
PAST SESSIONS
session 1 (Chapter 1)
Date and Time:
Saturday, August 26 at 1pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Questions to Consider:
What are commodities? What are not commodities? What are the use-values? What are the exchange values? Do you think they are they related? Why or why not?
Is abstract labor a meaningful concept? Is all labor of the same quality or intensity?
Do things actually have value? Is that value related to its use-value?
How is labor a social act? Is it still a social act when a person works alone? How do individual workers relate to each other in the marketplace?
Is capitalism a religion?
session 2 (ChapterS 2 & 3)
Date and Time: Saturday, September 23 at 1pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Chapter 2 Questions to Consider:
(pg. 179) “All commodities are non-use-values for their owners, and use-values for their non-owners. Consequently, they must all change hands.” Is this true? Can we think of any exceptions?
What does Marx mean by “alienable” and “alienation” on pg. 182? What does he say is a necessary requisite for this? Is this logically sound?
Consider the section (pg. 182), “But this relationship of reciprocal isolation…purely by chance.” Are these assertions historically accurate? Are these claims logically supported? Why or why not? If not, is the validity of the following section, “They become exchangeable through…at definite magnitudes,” undermined? Why or why not?
Similarly on pg. 183, “Men…have never done this with the land and soil. Such an idea could only arise in a bourgeois society, and one which was already well-developed.” Is this historically accurate? Does its accuracy or lack thereof make a difference to the validity of Marx’s point in bringing this up about the land and soil? Why did he mention this exceptionality of land and soil? What is the significance?
What does Marx say is the relationship between the value of money and labor-time? (pg. 186)
What does Marx mean by “atomistic”? (pg. 187)
What are your thoughts on what he calls “the magic of money”? (pg. 187)
“Their [people’s] own relations of production therefore assume a material shape which is independent of their control and their conscious individual action.” Why is this significant? Is a lack of consciousness negative, neutral, or positive? Why?
Chapter 3 Questions to Consider:
Coming Soon!
session 3 (chapterS 4–7)
Date and Time:
Saturday, October 21 at 1:30pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Chapter 4 Questions to Consider:
The major theme of ch. 4 is the differences between MCM vs. CMC. What differences does Marx highlight between these paths? What about MCM’?
How does Marx define surplus value and how does he relate it to the capital equation mentioned above?
On pg. 253, footnote 6, Marx references Aristotles observation that people confuse economics (i.e. living a comfortable life) with ‘chrematistics’ or the art of making money. Do you think people still confuse these two ideas today? If so, why?
How does Marx differentiate between a miser vs. a capitalist?
What did Marx mean by the phrase, “capital is money, capital is commodities”? (pg. 255)
Chapter 5 Questions to Consider:
Why does changing the order of sale and purchase (a difference between CMC and MCM’) not result in the formation of surplus value?
What is exchange, fundamentally? Does the process of exchange produce surplus value?
Does the reality of arbitrage-that sometimes you can sell a product for more than you bought it for, without any productive input- invalidate what Marx is saying?
Can the circulation of commodities explain merchants capital or usurers capital? Why is usurers capital so hated?
How does Marx explore the contradictions inherent to the basic formula of capital? Give one example of this from the chapter.
Chapter 6 Questions to Consider:
Coming Soon!
Chapter 7 Questions to Consider:
How does Marx define labor? What is the difference between human and animal labor? (Page 283 and 284)
What does Marx say are the 'simple' elements of labor? (page 284)
How does the capitalist approach the labor process i.e what are the two main characteritics when labor-power is consumed by capitalists? (Page 291)
Where does surplus value come from? Hint: It has to do with the fact that the cost to maintain labor-power ≠ the labor-power expenditure in work.
session 4 (chapterS 8–10)
Date and Time:
Sunday, December 3 at 1pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Chapter 8 Questions to Consider:
What does Marx mean by "constant capital" and "variable capital”? What is the difference between them and why are these concepts crucial in his analysis of capitalism?
How does Marx describe the relationship between the value of labor power and the value created by the worker in this chapter?
Chapter 8 introduces the concept of surplus value. How does Marx's analysis of surplus value help us understand the profits generated by capitalist enterprises today? Are there modern examples that reflect this dynamic?
Chapter 9 Questions to Consider:
In Chapter 9, Marx explores the concept of the rate of surplus value. How does it differ from the rate of profit? What are the key factors that determine the rate of surplus value in contemporary capitalism? How do these factors impact workers and capitalists differently?
How do factors like technology, particularly automation and Artificial Intelligence, impact the rate of surplus value?
Chapter 9 also delves into the impact of working conditions on the health and well-being of workers. How do modern labor practices, such as precarious employment and gig work, relate to Marx's critique of working conditions in the 19th century?
Chapter 10 Questions to Consider:
Chapter 10 discusses the "working day of the industrial capitalist" and the role of the capitalist in the production process. How does this chapter shed light on the role of management and ownership in modern corporations? What are the parallels and differences between the capitalist of Marx's time and the contemporary business owner or executive?
Marx talks about the contradictions and tensions within capitalism. How do you see these contradictions playing out in contemporary society, particularly in relation to income inequality, economic crises, and the environment?
Consider the concept of alienation in the context of the working day, as Marx describes it. How do workers today experience or combat alienation in their jobs?
session 5 (chapterS 11–14)
Date and Time:
Sunday, January 28 at 1pm
Location: 900 S. Shelby St.
Virtual option available by request.
Chapter 11 Questions to Consider:
How are the First, Second, and Third Laws explained in this chapter?
Chapter 12 Questions to Consider:
How does Marx define the productivity of labor? How does its increase cause a decrease in the per unit value of products?
What are the motives for the individual capitalist to introduce technological change that increases productivity?
Why don't increases in productivity result in decreases in the working day for workers?
Chapter 13 Questions to Consider:
In what sense is co-operation the "fundamental form" of the capitalist mode of production?
What does Marx mean by the "average social labor time"? How can it be measured?
What happens to the costs of supervision as workers organize and struggle?
Chapter 14 Questions to Consider:
What is the impact of specialization in manufacturing on the tools used by workers and how does this pave the way for the rise of machinery?
What are the technical origins of the wage hierarchy? How does Marx explain this in terms of the value of labor power?
What is the source of workers' power during the period of manufacture and why is capital "constantly compelled to wrestle with the insubordination of the workers"?