100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 67 The Greatest Economic Literature of Modern Times
Chapter 66 The greatest economics text of modern times: Das Kapital

"Since there were capitalists and workers on earth, no book has been so important to workers as the one before us.
meaning.The relationship between capital and labor is the axis on which our entire modern social system revolves. This relationship is here
For the first time, he made a scientific explanation, and this kind of explanation is so thorough and incisive that only a German can do it. "—

The "book" that Engels mentioned in this passage refers to Marx's "Das Kapital".

"There is no smooth road in science, only those who climb the rough path without fear of hardships, can hope to reach the glorious summit
point. "This famous quote comes from "Das Kapital".

Dedicated to economic research and building the system of "Das Kapital"

Karl Marx (1818-1883) is the founder of Marxism and the greatest thinker in human history. mid-19th century

Yeh, capitalist student

The mode of production has been greatly developed in some European countries, and the various contradictions inherent in capitalist society have been clearly exposed. The proletariat
The struggle of the upper class against the bourgeoisie has also become increasingly acute.In order to meet the needs of the struggle, to provide the proletariat with a powerful theoretical weapon

to free them completely from the influence of all kinds of petty bourgeois socialism, and at the same time give the bourgeoisie a fatal theoretical

In 1848, Marx began to write "Das Kapital", and in 1867, the first volume of "Das Kapital" was published.Afterwards, he was
Busy in the interval of international communist affairs, engaged in the creation of the second and third volumes. On March 1883, 3, Marx died of illness in London.

The publication of the latter two volumes was organized by Engels in 1885 and 1894 respectively.After Engels' death, Kautsky

From 1905 to 1910 edited and published the fourth volume "The Theory of Surplus Value".

"Das Kapital" is divided into 4 volumes.Book 1, "The Production Process of Capital," deals with the production of surplus-value; Book 2, "Capital

circulation process”

, expounding the realization of surplus value; Volume 3, "The General Process of Capitalist Production", reveals the
Carve up; volume 4 demonstrates the history of surplus value development. "Das Kapital" includes Marx's political, legal, historical, literary,

Language, religion, education, mathematics, natural science, technical science and many other ideas.

The first volume of the book is divided into 1 chapters and 7 chapters.In Part 25, Marx focuses on commodities and money, which mainly
Because commodity production is the premise and foundation of capitalist production.Capitalist production is the most developed and widespread commodity production

, 而

Commodities are the economic cells of capitalist society, containing the germs of various contradictions of capitalism.as Marx's analysis

Commodities at the point of view are commodities that are abstracted under the conditions of simple commodity production. Only by making such an abstraction can we clearly explain what value is

, it is convenient to explain the emergence and formation of capitalist production relations.Marx first revealed that commodities are labor for exchange

Product, use value and value are the basic attributes of commodities, and the relationship between the two forms the internal contradictions of commodities.he also revealed
The contradiction between private and social labor that produces commodities.By analyzing the two factors of commodities, the dual nature of labor, and the form of value

and the fetishistic nature of commodities, discussing his complete labor theory of value.He regards value as the social attribute of commodities, from the exchange
Abstracting value, it clarified in detail that the essence of value is general human labor condensed in commodities.He explained that with the

The development of commodity production and exchange will inevitably produce money, and the internal contradictions of commodities will inevitably develop into the opposition between commodities and money.
Thus, the problem of why and how commodities developed into money, which could not be solved by the classical school, was completely solved.

Next, Marx systematically proposed and clarified the theory of surplus value.Parts 2 to 6 study how capital produces surplus value

value,
Clarify the source, essence, purpose and method of surplus value production, and expose the exploitation and exploitation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat
Marx abstracted surplus value from its various concrete forms, and had no idea what surplus value is and how it is

The problems that arise in this way have been analyzed comprehensively.Part VII deals with the process of accumulation of capital, that is, of the conversion of surplus-value into capital.

process and its consequences, but in this article Marx only analyzes the process of individual capital reproduction.

In general, in the first volume, Marx analyzed the formation of the historical presuppositions of capitalist production, the so-called primitive accumulation of capital.
tired process.This process is essentially a process in which small producers are violently deprived of their means of production and become wage workers.it table

From head to toe, Ming capital "dripping blood and filth from every pore".Marx concludes with a revolutionary dialectic of capitalism

The historical trend of capitalist accumulation has drawn the famous conclusion that "the expropriator is expropriated", scientifically demonstrating that the capitalist system

The historical inevitability of its replacement by the communist system.It is in fact the inevitable result of the revolution from volume 1 to the whole of "Das Kapital".
fatal conclusion.

The second volume of "Das Kapital" studies the circulation process of capital, and the central issue is the process of circulation and realization of surplus value.Volume 2

It is a logical continuation of Volume 1.

第2卷共分3篇21章。第1篇和第2篇从生产和流通相统一的观点来研究资本的循环和周转，探
Discuss the forms and conditions of individual capital circulation.The first part studies the form change of capital and its cycle, and its first four chapters mainly analyze capital
The last two chapters analyze the issue of circulation time and circulation cost.Marx systematically analyzed capital's dependence on
The three forms adopted for the first time: money capital, production capital and commodity capital, then summarize the three formulas of capital circulation, and explain

The circulation of Ming industrial capital is the unity of these three circulations.

The second part studies the turnover of capital, which is to examine the cycle as a cyclical process.When discussing turnaround time and turnaround times

Later, Marx focused on the analysis of the composition of capital in circulation, that is, the transfer of the value of different parts of capital to new products

In the previous way, capital is divided into fixed capital and circulating capital, and it is explained that they are different at different times and according to different methods.
Complete the cycle of morphology.

The third part studies the reproduction and circulation of total social capital.It mainly discusses the law of movement and the realization of the reproduction of total social capital.

The basic conditions explain the morphological changes and material changes of the total social capital in circulation.

The third volume of "Das Kapital" studies the general movement and general form of capital. The central problem is the distribution process of surplus value and the methods it adopts.

various specific forms.The distribution process studied in Volume 3 is based on the production process and circulation process

The process of distribution of surplus value is the end of capital movement.It is no longer the abstract general forms of capital and surplus-value that are under consideration here.
, but the various concrete and actual forms they take in capitalist society, in addition to industrial capital there is commercial
capital and loan capital, etc.In Volume 3, not only the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is studied, but also
There are other class contradictions in capitalist society based on this principal class contradiction;
In addition to the industrial capitalists, there are merchant capitalists, bank capitalists and landowners who are involved in the distribution process.Marx for

The study of capitalist social economic form and its economic law begins in Volume 1 and is completed in Volume 3.Volume 3 is divided into 7
With 52 chapters, the book can be divided into three parts.Parts 1 to 3 discuss the conversion of surplus value into profit and profit into average
The problem of converting profits and values ​​into production prices.The central problem of their study is profit, which is the various concrete components of surplus value.
The most general of the forms, it is the starting point for the study in Volume 3.

The fourth volume of "Das Kapital" is "The Theory of Surplus Value".It historically and critically examines Marx's previous scholarship on surplus value.

explain.When Marx studied the economic laws of the emergence, development and demise of the capitalist mode of production, he also studied the bourgeoisie

The birth, development, and bankruptcy of political economy.He treats the material according to the inner connection developed by the theory of surplus value,
The purpose of combining the discourse of critical history with theoretical analysis is to explain: Although classical political economics was once based on labor theory,

The source of surplus value has been examined on the basis of the above, but due to the limitations of its class position, viewpoint and method, it is impossible to solve the surplus value.

question of value.With the development of class struggle, bourgeois political economy will inevitably evolve into vulgar economics.Volume 5 Actual

The above is to explain the results of theoretical research on the capitalist system in the first three volumes in the form of theoretical history, so it should be
Think of it as a logical continuation of the first three volumes.It not only reflects how Marx criticized the basis of previous economic theory
found the political economy of the proletariat, and showed how he created a scientific economic theory on the basis of historical materialism
history.He analyzed the emergence and development of economic theory based entirely on the development of social economy and class struggle, and clarified the economic theory.

The relationship between economists' standpoint, world outlook and methodology and their economic theories, various economic theories and certain class interests
, certain economic policy relationship.He made a comprehensive historical critique of bourgeois politics.Volume 4 to critique
The theory of Ricardo, the completer of British classical political economy, is the focus, and is divided into 3 volumes.

The Biblical Political Economy Revolution of the Working Class

Marx's "Das Kapital" is the greatest work in the history of human thought.
It has had a huge influence on history, and this influence is still continuing today. "Das Kapital" gave rise to political economy

An epoch-making revolution in history.

"Das Kapital" had an extremely great influence on the world. The theory of surplus value in this great work really revealed the capitalism for the first time.
The essence of exploitation reveals the mystery of how capitalists get rich. It is a key to understanding the entire capitalist production.
Already provided the scientific argument for the inevitability of the proletarian revolution, Marx wrote of Das Kapital
: "Undoubtedly, this is the most terrible shell ever fired at the head of the bourgeoisie (and landowners as well)."

"Das Kapital" is clear in speculation, rich in materials, rigorous in logic, perfect in argumentation, fluent in writing, and superb in skill
, are all amazing and admirable.After we have finished reading "Das Kapital" carefully, it is as if we have climbed a
From here one looks down on all the spheres of modern social relations unfolding before one's eyes, as if climbing to the top after a foray.
The person on the mountain is as clear and eye-catching as the foothills winding under his feet from a bird's-eye view from the top of the mountain.For this "Das Kapital", Marx vomited
For 40 years, he has researched more than 1500 books and referenced innumerable materials. He has been working on "

The writing of Das Kapital, Marx called Das Kapital his life's work.

The evaluation of "Das Kapital" needs no further words.It is not only an economic work, but also a great historical work and

Philosophical works are sharp weapons for the proletariat to carry out the revolutionary struggle.Lenin called it "the greatest work of political economy in modern times"

"Dedication" is a model of "scientific analysis of a (and the most complex) social formation with the materialist method, and it is recognized by everyone.

Unrivaled role model. "John Philip Becker, a famous activist of the international labor movement, puts it succinctly
"Das Kapital" is called "the bible of the working class". This metaphor may not be appropriate in theory, but historically speaking

But it is completely correct and well deserved.

(End of this chapter)