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15158529 No.15158529 [Reply] [Original]

Which chapters are the most important? The opening chapter on commodities was tedious though insightful. Does each chapter need to be read consecutively or can I get into the more juicy critique parts after having read chapter one?

>> No.15158537

>>15158529
I just ordered this exact same version, so I would like to know too

>> No.15158632

>A new abridgement
Does it do a good job condensing the material? Some abridgements royally suck at accomplishing this goal.

>> No.15158702

All of it is important, but the chapters on machines, conditions in British factories and mines, and land enclosures don't need to be read AS closely, they're basically illustrations for the complex tendencies and counter-tendencies Marx is describing. They are very helpful for that reason, but whereas in the first few chapters you really need to follow closely the operations of commodity circuits he's describing, once you get to the long sections of charts and data and excerpted accounts on various dimensions of 19th century industry, you don't need to hunker down and absorb all that information about the particularities, you only need to understand how those are examples of the general tendencies Marx is describing. Like there will be extensive descriptions of the rate at which and way in which machine factories replaced older manufactories. You can't skip these parts but you don't need to read as closely. Some of it is genuinely very interesting historical accounts but it can get a bit frustrating when you're getting 70 pages of rigorous illustration.

Hope that helps

>> No.15159033

>>15158632
Oxford World's Classics has a good reputation. This seems to be the most reliable abridged version. It contains a majority of volume 1 and six chapters of volume 3. I'm not sure why contents of volume 2 were disregarded

>> No.15159042
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15159042

It ain't important

>> No.15159313

>>15158529
>or can I get into the more juicy critique parts after having read chapter one?
Yes, start with chapters 2 and 3.

>> No.15160624

>>15158529
>abridgement
I can't necessarily say because you're reading a fucked up version but you can jump right towards the end and read section 8 on Primitive Accumulation since he's writing from the most abstract to the more concrete.

Really it depends on what degree you think his value theory is "necessary" in his theory of social development. Most 20th century Marxists essentially dropped it in all but name.

>> No.15160800

http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/357k/357ksg.html
This is handy

>> No.15160856

>>15158529
Nothing in the whole book is important

>> No.15160872

>>15159033
because volume 2 is the very essence of tedium

>> No.15162195

>>15158529
read Brumaire insted

>> No.15162455

>>15160800
So fucking helpful. Thanks anon

>> No.15162726

>>15158529
Read Leszek Kolakowski’s Main Currents of Marxism instead.