Saturday, February 28
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Indianapolis Liberation Center
Interested in hosting a study group at the Indy Liberation Store? Email Bridget at bridget@indyliberationstore.com!
In this session, we’ll begin Part VII of the book. In addition to providing an accessible entry-point to the text for newcomers, we’re getting very close to the “luminous summits” we were promised in the prefaces!
We’re transitioning from capital on a small or individual scale to an examination of capital as it really is: a totality continually producing and reproducing itself and the class struggle. In particular, after going over the short introduction to Part VII (the only part of the book with an introduction), we’ll read chapters 23 and 24 on “simple” and then “expanded” reproduction.
Along the way, we’ll clarify what Marx means by productive vs. unproductive labor, why Marx includes the entire global working and oppressed classes as part of the proletariat, and draw out some of the very few implicit mentions of communism.
Readings and resources
While you can use any complete edition of the first volume of Capital, we recommend the International Publishers edition, which is the original English translation of the book. This is the preferred edition for political and and literary reasons, which we’ll cover in class.
It’s also the edition available for free online here).
The other main version is the Penguin edition, which is perfectly fine. However, it’s easiest if we’re all on the same page (literally), although the facilitator will try to identify the key passages in both versions.
Reading Guide for Session 7: Chapters 23-24
To get caught up on what we’ve covered so far or to refresh your memory on some of our discussions, listen to “Reading Capital with comrades,” available on all streaming platforms.