It would take six months or a year and at the end we just start over agin, so people can jump in at any point.
What do you think? This would be in addition to once-off bookclubs.
One thing I'm unsure of is do we do Volumes 1-3, or repeat 1? Or 1-4?
I'd be up for itImo repeating vol1 would be the best bet bc vol2 and vol3 are note-form Marx in places, basically un-edited and written before the publication of vol1.
Vol1 is also conveniently broken up into 10ish page chunks making for a much better book club experience.
We could also pick an abridged edition and do that at the b beginning of the year
Kapital is a complete work, any abridgement ruins it
(In less jovial terms; imho the work falls apart if it isn't read at least once from start to finish becausee Marx relies throughout on terms, concepts, ideas, he developed earlier on; and I don't trust abridgers to get all of those (esspecially the important footnotes like ch15 fn4))
I get it, but someone getting through all of abridged is still better than someone getting through one chapter of the source text.
If we have to pick one I recommend Borchardt's "The People's Marx" because each chapter directly cites where it's abridged from in the source text which means you can use it as a sort of teaser or cliffnotes.
Also a good chance for people to discuss the differences between the abridged text and the original text.
Julian's focus was to provide an overview of the source that allowed workers to quickly cross reference with the source which I think for an ongoing reading group would be helpful, as someone who comes in late and read discussions about the text in context of a book that's 300 pages rather than 3000
i would be down, i know myself enough that i will never read that behemoth outside of a club/ class.
same - i've tried a few times and it just hasn't worked out. i feel like being able to encourage each other and have those discussions as an incentive at the end of every section would be really helpful
I would love this. I agree vol 1 is the most book club friendly, but I also think vol 4 (theories of surplus value) is incredibly useful and not given enough attention outside of academia. It is Marx’s interpretation of classical political economy, by author, in terms of his own theory. This gives a load of insight how to avoid pitfalls of bourgeois thought which can be shockingly subtle. A book club on vol 4 could be split by author, maybe with further subdivisions for each Smith and Ricardo.
You could just read Capital volumes 1 and 4 and get a really good idea how to fill in the blanks of 2&3.
Critique of the Gotha Program is also essential reading that could be done as an intermission or concurrently with Capital.
kinda half-read vol. I for a class when i was a baby leftist, most of it went over my head. a book club might be the kick in the ass i need to get thru it for real
I think it would be fun! I been wanting to read Das Kapital with others, esp. because like I have some trouble understanding some of the things that Marx is trying to say? Also there four volumes of Das Kapital? I thought there was only three
Yeah there's four volumes:
Volume One published 1867 and revised three times before Marx's death. This is the one Marx expected people to read and is edited for readability, clarity, consistency, style, etc. This is the best book ever written by anyone ever.
Volumes two and three were published after Marx's death, by Engels. They are edited mostly from a single manuscript each iirc, both written before the publication of volume one. These ones are not ones Marx expected people to read, and it is barely edited at all (and not edited for readability, clarity, consistency, style, etc). These ones are alright, but barely readable in large sections even by nerds.
Volume four is the historical part where Marx details the history of the various schools of political economy, published after Engels' death by Kautsky
It is a very good demonstration of how to criticise political economists; unfortunately, as Marx learnt later in life, if you criticise the political economists hard enough (and the bourgeois gain enough political power) they will stop even trying to make sense and invent marginalism.I think the Marxism-Leninism Institute in the USSR put together their own “vol 4” that is superior to what Kautsky did, I’m not sure though.
been wanting to read it for a while but haven't got to it yet
I've been looking for a good way to reread them (first time I definitely wasn't focused enough). I'm totally in
That sounds fun. I've got my copy of the three volumes within arms reach right now.
Do 1-4 but instead of starting at 1, start at 2 or 4 since the dropoff rates for reading vol.1 -> 2 and 1, 2, 3 -> 4 are probably horrendous and you'd probably get a bigger jump start like this
this sounds like some nerd talking about the correct way to watch all the Star wars movies
Just start with abridged so the main concepts are out of the way off the bat
I'm in. I have read them by myself only once in full and would love to be able to better apply the theory in my writing/studies.
