Karl Marx

Karl Marx

"The wealth of societies appears as an immense collection of commodities."

Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a German philosopher and political economist who wrote Das Kapital in London exile. Volume I (1867) remains the classic X-ray of the commodity, the wage, and the surplus that a working day can produce.

1 book·Political Economy & Capital
Karl Marx

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Key Ideas & Recurring Themes

The commodity fetish

Social relations that appear as relations between things and prices.

Surplus value

The unpaid hours in a working day that appear as profit once goods are sold.

Primitive accumulation

The historical making of owners and of people with only labour-power to sell.

Notable Quotes

"Capital is dead labour, that, vampire-like, only lives by sucking living labour."
— Das Kapital, Volume I

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Book Author Karl Marx