Capital: a critical analysis of capitalist production, Vol 1
Karl Marx
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Capital, Volume I is the first of three volumes in Karl Marx’s monumental work, Das Kapital, and the only volume to be published during his lifetime, in 1867.
Marx’s aim in Capital, Volume I is to uncover and explain the laws specific to the capitalist mode of production and of the class struggles rooted in these capitalist social relations of production. Marx said himself that his aim was “to bring a science [i.e. political economy] by criticism to the point where it can be dialectically represented”, and in this way to “reveal the law of motion of modern society”. By showing how capitalist development was the precursor of a new, socialist mode of production, he aimed to provide a scientific foundation for the modern labour movement. In preparation for his book, he studied the economic literature available in his time for a period of twelve years, mainly in the British Museum in London. (Summary by Wikipedia) (39 hr 19 min)
Chapters
Reviews
great book, great reading but footnotes!
jdew
The reader has an excellent voice and pace, but keeps reading the damn footnotes! Every quarter page the thoughts of marx are interrupted with a tangent point or citation. I couldnt listen to more than a couple chapters. I understand the footnotes are important but itâd be much better if the reader simply said âfootnote 1â when it appeared and have separate chapters for all of the footnotes. That way a reader could look up whatever footnote theyâre interested in and skip the footnotes they dont care about! Iâm going to have to find marxâs text elsewhere due to this terrible annoyance!
Recording is invaluable for study
B. Shelton
The readings for Capital are among the best I have heard from Librivox. The subject matter is difficult, the arguments are often convoluted, and the book is a beast. Nevertheless, the readers keep a steady pace that is easy to keep up with. The recordings are an invaluable addition to studying the text.
Good
Jane H.
Good read of a classic!
A great reading of a great work
A LibriVox Listener
Marx's "Capital" stands as one of the greatest investigations of the capitalist system ever put to paper. Even as it approaches its 150th anniversary, it remains relevant and powerful. LibriVox's talented volunteers have produced a great audio edition of Capital's first volume. Especially appreciated are the inclusion and clear indication of Marx's footnotes and Engels's editorial notes. However, due to the complicated nature of the text, listeners will likely find themselves making frequent use of the rewind button to listen to sections over again.
Footnotes make it unbearable
Maven
As someone else mentioned, the footnotes are read as they appear in the text, completely breaking you out of the line of thought of the subject matter. It's hard enough to understand without this distraction.
Beautifully read
V152637
I gradually came to appreciate the footnotes, but immediately appreciated Manchester's clear, sometimes teacherly reading style. His emphases and pauses are well judged.
Good book, bad footnotes
A LibriVox Listener
The footnotes are extremely distracting, and seem to occur every 30 seconds or so. Great book though, worth listening through.
Excellent reading
WinterTJones
This is an an excellent reading of Karl Marx's classic text Capital Volume 1. It is a classic of socialist economics.