On Sep 11, 2012, at 10:19 AM, andie_nachgeborenen wrote:
> Marx spent the 1860s writing Capital. The first "volume" of Theories
> of Surplus Value, the notes that are sometimes marketed as vol. 4 of
> Capital, we're written around 1862-63. The Grundrisse was abandoned
> in 1858, though there were intervening works such as contribution
> to the Critique of Political Economy in 1859. In any case it was
> "only" a decade between the first unpublished writings in the vein
> of Capital, vol 1 its actual publication in 1867. Marx made a
> living writing newspaper articles and being subsidized by his
> wealthy friend, the capitalist Frederick Engels. It would not have
> been reasonable for Marx to expect to make a living by putting years
> into writing a long and immensely difficult and rather technical
> book. That doesn't mean he or his publishers meant it to be
> distributed for free.
If Marx had had the capability to put out, at virtually no cost (beyond the living expenses of the translators), ten million free copies of Das Kapital wouldn't he have jumped at the chance?
Shane Mage
"L'après-vie, c'est une auberge espagnole. L'on n'y trouve que ce qu'on a apporté."
Bardo Thodol