The ''Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie'' (''Foundations of a Critique of Political Economy'') is an unfinished
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
by the German philosopher
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
. The series of seven notebooks was rough-drafted by Marx, chiefly for purposes of self-clarification, during the winter of 1857–8. Left aside by Marx in 1858, it remained unpublished until 1939.
Contents
The ''Grundrisse'' is very wide-ranging in subject matter and covers all six sections of Marx's critique of political economy (of which only one, the first volume of ''
Das Kapital
''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...
'', ever reached a final form). It is often described as the rough draft of ''Das Kapital'', although there is considerable disagreement about the exact relationship between the two texts, particularly around the issue of
methodology
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...
.
Due to its breadth and its incorporation of themes from Marx's earlier writings, the ''Grundrisse'' is central to Marx's body of work. Its subject matter includes the prices of production,
relations of production
Relations of production (german: Produktionsverhältnisse, links=no) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their theory of historical materialism and in ''Das Kapital''. It is first explicitly used in Marx's publish ...
,
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
*Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
* Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
value
Value or values may refer to:
Ethics and social
* Value (ethics) wherein said concept may be construed as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, associating value to them
** Values (Western philosophy) expands the notion of value beyo ...
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
, the rise of
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
and
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
, pre-capitalist forms of social organization, and the preconditions for a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
revolution. Scholars have noted major differences between the Marx's earlier writings, such as '' The German Ideology'' and '' The Communist Manifesto'', and the later ones, ''Das Kapital'' and ''Grundrisse'', suggesting that Marx's views evolved, though the main themes remained the same.
As Martin Nicolaus and others have argued, the ''Grundrisse'' is crucial for understanding Marx's mature analysis of capitalism, even though, historically, it has been far less influential in the development of the various strands of
Marxist theory
Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew fro ...
than earlier texts such as the ''Communist Manifesto'', the '' Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844'', and ''The German Ideology''. Towards the end of his life, Marx, according to Nicolaus, viewed the latter “with a scepticism bordering on rejection.” The ''Grundrisse'', on the other hand, was one of the few texts which Marx spoke of “with a tone of achievement and a sense of accomplishment.” If this is true, possibly the main reason is that the more substantive first part of ''The German Ideology'' was largely written by
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels" '' linguistic apostasies and word-mongering of Left- Hegelian philosophers, were written by Marx himself.
French philosopher
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy.
Althusser ...
believed that Marx's thought had been misunderstood and underestimated. He condemned various interpretations of Marx—such as historicism, idealism, economism—on the grounds that they fail to realise that Marx's "science of history",
historical materialism
Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
, represents a revolutionary view of social change. Althusser believed these errors to result from the notion (mistaken in his view) that Marx's entire body of work forms a coherent whole. Althusser proffered a radical "
epistemological break
Epistemological rupture (or epistemological break) is a notion introduced in 1938 by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, and later used by Louis Althusser.Althusser, L. (1969), ''For Marx'', translated by Ben Brewster, 33–34, Verso. .
Bachelard ...
" in Marx's thought, which can be seen by comparing the unpublished ''Grundrisse'' and ''Das Kapital''.
Dissemination
''Grundrisse'' became available in different languages over a period of time.
* 1939–41 First German edition Marx–Engels Institute,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
* 1953 Second German edition ,
GDR
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
* 1958–65 Japanese translation
* 1962–78 Chinese translation
* 1967–68 French translation Roger Dangeville ( International Communist Party)
* 1968–69 Russian translation
* 1968–70 Italian translation
* 1970–71 Spanish translation
* 1971 Swedish translation
* 1971–77 Czech translation
*1972 Hungarian translation
*1972–74 Romanian translation
*1973 English translation
*1974–75 Slovak translation
*1974–78 Danish translation
*1979 Serbian/Serbo-Croatian translation
*1979 Turkish translation
*1985 Slovenian translation
*1985–87
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
The translation of the ''Grundrisse'' into English in 1973 had a profound effect on the then-emerging field of
cultural studies
Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...
. Stuart Hall, at that time the director of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, led several seminars on Marx's introduction to the ''Grundrisse'', particularly "The method of political economy." These seminars culminated in the publication of a working paper titled “Marx’s Notes on Method: A ‘Reading’ of the ‘1857 Introduction.’” According to Greg Wise, in that working paper, Hall lays the groundwork for theories of overdetermination and articulation, both of which would be used in a study of mugging in the United Kingdom, Policing the Crisis.
Footnotes
Further reading
* Bottomore, Tom, ed. ''A Dictionary of Marxist Thought''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
*Choat, Simon. ''Marx's 'Grundrisse': A reader's guide.'' London, U.K. : Bloomsbury Academic. 240p. (Reader's Guides)
* Elliott, John E., ''Marx's Grundrisse: Vision of capitalism's creative destruction''. Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics. Winter 1978-79, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 148-169.
*
Harvey, David
David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his PhD ...
. ''The Limits of Capital''. London: Verso, 2006.
* Lallier, Adalbert G. ''The Economics of Marx’s Grundrisse: an Annotated Summary''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
* Mandel, Ernest. ''The Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx: 1843 to Capital.'' London: Verso, 2015.
* Mandel, Ernest. ''Marxist Economic Theory''. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970.
* Negri, Antonio. ''Marx Beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse''. Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 1989.
*
Postone, Moishe
Moishe Postone (April 17, 1942 – March 19, 2018) was a Canadian historian and social theorist. He was a professor of history at the University of Chicago, where he was part of the Committee on Jewish Studies.
Life and career
Postone was bor ...
. ''Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory.'' Cambridge ngland Cambridge University Press, 1993.
* Roman Rosdolsky. ''The Making of Marx's Capital''. London: Pluto Press, 1977.
* Tronti, Mario. ''Workers and Capital''. London: Verso, 2019.
* Uchida, Hiroshi. ''Marx's ''Grundrisse'' and Hegel's ''Logic.'' ''Terrell Carber, ed. London: Routledge, 2015.