The Circulation of Capital: Volume II of Marx’s Capital

In Volume I of Capital, Marx analyzes the processes of capitalist production and accumulation and identifies the real sources of wealth: nature and the labor performed by working people. In Volume II, The Process of Circulation of Capital, he addresses the next big question: How can the reproduction of society as a whole take place, if there is no conscious social planning that ensures that all needs are met, in the necessary proportions, such that life can persist and the capitalist relations of production be sustained? We discover the answer, but we also learn of new contradictions and sources of crisis inherent to capitalist society. Marx thereby lays the groundwork for the system-wide analyses in Volume III, The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole.

We welcome all who have a basic knowledge of Volume I of Capital to this ongoing weekly study group. Participants are closely reading and discussing Volume II, guided by Fred Murphy and other experienced students of Marx from the MEP. We use a hybrid approach to cover the entire book. For key chapters or sections, we do a line-by-line reading with commentary and occasional supplemental materials. Participants read other sections on their own, and we summarize and discuss when we meet. The series is ongoing until we have read the entire book. At present we are reading Part Three, “The Reproduction and Circulation of the Total Social Capital.”

Fred Murphy facilitates this group. Fred has led numerous study groups on ecosocialism, science and technology, the history of capitalism, and Latin American politics at the Marxist Education Project since 2015. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research.

RSVP below to join the group in progress. There is no registration fee but a suggested donation of $50 or whatever amount you can afford will help support the work of the MEP.