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48-603: It was established in 1921 under the initiative of Erling Falk (1887–1940), partly with origins in the debate forum in the Social Democratic Student Association ( Den Socialdemokratiske Studenterforening ) at the University of Oslo ; partly from a Falk-led study circle which, from 1919, involved Viggo Hansteen , Axel Sømme , and Arnold Hazeland . Members were strongly linked to Falk's personality and were subject to strict discipline. Falk aimed to develop

96-456: A mode of production , and seeks to trace its origins, development, and decline. Marx argues that capitalism is a form of economic organization which has arisen and developed in a specific historical context, and which contains tendencies and contradictions which will inevitably lead to its decline and collapse. Marx considered Das Kapital a scientific work, and in it critiqued both the system and bourgeois political economists who argue that it

144-469: A "strictly scientific work" of political economy , the content of which did not apply to monarchic Russia, where "capitalist exploitation " had never occurred and was officially dismissed, given "that very few people in Russia will read it, and even fewer will understand it". Nonetheless, Marx acknowledged that Russia was the country where Das Kapital "was read and valued more than anywhere". For instance,

192-452: A French translation, published in 44 installments from August 1872 through May 1875, and then as a single work with a printing of ten thousand copies, the largest up until then. Eventually, Marx's work was translated into all major languages. The definitive critical edition of Marx's works, known as MEGA II ( Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe ), includes Das Kapital in German (only the first volume

240-404: A body of students and young workers committed to revolutionary socialism : according to George Lakey , the group "sought to replace middle-class individualism with a collective and disciplined spirit". The magazine Mot Dag was published by the group between 1921 and 1936. The first editor was future author and publishing consultant Sigurd Hoel (1890–1960). Mot Dag was a collective member of

288-586: A construction fund reserve. Money was among others needed to run the publishing house Fram Forlag . After the Great Depression in 1929, Falk translated Karl Marx 's Das Kapital to Norwegian, and wrote the book Hvad er marxisme? ( What is Marxism? ) in 1937. From 1933 he participated in creating the workers' encyclopedia Arbeidernes Leksikon . However, by the mid-1930s he needed a lighter workload due to declining health. His activity in Mot Dag declined from

336-543: A dissertation comparing the philosophy of nature in the works of the philosophers Democritus (circa 460–370 BC) and Epicurus (341–270 BC). The logical architecture of Das Kapital is derived in part from the Politics and the Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, including the fundamental distinction between use value and exchange value , the syllogisms ( C-M-C' and M-C-M' ) for simple commodity circulation and

384-576: A full, three-volume edition as Theorien über den Mehrwert ( Theories of Surplus Value , 1905–1910). The first volume was published in English as A History of Economic Theories (1952). The Communist Party of the Soviet Union published its own edition of Volume IV in which it claimed that Kautsky's edition bastardized the original text, with their version containing more of the original, unedited material. The first translated publication of Das Kapital

432-499: A more recent English translation was made by Ben Fowkes and David Fernbach (the Penguin edition). In 2024, Princeton University Press published the first English translation of the second German edition of Capital, Volume 1, edited and translated by Paul North and Paul Reitter. Volumes 2 and 3 are forthcoming. In 2017, the historian Gareth Stedman Jones wrote in the Books and Arts section of

480-519: A new labour party. After the charismatic leader Erling Falk fell sick, Trond Hegna (1898–1992), took over the actual leadership. Hegna would later serve a member of the Norwegian Parliament ( Storting ) and leader of the Storting 's finance committee. In 1930, the publishing house Fram Forlag was established in part to publish the workers' encyclopaedia ( Arbeidernes Leksikon , 1933). Both

528-629: Is a foundational theoretical text in materialist philosophy and critique of political economy written by Karl Marx , published as three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his life's work, the text contains Marx's analysis of capitalism , to which he sought to apply his theory of historical materialism "to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society", following from classical political economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo . The text's second and third volumes were completed from Marx's notes after his death and published by his colleague Friedrich Engels . Das Kapital

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576-498: Is an expanded English translation of the successful 2008 Japanese pocket version Das Kapital known as Manga de Dokuha . The English translation of volume 1 by Samuel Moore and Eleanor Marx 's partner Edward Aveling , overseen by Engels, was published in 1887 as Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production by Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co. This was reissued in the 1970s by Progress Publishers in Moscow, while

624-573: Is efficient and stable. In Das Kapital (1867), Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labor , whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value . The owner of the means of production is able to claim the right to this surplus value because they are legally protected by the ruling regime through property rights and the legally established distribution of shares which are by law distributed only to company owners and their board members. The historical section shows how these rights were acquired in

672-485: Is in French) and shows all the versions and alterations made to the text as well as a very extensive apparatus of footnotes and cross-references. The first unabridged translation of Das Kapital to Bengali was done by professor Piyush Dasgupta . It was published in six volumes by Baniprakash, Kolkata, India between 1974 and 1983. In 2012, Red Quill Books released Capital: In Manga! , a comic book version of Volume I which

720-423: Is spent on commodities for which there is market-demand, can be considered productive labour and therefore exploited on Marx's account. There are also those who argued that Marx's so-called immiseration thesis is presumed to mean that the proletariat is absolutely immiserated. The existing scholarly consensus tends towards the opposite view that Marx believed that only relative immiseration would occur, that is,

768-407: Is subtitled "The process of capitalist production as a whole" and is concerned primarily with the internal differentiation of the capitalist class. The first three parts are concerned with the division of surplus value amongst individual capitals, where it takes the form of profit. The following parts are concerned with merchants' capital, interest-bearing capital and landed capital. The last part draws

816-409: Is the most cited book in the social sciences published before 1950. Marx's theory of historical materialism posits that the economic structure of society – in particular, the forces and relations of production – are the crucial factors in shaping its nature. Rather than a simple description of capitalism as an economic model , Das Kapital instead examines capitalism as a historical epoch and

864-420: Is the point of departure for the topic of capital accumulation which was given its Marxist treatment later in detail by Rosa Luxemburg , among others. Das Kapital, Volume III , subtitled The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole , was prepared by Engels from notes left by Marx and published in 1894. It is divided into seven parts: The work is best known today for Part 3 which in summary says that as

912-515: The British Library in London. At the time of his death (1883), Marx had prepared the manuscript for Das Kapital, Volume IV , a critical history of theories of surplus value of his time, the 19th century, based on the earlier manuscript Theories of Surplus Value (1862–63). The philosopher Karl Kautsky (1854–1938) published a partial edition of Marx's surplus-value critique and later published

960-601: The Norwegian Labour Party from March 1922 until August 1924, initially aligning itself with the revolutionary faction led by Martin Tranmæl , but was excluded from the party after a series of disagreements. In 1927, Mot Dag was a part of the Norwegian Communist Party (NKP). From 1929, Mot Dag was an independent political organization. In the middle of the 1930s, Mot Dag made an unsuccessful attempt to establish

1008-468: The Labour Party's longstanding secretary Haakon Lie , Oslo's longstanding mayor Brynjulf Bull , and future West German chancellor Willy Brandt . Many well-known authors, intellectuals, and future leading politicians and officials were also members. Of note were filmmaker Olav Dalgard ; the authors Helge Krog , Odd Eidem , Sigurd Hoel, Arnulf Øverland , Nic Waal and Inger Hagerup —the latter two of

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1056-533: The Russian edition was the fastest selling as 3,000 copies were sold in one year while the German edition took five years to sell 1,000, therefore the Russian translation sold fifteen times faster than the German original. This edition was in part worked on by revolutionary socialist Mikhail Bakunin , but "he quit after completing part of the first chapter" and it was completed by Nikolai Danielson and German Lopatin among others. Marx revised, rewrote, and monitored

1104-739: The United States he undertook varying forms of work and short-lived studies, including working as a land surveyor in Montana and as an accountant for Industrial Workers of the World in Chicago. In 1918 he moved back to Norway, and enrolled at the Royal Frederick University . From 1921 he edited a new periodical called Mot Dag , which he published together with people he met in a study circle led by Edvard Bull . In addition to Falk, prominent figures in

1152-854: The autumn of 1935, which in part led to the dissolution of Mot Dag in June 1936. In contrast to most of the other members he did not rejoin the Labour Party, as the party chose to uphold his exclusion. One day before the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, Falk left the country for Stockholm to undergo brain surgery . He had two surgeries, but died on 31 July 1940. He was buried at Vestre gravlund in Norway. Das Kapital Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (German: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie ), also known as Capital and Das Kapital ( German pronunciation: [das kapiˈtaːl] ),

1200-531: The categories cannot explain. This meant that Marx had to build his arguments on historical narratives and empirical evidence rather than the arbitrary application of his ideas in his evaluation of capitalism. On the other hand, Das Kapital has also received criticism. There are theorists who claimed that this text was unable to reconcile capitalist exploitation with prices dependent upon subjective wants in exchange relations. Marxists generally reply that only socially necessary labor time , that is, labor which

1248-412: The circulation of value as capital . Moreover, the description of machinery under capitalist relations of production as "self-acting automata " derives from Aristotle's speculations about inanimate instruments capable of obeying commands as the condition for the abolition of slavery . In the 19th century, Marx's research of the available politico-economic literature required twelve years, usually in

1296-543: The early Mot Dag were Viggo Hansteen , Trond Hegna , Aake Anker Ording and Arne Ording . Sigurd Hoel soon joined the group as editor of Mot Dag . In 1922 a parallel association, also named Mot Dag , was established. Falk had joined Kristiania Arbeidersamfund and the Norwegian Students' Society after moving to Norway, and was also a member of the Norwegian Labour Party . Together with Martin Tranmæl Falk

1344-449: The emergence of an entirely new mode of production as the culmination of the same historical dialectic that led to the emergence of capitalism from prior forms. The third volume is highly controversial, peculiarly the tenth chapter, as some economists feel like Marx contradicted himself with the Marxian fundamental value theory while trying to tackle the transformation problem . Volume 3

1392-471: The few women who were connected to Mot Dag; future director of Norway's military intelligence Vilhelm Evang and future director of the Norwegian Directorate for Health , Karl Evang . Economist and future university professor Johan Vogt , who together with Falk, was behind the first translation of Das Kapital into Norwegian. Erling Falk Erling Falk (12 August 1887 – 31 July 1940)

1440-425: The first place chiefly through plunder and conquest and the activity of the merchant and "middle-man". In producing capital , the workers continually reproduce the economic conditions by which they labour. Das Kapital proposes an explanation of the "laws of motion" of the capitalist economic system from its origins to its future by describing the dynamics of the accumulation of capital, the growth of wage labour ,

1488-436: The first volume. These three volumes are collectively known as Das Kapital . NML: Das Kapital, Volume I (1867) is a critical analysis of political economy, meant to reveal the contradictions of the capitalist mode of production , how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production and of the class struggle rooted in the capitalist social relations of production. The first of three volumes of Das Kapital

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1536-636: The great landmarks of nineteenth-century thought, it is [because it connects] critical analysis of the economy of his time with its historical roots. In doing so, he inaugurated a debate about how best to reform or transform politics and social relations, which has gone on ever since. Positive reception also cited the soundness of the methodology used in producing the book, which is called immanent critique. This approach, which starts from simple category and gradually unfolds into complex categories, employed "internal" criticism that finds contradiction within and between categories while discovering aspects of reality that

1584-401: The interdependent" connection of humans and nature. The purpose of Das Kapital (1867) was a scientific foundation for the politics of the modern labour movement . The analyses were meant "to bring a science , by criticism, to the point where it can be dialectically represented" and so "reveal the law of motion of modern society" to describe how the capitalist mode of production was

1632-619: The magazine and organization dissolved in 1936. The organization had at most approximately 200 members and when it was dissolved in 1936 had about 100. Most of the members followed the internal orders to register in the Labour Party. After World War II , many former members Mot Dag were leaders in Norwegian politics and culture. Norway's first three post-war Prime Ministers Einar Gerhardsen , Oscar Torp , and John Lyng were all at one point in time part of Mot Dag. In addition were Gro Harlem Brundtland 's father, Secretary of Defence Gudmund Harlem ;

1680-453: The organic fixed capital requirements of production rise as a result of advancements in production generally, the rate of profit tends to fall . This result which orthodox Marxists believe is a principal contradictory characteristic leading to an inevitable collapse of the capitalist order was held by Marx and Engels to—as a result of various contradictions in the capitalist mode of production —result in crises whose resolution necessitates

1728-479: The party newspaper Arbeiderbladet , but received few votes in his favor. Falk remained with the Labour Party for some time, but was excluded from the party in 1925. At the same time, the Labour Party disassociated itself with the entire Mot Dag group. Falk then formed the group Arbeideropposisjonen , but it too was excluded, and became short-lived. In 1926 Mot Dag and Falk joined the Communist Party . Falk

1776-670: The precursor of the socialist mode of production . The argument is an analysis of the classical economics of Adam Smith , David Ricardo , John Stuart Mill and Benjamin Franklin , drawing on the dialectical method that G. W. F. Hegel developed in Science of Logic and The Phenomenology of Spirit . Other intellectual influences on Capital were the French socialists Charles Fourier , Henri de Saint-Simon , Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon . At university, Marx wrote

1824-469: The scientific journal Nature : What is extraordinary about Das Kapital is that it offers a still-unrivalled picture of the dynamism of capitalism and its transformation of societies on a global scale. It firmly embedded concepts such as commodity and capital in the lexicon. And it highlights some of the vulnerabilities of capitalism, including its unsettling disruption of states and political systems. [...] If Das Kapital has now emerged as one of

1872-495: The social intertwining of the different capitals, of the component parts of capital and of revenue (= s)". This intertwining, conceived as a movement of commodities and of money, enabled Marx to work out at least the essential elements, if not the definitive form of a coherent theory of the trade cycle, based upon the inevitability of periodic disequilibrium between supply and demand under the capitalist mode of production ( Ernest Mandel , Intro to Volume II of Capital , 1978). Part 3

1920-447: The solid foundation on which the whole of the unfolding analysis is based. Marx wrote in a letter sent to Engels on 30 April 1868: "In Book 1 [...] we content ourselves with the assumption that if in the self-expansion process £100 becomes £110, the latter will find already in existence in the market the elements into which it will change once more. But now we investigate the conditions under which these elements are found at hand, namely

1968-615: The transformation of the workplace, the concentration of capital, commercial competition, the banking system, the decline of the profit rate , land-rents, et cetera . The critique of the political economy of capitalism proposes: After two decades of economic study and preparatory work (especially regarding the theory of surplus value ), the first volume appeared in 1867 as The Production Process of Capital . After Marx's death in 1883, Engels introduced Volume II: The Circulation Process of Capital in 1885; and Volume III: The Overall Process of Capitalist Production in 1894 from manuscripts and

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2016-648: The whole account together. The aim of the volume as a whole is to locate and describe the concrete forms which grow out of the movements of capital as a whole. Thus, the various forms of capital approach step by step the form which they assume on the surface of society in the action of different capitals on one another in competition and in the ordinary consciousness of the agents of production themselves (25) (Clarke). In volume 3 (as in his earlier text The German Ideology ), Marx discusses how primitive accumulation alienates humans from nature. In volume 3, Marx also describes capitalism as producing an "irreparable rift in

2064-581: The worker and the industrialist (as in Volume I), but rather the money owner and money lender, the wholesale merchant, the trader and the entrepreneur or functioning capitalist. Moreover, workers appear in Volume II essentially as buyers of consumer goods and therefore as sellers of the commodity labour power , rather than producers of value and surplus-value , although this latter quality established in Volume I remains

2112-784: Was a Norwegian politician, ideologist and writer. He was active in the Norwegian Students' Society , the Norwegian Labour Party and the Communist Party , but is best known as a leading figure in the group Mot Dag , who issued a periodical of the same name. He also translated Das Kapital . He was born in Hemnesberget as the son of Jonas Cornelius Falk (1844–1915) and Anna Margrethe Middelthon (1857–1924). Falk attended school in Trondheim (1901), Mosjøen (1903) and high school in Stavanger (1905) before he moved to Duluth, Minnesota in 1907. In

2160-621: Was a member of the party's central board, and had influence in the newspaper Norges Kommunistblad . He also influenced the founding of the short-lived party Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti . In 1928 he was a part of the 6th World Congress of the Comintern in Moscow, but Falk and Mot Dag left the Communist Party in 1928. Around the same time Falk also lost influence in the Norwegian Students' Society, due to having embezzled money from

2208-597: Was in the Russian Empire in March 1872. It was the first foreign publication with the French edition beginning publication in August 1872 and the English edition appearing 15 years later in 1887. It was even published before the first modern Russian translation of the whole Bible in 1876. Despite Russian censorship proscribing "the harmful doctrines of socialism and communism ", the Russian censors considered Das Kapital as

2256-691: Was instrumental in writing the Kristiania Proposal in early 1923, which stated that the Labour Party should strive for independency from the Comintern. The Comintern did not take lightly to this, and Falk was present to discuss the issue at the 3rd Enlarged Plenum of Executive Committee of the Communist International in June 1923. The Labour Party resigned from Comintern at its extraordinary national convention in November 1923. At that convention, Falk tried to challenge Tranmæl as editor-in-chief of

2304-496: Was published on 14 September 1867, dedicated to Wilhelm Wolff and was the sole volume published in Marx's lifetime. Das Kapital, Volume II , subtitled The Process of Circulation of Capital , was prepared by Engels from notes left by Marx and published in 1885. It is divided into three parts: In Volume II , the main ideas behind the marketplace are to be found, namely how value and surplus-value are realized. Its focuses aren't so much

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