Not going to say it was an easy read, and certainly not as visceral or witty/scathing as Volume I. Also not going to say I 100 percent followed all the math in the sections on reproduction. But damn if it isn't fascinating to see the fundamental mechanisms of capitalism being explained from first principles.
Funny enough, he keeps mentioning the credit system periodically throughout the book, but always deferring a discussion of it in favor of understanding first understanding the underlying mechanisms that precede credit. Then about three quarters of way through, a complete understanding of what the credit system actually is popped fully formed into my mind. He had so carefully explained the circulation and reproduction of capital that it just so clearly followed logically from what he had already shown.
spoiler
Also, I just skimmed the detailed critiques of Adam Smith sorry not sorry
I remember briefly studying a part of Volume II in uni and being intimidated beyond belief, an unedited, unreleased volume of Capital is always a terrifying thing. I guess this is my signal to pick it up again.
I would definitely do Volume I first, if you haven't already, and then see how you feel.
I’m using voicedreamreader to read volume one during breaks at work and I’m finding myself really enjoying it, like it’s something I look forward to now. Basically I’m getting fucked at work, and Marx helps me understand how and why I’m getting fucked at work. Then I sometimes test out his ideas on my lib coworkers to see what they think (while avoiding any triggering language).
I’m particularly fascinated with how surplus value and profit isn’t quite the same thing. I had always assumed they were the same. Also how capitalists constantly try to reduce the prices of their commodities because you get the highest surplus value from being able to sell the largest amounts of cheapest goods. I’m still shaky on this so anyone who wants to should correct me.
I might have skipped the first third of the book (the hard part) but I plan to go back and read it eventually. Then I’ll check out the next volumes…
The angry historical parts that come after the first third are some of Marx’s best writing IMO. In other books he’s always writing like a Hegelian economist I guess (and there’s plenty of that in Capital) but sometimes he writes in a very plain, hilarious, and often furious and biting style that is much easier to understand than usual.
Vol II is much more the technical economic stuff that people say Vol I is. I was blown away by how deeply emotional Vol I is at times
I have been terrified since trying to read it years ago. That you were able to get something out of it has inspired me to try again, thank you
One thing that Ive noticed with Marx is that if you just keep on going a lot of stuff starts to click. Everything ties together and he reviews and summarizes all the time. Plus for the more technical stuff, it's cool and interesting to see exactly how he arrives at his conclusions, but the conclusions are what I'm actually interested in.
he reviews and summarizes all the time.
Which is why Volume 1 is long, I suppose... How long is Volume 2, in comparison?
I did some spreadsheet maths to understand some of the reproduction stuff, it did clarify, and also I found some mistakes. Seems like Marx was actually not great at math, lmao.
Vol 3 has more stuff about the credit system, but I think that part was heavily edited, or actually authored by Engels.
Volume 2 was also cobbled together from a bunch of manuscripts by Engels. My edition had a couple of notes by him pointing out some math errors. I think Marx probably would have corrected them if he had been able to get it fully completed
