An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx's Capital [Paperback]

With "An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx's Capital", Michael Heinrich's magisterial introduction, which has established itself as the standard reference in Germany in little under a decade, is now finally available to English-speakers.

Unlike most introductions to Capital, Heinrich's does not stop at Volume I, but provides a guide to readers attempting to tackle all three volumes by providing clarification of key terms, in a concise manner without sacrificing depth, and with extensive quotations not only from Marx's published works, but also many of the unpublished manuscripts available in the German MEGA edition (the complete edition of the works of Marx and Engels).

This last point is particularly advantageous, because in clarifying certain potentially controversial points concerning abstract labor and the substance of value, Heinrich is able to buttress his arguments with quotations from Marx's own revision manuscripts for the first volume (some of which were incorporated into the French edition, the last edition supervised by Marx in his lifetime).

Furthermore, Heinrich's own involvement with the MEGA project and general expertise as a Marxologist is an aid in avoiding some of the pitfalls in other available English introductions, such as David Harvey's. Whereas Harvey, for example, is reliant upon the David Fowkes translation of Vol. I, which sometimes leads to egregious errors ("sachlich", which means "objective", is erroneously translated as "material", which causes real mischief for Harvey's exposition), Heinrich actually corrects phrases in English where necessary.

Another advantage, as an advocate of the German "New Reading of Marx", Heinrich emphasizes money and finance as central to Marx's analysis of capitalism, and constitutive for Marx's theory of value, unlike many traditional Marxists who, like the neoclassical mainstream in economics, tend to regard production as "primary" and the spheres of money and finance as merely "superstructures."

Overall, this is an ideal introduction for reading groups, or official college courses, and one hopes it will establish itself as the standard reference for English-speakers as it has in Germany.

I purchased this book hoping to find some succor in my reading of Capital Vol II. Much to my chagrin, all of Volume II is covered in 10 pages. 100 are Volume 1, 40 are volume III, and the rest are musings on other Marxists matters (fetish, communism, the state, etc.). Thus, the author, like most people, has a serious problem with presenting appearance and essence. The appearance is that this book is an introduction to all three volumes, where as it's really an interpretation that picks a fight with several schools of thought. Instead of letting Marx speak for himself, this author speaks for Marx, through a fastidious reading, and uses this perspective to assail other Marxist readings. For instance, instead of just explaining what Marx's theory of Crisis is, the author opens with the claim that it's simply incorrect, and then discusses some attempts to tinker with it. The same is done for the "transformation problem," which isn't even a problem if one is being introduced to Marx; instead we are exposed to academic fisticuffs. Unsurprisingly the author concludes the transformation problem is unsolved by Marx, and fails to reference the TSSI model as presented by Andrew Kliman, and others, that show internal consistency within Marx's approach, that leads to no actual problem of transformation. This same pattern carries on with the commodity fetish, Marx's theory of money, and Marx's theory of value. Instead of just summarizing what Marx says, the author finds numerous sources of contention, with Marx, with Marxist, with non-Marxist, etc.

Overall this is a good book if you've already read all three volumes, and are looking for intellectual stimulus, some ingenious ideas, interesting interpretations, etc. Or, it's a good book if you've already read Volume I and want to read just the first 100 pages. It is not a good book if you are actually looking for an introduction to all three volumes. David Harvey still has the best introduction to Volume I,* ever published, and there seems to be nothing worthwhile in here regarding volume II nor III. While I wrestled a lot with my own opinions on volume I (only because I've read Harvey's companion, and the actual book twice) and found that particular wrestling educationally worthwhile, I learned nothing about volume II I hadn't already picked up on actually reading it, independent of this authors interpretation. Moreover, Ernest Mandel's introduction in all three volumes of Capital is a far more consistent, and helpful introduction to each volume of Capital, albeit equally aggressive. Thus, don't read this book as introduction, but as food for thought, and a source to challenge your own reading of Marx. It should be retitled "Re-Interpreting Marx's Capital, in the 21st Century."

One final note. Clearly Monthly Review press has some trouble publishing this book - it came out 2 months later than they indicated on the website - and the Preface to the book is riddled with errors. The first page alone contains approximately 10 grammar, and spelling errors. Don't let this foil the whole experience. Once you pass the preface, the proper editing and translation arises.

*like this author, Harvey also provides his own interpretation of Marx's Capital for the 21st century, but he at least does this alongside what Marx actually says, instead of presenting the interpretation as Marx's actual position. So with Harvey you can weigh the ideas, in a proper juxtaposition, whereas with this author you have to have already read Capital - and understood it - to juxtapose properly.

Heinrich's Introduction to Marx's CAPITAL is a very important work for many a reason. First of all, its language is clear, precise and accurate, so that everybody will be able to understand very difficult terms like surplus value, avarage profit, etc.; secondly, Heinrich's analysis is comprehensive because it is not focused only on the first volume of Marx's CAPITAL but it takes into account all the three volumes. Thus everybody who is interested in Marxism and in the study of the current stage of capitalism will benefit from reading this Introduction.

Prof. Luciano Vitacolonna
University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy)