/lit/ - Literature

>>19873424
The Marx and Engels reader by Tucker might be easier going if you just want an introduction to his thinking.

>>19873424
The beginning is the most abstract. Maybe try reading the chapters on primitive accumulation towards the end first if you're just interested in his historical worldview:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch26.htm

Also this is a great collection of brief notes from other sources getting at his more abstract conception on the internal dynamics of capitalism:
>Key Quotes on Techno-Depreciation, Fictitious Capital, and the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall

http://www.adventures-in-dialectics.org/Adventures-In-Dialectics/TechnoDepreciation/TechnoDepreciation-partA.pdf

http://www.adventures-in-dialectics.org/Adventures-In-Dialectics/TechnoDepreciation/TechnoDepreciation-partB.pdf

>>19873424
I generally never recommend reading an abridged book. If there are chapters that are unnecessary to read, you should decide that for yourself and skip them until you decide you want to read them. By abridging the book, some editor is deciding for himself what parts of the work are significant, which can be a big issue if key aspects of the philosophical assumptions are cut out, since you can no longer interpret the book critically.

>>19873424
Just read it? Do you have any background in this area? You should probably have read at least Smith first. If you care about his worldview other works might be better as Capital, at least for the first few hundred pages, is mostly about economics and relates working conditions in England during the first half of the 19th century.
>abridgement
ISHYGDDT

>>19873835
>Smith
Is there any pre-requisite for this?

>>19873843
Maybe Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu? It's hard to say. I started with the Greeks and read in largely chronological order. I think it's hard to just jump in part way but you can probably get away with reading Smith without prerequisites.
Fair warning, it's basically 800 pages about the corn trade in England between 1600 and 1800. But frankly if you can't get through that you'll never make it through 2500 pages of Capital.

I really enjoyed Robert Paul Wolff's books and lectures on Marx. He has one book on the mathematical and economic content of Marx, which is a decent enough exposition for humanities majors with no number sense. His better book, however, is Moneybags Must Be So Lucky, which is about Capital as a literary work, with particular attention paid to Marx's use of irony in the book, which scholars, even/especially marxists today igonre. You can read his books in an afternoon and get through his lectures in a week. After that, you can probably dive in to Capital with some bearings.

When I was a marxist, I was a big fan of David Harvey's reading guide. I think it's still good for getting the modern marxist's understanding of Marx, but I think Harvey is really trying to convince you of his worldview and doesn't realize how overt he's being.

You should also check out Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski. It's a good history of maxism with an obvious agenda. The first chapter especially would give you a good idea of the philosophical world Marx is coming from.

Marxism, socialism and communism all have one thing in common: a big pie in the sky. It's for dopes. Some miserable fucks always use those fancy -isms for you to give them power so that once they get hold of power, they'll be able to subjugate the entire population. Fuck em.

>>19873424
Start with supplementary literature

>I simply want to casually read about his worldview
Better to read Tucker's Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx, or volume one of Kolakowski's Main Currents of Marxism, or Sidney Hook's Towards the Understanding of Karl Marx, or all of the above (easiest to hardest: Hook -> Tucker -> Kolakowski). Then read any texts you are interested in, in the Marx-Engels reader. It's easier to start with the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, especially once you know what they are and why they are important precursors to Capital, than to just leap into Capital.

Alternatively you could try to follow Capital, maybe with David Harvey's lectures/book.

Or you could do all of the above. I personally think it's vital to get a handle on Marx's worldview and Hegelian background first.