Reading Capital With Comrades

#12: BLOODY CAPITAL (Ch. 26-33)

Our twelfth episode studies the last part of the book, chapters 26-33, which Marx begins by critiquing bourgeois political economy’s concept of “primitive accumulation.”

#11: CAPITAL’S TENDENCIES (Ch. 25)

Our eleventh episode concentrates on chapter 25, where Marx synthesizes his findings so far to articulate some general laws (or tendencies) of capitalist accumulation. We

#10: REPRODUCTION (Ch. 23-24)

Our tenth episode marks a transition from examining the production of capital on an individual scale to capitalism as a totality that continually reproduces and expands.

#9: COLLECTIVE LABOR (Ch. 16-22)

Our ninth episode reviews chapters 16-22, starting with a discussion of the commonly misunderstood concept of “productive labor.” We clarify Marx’s use of this concept an

#8: TECHNOLOGY (Ch. 15)

Reading chapter 15 on machinery and modern industry, episode 8 focuses on the relationship between technology, capital, and class struggle. After examining Marx’s method

#7: DIS-UNITING CLASS (Ch. 11-14)

Our seventh episode covers chapters 11-14. After covering the rate and mass of surplus value, we examine how capitalists can increase surplus value (and therefore exploit

#6: CLASS STRUGGLE (Ch. 10)

Focusing on chapter 10, our sixth episode locates class struggle as the motor of capitalism and as that which determines the rate of exploitation and the value of labor p

#5: EXPLOITATION (Ch. 7-9)

Our fifth episode covers chapters 7-9, which move us deeper into (absolute) surplus-value and the exploitation of labor power. We begin by distinguishing labor in general

#4: MR. MONEYBAGS (Ch. 4-6)

Our fourth episode covers chapters 4-6, where Marx offers the first definitions of capital, surplus-value, labor power, as well as the relationship between the legal supe

#3: MONEY (Ch. 2-3)

Our third episode takes up chapters 2 and 3 on exchange and money, where the C-M-C circuit makes its first appearance. After setting up the juridical conditions of market

#2: VALUE (Ch. 1)

Our second episode covers the first chapter on “commodities,” where Marx begins laying the conceptual building blocks for his investigation. We cover use-value, exchange-

#1: REVOLUTIONARY READING (Prefaces & Afterwords)

We begin our study of Capital, vol. 1 by discussing what it means to read, study, and apply the book as comrades in the struggle for socialism in the U.S. today. We situa