This is why people keep telling you to keep Stalin on your theory reading!
I started reading that shit and then realized the difference between abstract labor value and exchange value had absolutely zero relevance to my life or any discussion I've ever been in, so I stopped reading it. I have never even seen people bring that shit up in internet comments. What is the point of learning this
i read a good amount of dull history books btw so it's not like I am bookphobic
You can live your life quite comfortably without understanding any number of important things
yeah but I am more involved with leftist politics than 99% of people in the US and it still doesn't seem relevant
I just finished Capital and you can skip the whole thing if you just want the conclusions: proletariat, bourgeoisie, revolution, yadda yadda yadda
But if you want to understand how and why Marx came to these conclusions then it's all relevant
fair enough I can put myself in the mindset of someone who has never heard of this class analysis (although maybe it predated him? idk the history)
There's a lot of really interesting and engaging stuff in Vol I, and the more difficult, technical stuff is necessary for understanding the really mindbending stuff in the next couple of volumes
Basically marx's books on capital start with examining the fundamentals of capital before building up to his more bigger examinations and critiques a chapter or few down. I look at it as being a sort of 'econ 101' for people that have never had a chance to formally study economics.
Not particularly, it mostly dull-ass math equations expounding on concepts of barter, rates of exchange, introductions of currencies as another form of commodity and generally dragging ass about the fundamentals of the concept of buying and selling shit among other shit
