Das Kapital

Das Kapital is a political-economic treatise by Karl Marx. The book is a critical analysis of capitalism and of the political economy practices during his time. Marx bases his work on that of the classical economists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and even Benjamin Franklin. However, he applies these authors' ideas critically and carefully, so his book is more a critical synthesis than it follows the lead of any one thinker. It also reflects the dialectical methodology of G.W.F. Hegel and the socialist ideas of French authors such as J.-P. Proudhon. The central injustice of capitalism, according to Marx, was that employers made their profits by paying labourers less than the true value of their labour. However, his book is not an ethical treatise as much as an (unfinished) explication of the "laws of motion" of the capitalist system.

Marx published the first volume of Das Kapital in 1867, though he died before he could finish the second and third ones; these were edited from Marx's manuscripts by his friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, and published in 1885 and 1894 respectively.

Marx notes in his preface to the French edition of Capital that the beginning of his work is not easy reading as he defines many terms, but once he has gotten through that it becomes easier to read. Others have subsequently agreed that the very beginning of Capital is the most difficult part to get through, which puts some people off from reading it.