Theories about added value

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Karl Marx: Theories about surplus value. Edited by Karl Kautsky. Vol. 2 Part One.

The theories about surplus value go back to manuscripts by Karl Marx ; they were published posthumously from 1905 to 1910 in a trilogy with a total of 24 chapters ( MEW volumes 26.1 to 26.3).

Edition history

Theories of Added Value , 1956

In 1950 the principles for the new edition and a detailed table of contents were put up for discussion in the Soviet Union . The German edition is based on the second Russian edition obtained from the Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the CPSU (Russian first edition 1st part 1954, 2nd part 1950, 3rd part 1961). The following information is based on the foreword to the German edition, which is signed by the Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the SED.

This publication is based on the extensive economic manuscript that Karl Marx wrote between January 1862 and July 1863. It consists of 23 booklets with continuous page counting from 1 to 1472 and comprises a total of approx. 200 printed sheets. It is the continuation of the first booklet published in 1859, On the Critique of Political Economy, and bears the same title. This makes it the first systematically, albeit not fully elaborated, draft of Capital , that is, of Marx's main economic work. While the other parts of the manuscript correspond to the content of the capital , the "Theories on Added Value" with the volumes VI to XV and XVIII as well as some historical sketches in other volumes (approx. 110 printed sheets) form the most elaborated content. Marx called this “fourth volume” of Capital the historical, historical-critical or historical-literary part of his work.

Marx changed his work plan several times over the long years in which he worked on capital . He commented on this in forewords, letters or in the manuscript itself. This shows that the “theories about surplus value” were originally intended more as a historical digression to the section “The production process of capital”. When Marx began working on it, only this section of Capital was drafted. This historical situation explains many redundancies in Marx's presentation.

The theories about surplus value essentially contain a collection of quotes from bourgeois economists - such as Adam Smith (among others III., IV., X .; XIV. Chapters), David Ricardo (among others IX., X., XI., XIII ., XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII.) James Mill and John Stuart Mill (XX.), Johann Karl Rodbertus (VIII. & IX.), Thomas Robert Malthus (XIX.), Or economic schools like the Physiocrats (II.), Especially the work " Tableau économique " by François Quesnay (VI. Chapter) - who illuminate and critically examine the state of economic knowledge during Marx's lifetime, similar to Volume I of Capital .

Friedrich Engels , editor of the second and third volumes of Capital after Marx's death , also intended to publish the fourth volume, which he spoke about for the last time in his letter to Stephan Bauer on April 10, 1895. He passed away four months later.

First published by Karl Kautsky

For the first time were "Theories of Surplus Value" of Karl Kautsky published from the estate of Marx.

As meritorious as this first publication was, it does not meet the requirements of a scientific edition. This was all the more serious since the Marxian basis is an unedited rough version, often without a flowing text and with many hints for later processing. In addition, the author constantly switches between three languages. There are therefore many unclear passages that allow several possible interpretations. Kautsky, on the other hand, published “his” theories on surplus value as a parallel work to capital , tried to smooth out the text without considering the original and did not pretend to see an order or structure as a whole. In doing so, he ignored the table of contents noted on the covers of the notebooks by Marx and himself introduced an arbitrary sequence that tore up reconstructable connections.

Fourth volume of "Capital"?

In the subtitle of the Marx-Engels-Werke, the edited manuscript is also referred to as Das Kapital Volume IV . Due to the history of the manuscripts' genesis, one group of authors questioned whether this designation could be properly used. It is unproven that the unfinished manuscript fully corresponds to the ideas of the author with regard to the fourth volume, which was supposed to provide a history of political economy.

reception

Joseph A. Schumpeter's contribution to the outline of social economics , the epochs of the history of dogmas and methods (1914), in addition to Eugen Böhm von Bawerk's history and criticism of the capital interest theories , mainly referred to the Kautsky edition of the theories on surplus value .

expenditure

  • MEW 26.1-26.3
  • MEGA , II. Dept., Vol. 3.2-3.4

Web links

  • Theories about added value - table of contents and chapters 4, 10 & 17, as well as the supplements to chapter 1, available online.

Individual evidence

  1. German in Soviet Studies. Social Science Department , Issue 3/1951, pp. 468–479.
  2. Theories about surplus value. Edited by Karl Kautsky. International Library 35 - 38. Third, unchanged edition (Bd. 1 / Bd. 2,1) 4. unchanged. A. (Vol. 2.2 / Vol. 3). 3 vol. In 4. JHW Dietz Nachf. GmbH, Stuttgart, / 1921, 1919. 430.1, 344, 384, 602.1. Octave. OLw. / 1st vol. The beginnings of the theory of surplus value to Adam Smith. Volume 2, Part One, David Ricardo. Volume 2 Part Two, David Ricardo. 3rd vol. From Ricardo to vulgar economy. All volumes with new resolutions.
  3. ^ Foreword, signed by the Institute for Marxism-Leninism at the Central Committee of the SED. MEW 26.1. S. V-XXIV. (quoted from Dietz Verlag Berlin, 6th edition 1985).
  4. Project Group Development of the Marxian System: The 4th Volume of 'Capital'? Commentary on the "theories about added value". Publishing house for the study of the labor movement GmbH West Berlin 1975. ISBN 3-87975-053-X .
  5. Heinz D. Kurz : Joseph A. Schumpeter. A social economist between Marx and Walras. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89518-508-6 . P. 54