The difficult question facing Marx was: where does one begin in trying to analyse the seemingly chaotic capitalist system? After a number of different draft proposals for the structure of Capital, Marx eventually decided to begin by analysing the idea of the commodity, the production and exchange of which forms one of the main bases of the capitalist mode of production. There is no great barrier that separates Marxist economics from the economic analysis of those preceding Marx instead Marx, using the method of dialectical materialism, simply pointed out the limitations of the theories of the classical economists whilst providing a revolutionary explanation for the source of profit – the driving force behind capitalism. This task of providing a materialist explanation to the inner workings of capitalism was started by the classical economists Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and others and it is upon the work of these giants that Marx built his own analysis. The role of political economy, however, is to approach the capitalist system in a scientific manner – to make sense of capitalism by studying its historical development and thus outlining its general motion, tendencies, and dynamics. Like all previously unexplained phenomena in nature and society, therefore, the capitalist system initially confronts us as something mysterious and unfathomable as an omnipotent force, somehow existing above society, which imposes its laws upon us regardless of our will.

The commodityĬapitalism is a complex and chaotic system, composed of a great multitude of interacting processes, agents, and factors.

We begin with Volume One, Chapter One, in which Marx discusses the concept of the commodity and the question of value. To help guide readers through the pages of Capital, and to bring out the main themes and ideas contained within, we are publishing a series of articles that give a chapter by chapter analysis of this great Marxist classic. Through his writings in the three volumes of this magnum opus, Marx revolutionised our understanding of the capitalist system, uncovering and explaining its inner processes, emergent laws, and inherent contradictions.Ĭapital, however, remains a dense and difficult book to penetrate and absorb, particularly for those who are new to Marxist ideas and the dialectical method of Marxism. Karl Marx’s Capital is an undeniable masterpiece of political economy a work that is even more relevant today than at the time it was written. To help guide readers through the pages of Capital we are publishing a series of articles that give a chapter by chapter analysis of this great Marxist classic. Marx’s magnum opus, however, remains a dense and difficult book to penetrate and absorb. Karl Marx’s Capital is an undeniable masterpiece of political economy.

Capital volume 1