Reading Capital to Smash Capitalism

In Capital, Marx provides a theory of the enduring contradictions of capitalism. Marx’s identification of the structure of capitalism, and the method by which he uncovered that structure, provide us with a guide to seek our own precise assessment of the structures of exploitation and oppression in our own time. A scientific attitude must govern our exploration of why social inequality is reproduced routinely in our world.

It is clear that the capitalist system lurches from one crisis to another. The bourgeois order is more concerned to save the capitalist system than to save humanity. Marxists need to understand precisely the nature of the crisis and see within the world as it is what elements there are to carry us forward into the world that is to be built.

A reading of Capital – and an understanding of the socialist tradition – requires that we develop a sober assessment of the subjective limitations of our political forces. To develop strategies to build the independent strength of the working class and the peasantry remains a key task of our time, as it was in Marx’s time, another long period of counter-revolution. The authors of this volume have tried to explain Capital’s concepts as clearly as possible and to offer a summary that should provoke discussion and debate.