Marx’s Grundrisse: Notebook VII

“Forces of production and social relations – two different sides of the development of the social individual – appear to capital as mere means, and are merely means for it to produce on its limited foundation. In fact, however, they are the material conditions to blow this foundation sky-high…” —Karl Marx, Grundrisse

Karl Marx developed his foundational thought and research for Capital in the notes of 1857-58, published posthumously as the Grundrisse (approximately translated as “rough draft”). Written during the first global economic crisis but undiscovered for nearly 50 years, only a few copies reached the West from a limited 1939-40 USSR edition. The work was finally published in English in 1973 as Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy.

“The enormous manuscript should be taken for what it is: a frenetic, and genial, intellectual note-taking…. The Grundrisse can be seen as a veritable ‘laboratory’ in which we can observe Marx in the very process of unfolding his dialectical investigation of the movement of capitalist social and economic forms. It is thus an ideal text for stimulating a discussion about the articulation and development of the Marxian critique of political economy.”  —Ricardo Bellofiore et al., In Marx’s Laboratory

We meet weekly to conduct a careful, page by page reading of the text, with a view to understanding the concepts that evolve within it. During the winter and spring 2023 we will be reading the final notebook, number VII, which begins with the widely discussed “Fragment on Machines.”

The MEP’s CAPITAL STUDIES GROUP have been reading together for six years. Newcomers are encouraged to join – prior knowledge of Capital and related works is helpful but not required. A complete video archive of prior Grundrisse sessions is available for review by participants. For more information email info@marxedproject.org