Karl Marx’s three volumes of

[

] (1867-94) stand as the most influential set of left-wing analyses of the capitalist economy. Written as a rebuttal to liberal political economy mainly represented by Adam Smith’s

(1776), Marx’s

devotes itself to a forensic demolition of political and economic liberalism that celebrates the marketplace as a naturally harmonizing sphere and idealizes the sanctity of private property. Although Marx meant

to form an integral part of his explicitly political and historical writings in support of the international communist movement, the works have little to say about political activism. Yet the three volumes are crucial reading regardless of one’s political allegiances for they stand,…

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Citation: Shapiro, Stephen. "Das Kapital (Volume One)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 February 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4271, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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