The overall plan is to read Volumes 1, 2, and 3 in one year. (Volume IV, often published under the title Theories of Surplus Value, will not be included in this particular reading club, but comrades are encouraged to do other solo and collaborative reading.) This bookclub will repeat yearly. The three volumes in a year works out to about 6½ pages a day for a year, 46⅔ pages a week.
I’ll post the readings at the start of each week and @mention anybody interested. Let me know if you want to be added or removed.
Just joining us? It’ll take you about 17-18 hours to catch up to where the group is. Use the archives below to help you. There is another reading group on a different schedule at https://lemmygrad.ml/c/genzhou (federated at !genzhou!genzhou@lemmygrad.ml ) which may fit your schedule better.
Archives: Week 1 – Week 2 – Week 3 – Week 4 – Week 5 – Week 6 – Week 7 – Week 8
Week 9, Feb 26-March 3, we are reading Chapter 15 sections 2,3,4 and 5, from Volume 1
In other words, aim to reach the heading ‘The Theory of Compensation as Regards the Workpeople Displaced by Machinery’ by Sunday
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.
Audiobook of Ben Fowkes translation, American accent, male, links are to alternative invidious instances: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
Resources
(These are not expected reading, these are here to help you if you so choose)
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Harvey’s guide to reading it: https://www.davidharvey.org/media/Intro_A_Companion_to_Marxs_Capital.pdf
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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
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Reading Capital with Comrades: A Liberation School podcast series - https://www.liberationschool.org/reading-capital-with-comrades-podcast/
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I promise I’ll join again soon, I have a bit to catch up, but I’ll have more time after this week.
You can do it!
You want me to take you off the list?
No, the guilt helps
Can I be taken off the list please? I am too far behind to catch up to this group.
Done
reporting in for posting duty(week 9: note to myself so i’ll find the thread again)
week 9! also chapter 15 looks to be a really long chapterI think he just goes on about the different kinds of machine that were around in the 19th century in this chapter, I don’t know.
It’s like someone writing now would talk about digital things, it was the most interesting development of the era.
Its not just the history. Its the history as seen through the lens of class consciousness.
The discussion of machinery, indisutrialization, and the effect on skilled labor reminds me of The Ballad of John Henry
It was depressing for Marx to like cite off death counts in districts. Also that part of factory schools was really depressing, I can see why like Marx was critical.
When Marx started to talk about like machines and divison of labor, it sort of like reminded me of like, reproduction of capitalism? from like human labor divisions to like machine labor divisions more or less? and with this week reading it reminded me of like, how important things like oil are to capitalists. with like how much they can power with it.
also the part about like the limits of the workday, leading to improvements of machinery, leading to limits of the workday, remind me of like. tendency of the rate of profit to fall? and with this chapter it kind of reminded me of modern day stuff, like when people talk of AI replacing/taking their jobs. in which the push for that is to like, lower that relative surplus value more?
Section 5 was really good. The sections before were kind of a trudge
“When do they get to the fireworks factory???”
This section is pretty self explanatory. It feels like its gonna kill the discussion a bit because Karl did such a good job laying it all out.
yea, and section 5 was really good!
also this was funny
“Anthony Müller of Danzig saw about 50 years ago in that town, a very ingenious machine, which weaves 4 to 6 pieces at once. But the Mayor being apprehensive that this invention might throw a large number of workmen on the streets, caused the inventor to be secretly strangled or drowned.”
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“lays down his spade, he renders useless, for that period, a capital worth eighteen-pence. When one of our people leaves the mill, he renders useless a capital that has cost £100,000.”
hell yea, get fucked
also like after doing the weekly reading, and relaxing, welcome to the machine came up in my playlist. kind of funny in a way.
Finishing up chapter 14 on my commute. Then I’ll try to catch up to current reading tonight. Going a bit slower because there is more theoretical stuff in chapter 14 and I frequently have to rewind my audiobook. Probably should just read with my eyeballs now
“The denser hour of the 10-hour working day contains more labour, i.e. expended labour-power, than the more porous hour of the 12-hour working day. Thus the product of one of the 10 hours has has as much value as the product of 1⅕ of the 12 hours, or even more.”
It is plausible that someone would do more seconds of labour in 10 hours than in 12.
I’ve made it to section 9, does that feel like about where people are gonna go this week? It looks like adding it to the pile would put us over 70 pages as opposed to just about 50, and I didn’t see normal subheadings in it.
I’m assuming so? I’m just gonna like finish the chapter off since section 10 pretty short.
I’m quite far behind but still determined, thanks for the threads
