Explain the bookclub: We are reading Volumes 1, 2, and 3 in one year and discussing it in weekly threads. (Volume IV, often published under the title Theories of Surplus Value, will not be included in this particular reading club, but comrades are encouraged to do other solo and collaborative reading.) This bookclub will repeat yearly. The three volumes in a year works out to about 6½ pages a day for a year, 46⅔ pages a week. However, we’re a bit ahead of the curve right now, and can slow down to about 41 pages a week.
I’ll post the readings at the start of each week and @mention anybody interested. Let me know if you want to be added or removed.
Just joining us? You can use the archives below to help you reading up to where the group is. There is another reading group on a different schedule at https://lemmygrad.ml/c/genzhou (federated at !genzhou@lemmygrad.ml ) which may fit your schedule better. The idea is for the bookclub to repeat annually, so there’s always next year.
Archives: Week 1 – Week 2 – Week 3 – Week 4 – Week 5 – Week 6 – Week 7 – Week 8 – Week 9 – Week 10 – Week 11 – Week 12 – Week 13 – Week 14 – Week 15 – Week 16 – Week 17 – Week 18 – Week 19 – Week 20 – Week 21 – Week 22 – Week 23 – Week 24 – Week 25 – Week 26 – Week 27 – Week 28 – Week 29 – Week 30 – Week 31 – Week 32 – Week 33 – Week 34 – Week 35 – Week 36
These chapters have been really interesting, especially with Marx pointing out how commercial capital makes it’s profit. It’s interesting how the general rate of profit affects things. Are things like ground rent and interest also going to be something like that to? As in just taking a portion of the total surplus value yet to be realized?
Marx bringing up merchants lowering their prices to drive out others reminds me of Walmart doing that to kick out local stores? I think? Also it seems like vol 3 is now getting to the really fun stuff with Marx talking more of money and that.
They must be right? There’s only one source of actual surplus value so any extraction that isn’t just consuming what already exists has to be feeding from that, I think?
Yea it should be? I just wonder how that plays out, especially for the general rate of profit or that tendency for it to fall. Like with commercial capital being detrimental to industrial capital in terms of that profit, taking up their own share