Abstract
In the Preface to the first German edition of CAPITAL, Marx declares that his “Ultimate aim in this work is to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society”. Despite its importance, this phrase has not gotten the attention it deserves, either from Marx in the pages that follow, or from most of his readers. My main aim in this chapter is to make up for this lapse. I will also examine whether Marx succeeds in doing what he says he intends to do… if not, why not… and, again, if not, what can and must we do about this today.
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References
Engels, F. (1951). Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Selected Works in Two Volumes (Vol. 1). Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House.
Marx, K. (1958). Capital (Vol. I). Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House.
Marx, K. (1959). Capital (Vol. III). Moscow: Foreign Language Publishing House.
Ollman, B. (2003). Dance of the Dialectic: Steps in Marx’s Method. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
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Ollman, B. (2020). Marx’s ‘Ultimate Aim’ in Writing Capital Was…. In: Silver, M. (eds) Confronting Capitalism in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13639-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13639-0_2
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