Capital, Volume III
Encyclopedia
Capital, Volume III, subtitled The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole, was prepared by Friedrich Engels
from notes left by Karl Marx
and published in 1894. It is in seven parts:
The work is best known today for part 3, which in summary says that as the organic fixed capital requirements of production rise as a result of advancements in production generally, the rate of profit
tends to fall. This result, which orthodox Marxists believe is a principal contradictory characteristic leading to an inevitable collapse of the capitalist order, was held by Marx and Engels to, as a result of various contradictions in the capitalist mode of production
, result in crises whose resolution necessitates the emergence of an entirely new mode of production
as the culmination of the same historical dialectic that led to the emergence of capitalism
from prior forms
.
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
from notes left by Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and published in 1894. It is in seven parts:
- The conversion of Surplus Value into Profit and the rate of Surplus Value into the rate of Profit
- Conversion of Profit into Average Profit
- The Law of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to FallTendency of the rate of profit to fallThe tendency of the rate of profit to fall is a hypothesis in economics and political economy, most famously expounded by Karl Marx in chapter 13 of Das Kapital Vol. 3. It was generally accepted in the 19th century...
- Conversion of Commodity Capital and Money Capital into Commercial Capital and Money-Dealing Capital (Merchant's Capital)
- Division of Profit Into Interest and Profit of Enterprise, Interest Bearing Capital.
- Transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground Rent.
- Revenues and Their Sources
The work is best known today for part 3, which in summary says that as the organic fixed capital requirements of production rise as a result of advancements in production generally, the rate of profit
Rate of profit
In economics and finance, the profit rate is the relative profitability of an investment project, of a capitalist enterprise, or of the capitalist economy as a whole...
tends to fall. This result, which orthodox Marxists believe is a principal contradictory characteristic leading to an inevitable collapse of the capitalist order, was held by Marx and Engels to, as a result of various contradictions in the capitalist mode of production
Capitalist mode of production
In Marx's critique of political economy, the capitalist mode of production is the production system of capitalist societies, which began in Europe in the 16th century, grew rapidly in Western Europe from the end of the 18th century, and later extended to most of the world...
, result in crises whose resolution necessitates the emergence of an entirely new mode of production
Mode of production
In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production is a specific combination of:...
as the culmination of the same historical dialectic that led to the emergence of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
from prior forms
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
.
See also
- Capital, Volume ICapital, Volume ICapital, Volume I , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production, and of the class struggle rooted in the capitalist social relations of...
- Capital, Volume IICapital, Volume IICapital, Volume II, subtitled The Process of Circulation of Capital, was prepared by Friedrich Engels from notes left by Karl Marx and published in 1885...
- Differential and absolute ground rentDifferential and Absolute Ground RentDifferential ground rent and absolute ground rent are concepts used by Karl Marx in the third volume of Das Kapital to explain how the capitalist mode of production would operate in agricultural production, under the condition where most agricultural land was owned by a social class of land-owners...
- Prices of productionPrices of productionPrices of production refers to a concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy. It is introduced in the third volume of Das Kapital, where Marx considers the operation of capitalist production as the unity of a production process and a circulation process involving commodities, money and...
- Tendency of the rate of profit to fallTendency of the rate of profit to fallThe tendency of the rate of profit to fall is a hypothesis in economics and political economy, most famously expounded by Karl Marx in chapter 13 of Das Kapital Vol. 3. It was generally accepted in the 19th century...
- Fictitious capitalFictitious capitalFictitious capital is a concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. It is introduced in chapter 29 of the third volume of Capital. Fictitious capital contrasts with what Marx calls "real capital" which is capital actually invested in physical means of production and workers, and...
Further reading
- Althusser, Louis and Balibar, Étienne. Reading Capital. London: Verso, 2009.
- Louis AlthusserLouis AlthusserLouis Pierre Althusser 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....
(1969) How to Read Marx's Capital from Marxism TodayMarxism TodayMarxism Today was the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain and was disestablished in 1991. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacques...
, October 1969, 302-305. Originally appeared (in French) in Humanité on April 21, 1969. - Bottomore, Tom, ed. A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
- Fine, BenBen FineFor the New York Times reporter see Benjamin FineBen Fine is Professor of Economics at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. He is the author of a number of works in the broad tradition of Marxist economics, and has made contributions on economic imperialism and social...
. Marx's Capital. 5th ed. London: Pluto, 2010. - Harvey, DavidDavid Harvey (geographer)David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York . A leading social theorist of international standing, he received his PhD in Geography from University of Cambridge in 1961. Widely influential, he is among the top 20 most cited...
. A Companion to Marx's Capital. London: Verso, 2010. - Harvey, David. The Limits of Capital. London: Verso, 2006.
- Mandel, ErnestErnest MandelErnest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter , was a revolutionary Marxist theorist.-Life:...
. Marxist Economic Theory. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970. - Postone, Moishe. Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
- Shipside, Steve. Karl Marx's Das Kapital: A Modern-day Interpretation of a True Classic. Oxford: Infinite Ideas, 2009. ISBN 978-1-906821-04-3
- Wheen, Francis. Marx's Das Kapital--A Biography. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006. ISBN 0802143946; ISBN 978-0802143945.