3 Review(s)

Capital presents an elaborate critique of the capitalist system, with special emphasis on its economic underpinnings. Summary Of The Book Capital is a critique of capitalism as a political economy. Capitalism is based on open competition, free market, private ownership of the means of production, and profit motive. It encourages the engagement of private businesses in the economy, as opposed to a system of economy controlled by the government. The capitalists possess the right to earn and use their wealth to purchase labor and create further capital. Karl Marx was opposed to this system, and instead proposed communism as a far better alternative. The critique begins by discussing the nature of commodities and workers’ wages, and then explains to the reader how exploitation of labor is an inherent characteristic of capitalism. In fact, he goes on to attribute the exploitation of labor as a motivating force behind capitalism. Marx asserts that the capitalist system is unstable and cannot sustain profits. He predicts that sooner or later the capitalist order will lead to a total collapse, and that this collapse will occur through a series of minor but explosive collapses, irrespective of the efforts of the capitalists. He, however, predicts that the end of capitalism will give rise to a new social order - One that will create a far better form of society. Capital contains all the concepts and theories that Marx adhered to in his agitations and struggles to create a better economic system. He creates a synthesis of multiple theories in this book to drive home the point that the capitalist order is a weak structure for our society.   Capital is an important piece of social science literature. It contains Marx’s impressions on the origins and workings of capitalism, the concentration and accumulation of capital and its influence on the working class. About Karl Marx Karl Marx was a German revolutionary socialist, philosopher, journalist, economist, and historian. He has authored several books, including The Communist Manifesto, Grundrisse, Wage Labour and Capital, Value, Price and Profit, and Revolution and War. Karl Marx was born in Prussia, in the small town of Trier. He was home-schooled for many years before attending a school. He studied at the University of Bonn. After some time, his grades began to deteriorate, which forced his father to transfer him to the University of Berlin. He actively participated in many clubs thereafter, and began writing prolifically. Much of the rest of his life he spent agitating against the capitalist order and expressing a new ideology, which later came to be known as the Marxist ideology.