Karl Marx - Capital Volume 1?

Question

Has anyone read this book?

I did and it gave me a serious headache, but I persisted. Then later I read (a quote from Lenin) that in order to understand Capital one needs to understand the works of Hegel. No wonder I got a headache. Now I have to go and read lots of Hegel, then re-read Capital.

I'm looking forward to it, becuase even though Capital gave me a headache there were lots of good things in it, and I can make sense of the passages that were difficult.

Answer 1

If you thought Marx was hard, boy have you got a surprise in store when you come to try Hegel ! He's seriously funky and important but be prepared, your eyes WILL bleed.

You might like to try a precis/summary of his work before attempting to read it - there's a number of them about. In a nutshell, Hegel contends that history is determined by competing ideas whereas Marx holds it's down to who has control of the wealth and ideas (eg morals, laws, beliefs etc) are simply there to protect those interests - hence why sometimes Marx is said to turn Hegel on his head (although that's probably pushing it in my humble opinion).

Rather than try Capital, you might like to try some of Marx's other work - he actually is a good writer and the other stuff is more accessible [in addition, alot of the economic theory in Capital is a bit discredited nowadays]. There's a number of Selected Works around. In addition, his Introduction to a Communist Manifesto is a nice bit of writing and a good distillation of many of his central views.

Have fun.

Answer 2

Hegel's Phenomenology Of Spirit was one of my specialities in university. Its a fantastic book and i luckily read Marx AFTER that. Be warned if you found Capital a little tough then Hegel's work will be arduous. Some say then that you cant understand/appreciate Hegel without reading Kant and of course you cant read Kant without Descartes and then you cant read him without........
Ah, just go ahead and read him. I suggest a guide to hegel before you take on the man himself. Its a monster of a book but awe inspiring. And i dont think you'll have to re-read Capital, i made the same mistake with another set of thinkers and when re-reading i just kept thinking "ah yea, mmm, oh, ok!" in a kind of "now that other book makes sense to me" kinda way.
Good luck buddy!

Answer 3

I actually tried to wrestle through this f*cker when a little younger
I gave up when I noticed that after 2 weeks I only got about 30 pages into it. The language in which it is written in is near to impossible. I actually got hands of a students thesis who made a legible review and concluded with the same opinion as me. The actual contents of the book are not that difficult, but Marckx understould the art of explaining simple things in an impossible way.(he was a great philosopher but clearly no writer)

Answer 4

Well done that man, keep at it - but remember Das Capital came in not 1 but 3 volumes - so yes you have a lot of reading to do!!!

A question for you - Marx predicted that capital would accumulate in ever smaller and bigger conglomorates - it didn't happen in Marx's lifetime, but could his predictions be coming true now?

Answer 5

Good on you. Keep the red flag flying comrade and let us know your thoughts on Hegel when your head stops aching.

Answer 6

Between the two you should just try to understand the dialectical method they our applying , as opposed to getting caught up in the detail , then you too can apply the method - as Marx said philosophy is to life as w*nking is to s*x !!

Answer 7

Use real opium to fix your headache, not religion, the opiate of the masses.

Answer 8

Never read it.

Thats the answer to the question you seek.

Answer 9

I got the book myself but my cat p!ssed on it.

Answer 10

Yeah....Was this your only question?

Yeah, agree on every point - big fat pain in the ... well .. headache.