Michael Heinrich has written a companion book for the first seven chapters (he also recommends starting with chapter 1): “How to Read Marx’s Capital”. I found it be very helpful. There’s also a podcast called “Reading Capital with Comrades” by Derek Ford and Liberation School that’s excellent.
There are two recommendations I make to people reading it for the first time. 1.) Always try to keep in mind that Marx is describing capitalism; discussions about how all this might apply to communism are left out. I think some readers try and read into how Marx’s analysis fits in with communism, and while that’s a useful discussion later on I think it just makes things a bit more confusing early on. Just focus on how he’s trying to show how capitalism works.
2.) In Marx’s time, the working class were largely paid for a day’s work. This is pretty uncommon now; typically we are either paid hourly or a monthly or annual salary. But back then it didn’t really matter if you worked 10 hours or 16 in a day, you would still get paid the same £X per day. This doesn’t actually change the analysis but it can get confusing especially in the sections where the length of the working day are being analyzed.
Michael Heinrich has written a companion book for the first seven chapters (he also recommends starting with chapter 1): “How to Read Marx’s Capital”. I found it be very helpful. There’s also a podcast called “Reading Capital with Comrades” by Derek Ford and Liberation School that’s excellent.
There are two recommendations I make to people reading it for the first time. 1.) Always try to keep in mind that Marx is describing capitalism; discussions about how all this might apply to communism are left out. I think some readers try and read into how Marx’s analysis fits in with communism, and while that’s a useful discussion later on I think it just makes things a bit more confusing early on. Just focus on how he’s trying to show how capitalism works.
2.) In Marx’s time, the working class were largely paid for a day’s work. This is pretty uncommon now; typically we are either paid hourly or a monthly or annual salary. But back then it didn’t really matter if you worked 10 hours or 16 in a day, you would still get paid the same £X per day. This doesn’t actually change the analysis but it can get confusing especially in the sections where the length of the working day are being analyzed.