We are reading Volumes 1, 2, and 3 in one year. This will repeat yearly until communism is achieved. (Volume IV, often published under the title Theories of Surplus Value, will not be included, but comrades are welcome to set up other bookclubs.) This works out to about 6½ pages a day for a year, 46 pages a week.

I'll post the readings at the start of each week and @mention anybody interested.

Week 1, Jan 1-7, we are reading Volume 1, Chapter 1 'The Commodity'

Discuss the week's reading in the comments.

Use any translation/edition you like. Marxists.org has the Moore and Aveling translation in various file formats including epub and PDF: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Ben Fowkes translation, PDF: http://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=9C4A100BD61BB2DB9BE26773E4DBC5D

AernaLingus says: I noticed that the linked copy of the Fowkes translation doesn't have bookmarks, so I took the liberty of adding them myself. You can either download my version with the bookmarks added, or if you're a bit paranoid (can't blame ya) and don't mind some light command line work you can use the same simple script that I did with my formatted plaintext bookmarks to take the PDF from libgen and add the bookmarks yourself.

Resources

(These are not expected reading, these are here to help you if you so choose)

  • Harvey's guide to reading it: https://www.davidharvey.org/media/Intro_A_Companion_to_Marxs_Capital.pdf

  • A University of Warwick guide to reading it: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/postgraduate/masters/modules/worldlitworldsystems/hotr.marxs_capital.untilp72.pdf

  • Engels' Synopsis of Capital or PDF

  • Reading Capital with Comrades: A Liberation School podcast series - https://www.liberationschool.org/reading-capital-with-comrades-podcast/

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  • aaro [they/them, she/her]
    ·
    10 months ago

    hi! If I'm anticipating being strapped for time, is this version still sufficient?

    https://www.marxists.org/archive/ruhle/1939/capital.htm

    As much as I love theory, my eyes 100% glaze over when it comes to dead people arguing minutae with other dead people, and examples based on 150 year old economies and statistics. If the Moore and Aveling translation is definitively better than that's the one I'll read but I know I'll fall off at 50 pages a week cuz I have other book clubs too

    • Juice [none/use name]
      ·
      10 months ago

      Isaac Deutscher once told the following story about reading Capital:

      I was relieved to hear that Ignacy Daszynski, our famous member of parliament, a pioneer of socialism, … admitted that he too found hard a nut. “I have not read it,” he almost boasted, “but Karl Kautsky has read it. I have not read Kautsky either, but Kelles-Krauz, our party theorist, has read him, and he summarized Kautsky’s book. I have not read Kelles-Krauz, either, but … Herman Diamond, our financial expert, has read Kelles-Krauz, and he has told me all about it.”

      https://brooklynrail.org/2017/10/field-notes/SoftShell-HardCore-On-the-150th-Anniversary-of-the-Publication-of-Karl-Marxs-Capital-Vol-1

      There's a lot more in Capital than what you can get from any summary. You should read it, it was written for you. When you can find the time, comrade

    • Vampire [any]M
      ·
      10 months ago

      Why not just read that yourself? Or set up another thread.

    • Maoo [none/use name]
      ·
      10 months ago

      I recommend either reading Marx directly or reading a more modern summaries like those from Heinrich or Michael Roberts.

      Now is a really good time to read Marx directly because you can discuss it with other hexbears in the same situation!