資本論 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION(ENGELS, 1886)

The

publication

of

an

English

version

of

\"Das

Kapital\"

needs

no

apology.

On

the

contrary,

an

explanation

might

be

expected

why

this

English

version

has

been

delayed

until

now,

seeing

that

for

some

years

past

the

theories

advocated

in

this

book

have

been

constantly

referred

to,

attacked

and

defended,

interpreted

and

misinterpreted,

in

the

periodical

press

and

the

current

literature

of

both

England

and

America.

When,

soon

after

the

author's

death

in

1883,

it

became

evident

that

an

English

edition

of

the

work

was

really

required,

Mr.

Samuel

Moore,

for

many

years

a

friend

of

Marx

and

of

the

present

writer,

and

than

whom,

perhaps,

no

one

is

more

conversant

with

the

book

itself,

consented

to

undertake

the

translation

which

the

literary

executors

of

Marx

were

anxious

to

lay

before

the

public.

It

was

understood

that

I

should

compare

the

MS.

with

the

original

work,

and

suggest

such

alterations

as

I

might

deem

advisable.When,

by

and

by,

it

was

found

that

Mr.

Moore's

professional

occupations

prevented

him

from

finishing

the

translation

as

quickly

as

we

all

desired,

we

gladly

accepted

Dr.

Aveling's

offer

to

undertake

a

portion

of

the

work;

at

the

same

time

Mrs.

Aveling,

Marx's

youngest

daughter,

offered

to

check

the

quotations

and

to

restore

the

original

text

of

the

numerous

passages

taken

from

English

authors

and

Blue

books

and

translated

by

Marx

into

German.

This

has

been

done

throughout,

with

but

a

few

unavoidable

exceptions.

The

following

portions

of

the

book

have

been

translated

by

Dr.

Aveling:

(I)

Chapters

X.

(The

Working

Day),

and

XI.

(Rate

and

Mass

of

Surplus

Value);

(2)

Part

VI.

(Wages,

comprising

Chapters

XIX.

to

XII.);

(3)

from

Chapter

XIV.,

Section

4

(Circumstances

that

&c.)

to

the

end

of

the

book,comprising

the

latter

part

of

Chapter

XIV.,.

Chapter

XV.,

and

the

whole

of

Part

VIII.

(Chapters

XVI.to

XIII);

(4)

the

two

Author's

prefaces.

All

the

rest

of

the

book

has

been

done

by

Mr.

Moore.

While,thus,

each

of

the

translators

is

responsible

for

his

share

of

the

work

only,

I

bear

a

joint

responsibility

for

the

whole.

The

third

German

edition,

which

has

been

made

the

basis

of

our

work

throughout,

was

prepared

by

me,

in

1883,

with

the

assistance

of

notes

left

by

the

author,

indicating

the

passages

of

the

second

edition

to

be

replaced

by

designated

passages,

from

the

French

text

published

in

1873.1The

alterations

thus

effected

in

the

text

of

the

second

edition

generally

coincided

with

changes

prescribed

by

Marx

in

a

set

of

MS.

instructions

for

an

English

translation

that

was

planned,

about

ten

years

ago,

in

America,but

abandoned

chiefly

for

want

of

a

fit

and

proper

translator.

This

MS.

was

placed

at

our

disposal

by

our

old

friend

Mr.

F.

A.

Sorge

of

Hoboken

N.

J.It

designates

some

further

interpolations

from

the

French

edition;

but,

being

so

many

years

older

than

the

final

instructions

for

the

third

edition,

I

did

not

consider

myself

at

liberty

to

make

use

of

it

otherwise

than

sparingly,

and

chiefly

in

cases

where

it

helped

us

over

difficulties.

In

the

same

way,

the

French

text

has

been

referred

to

in

most

of

the

difficult

passages,

as

an

indicator

of

what

the

author

himself

was

prepared

to

sacrifice

wherever

something

of

the

full

import

of

the

original

had

to

be

sacrificed

in

the

rendering.

There

is,

however,

one

difficulty

we

could

not

spare

the

reader:

the

use

of

certain

terms

in

a

sense

different

from

what

they

have,

not

only

in

common

life,

but

in

ordinary

Political

Economy.

But

this

was

unavoidable.Every

new

aspect

of

a

science

involves

a

revolution

in

the

technical

terms

of

that

science.

This

is

best

shown

by

chemistry,

where

the

whole

of

the

terminology

is

radically

changed

about

once

in

twenty

years,

and

where

you

will

hardly

find

a

single

organic

compound

that

has

not

gone

through

a

whole

series

of

different

names.

Political

Economy

has

generally

been

content

to

take,

just

as

they

were,

the

terms

of

commercial

and

industrial

life,

and

to

operate

with

them,

entirely

failing

to

see

that

by

so

doing,

it

confined

itself

within

the

narrow

circle

of

ideas

expressed

by

those

terms.Thus,

though

perfectly

aware

that

both

profits

and

rent

are

but

sub-divisions,

fragments

of

that

unpaid

part

of

the

product

which

the

labourer

has

to

supply

to

his

employer

(its

first

appropriator,

though

not

its

ultimate

exclusive

owner),

yet

even

classical

Political

Economy

never

went

beyond

the

received

notions

of

profits

and

rents,

never

examined

this

unpaid

part

of

the

product

(called

by

Marx

surplus-product)

in

its

integrity

as

a

whole,

and

therefore

never

arrived

at

a

clear

comprehension,

either

of

its

origin

and

nature,or

of

the

laws

that

regulate

the

subsequent

distribution

of

its

value.

Similarly

all

industry,

not

agricultural

or

handicraft,

is

indiscriminately

comprised

in

the

term

of

manufacture,

and

thereby

the

distinction

is

obliterated

between

two

great

and

essentially

different

periods

of

economic

history:

the

period

of

manufacture

proper,

based

on

the

division

of

manual

labour,

and

the

period

of

modern

industry

based

on

machinery.

It

is,

however,

self-

evident

that

a

theory

which

views

modern

capitalist

production

as

a

mere

passing

stage

in

the

economic

history

of

mankind,

must

make

use

of

terms

different

from

those

habitual

to

writers

who

look

upon

that

form

of

production

as

imperishable

and

final.

A

word

respecting

the

author's

method

of

quoting

may

not

be

out

of

place.

In

the

majority

of

cases,

the

quotations

serve,

in

the

usual

way,

as

documentary

evidence

in

support

of

assertions

made

in

the

text.

But

in

many

instances,

passages

from

economic

writers

are

quoted

in

order

to

indicate

when,

where,

and

by

whom

a

certain

proposition

was

for

the

first

time

clearly

enunciated.

This

is

done

in

cases

where

the

proposition

quoted

is

of

importance

as

being

a

more

or

less

adequate

expression

of

the

conditions

of

social

production

and

exchange

prevalent

at

the

time,

and

quite

irrespective

of

Marx's

recognition,

or

otherwise,of

its

general

validity.

These

quotations,

therefore,supplement

the

text

by

a

running

commentary

taken

from

the

history

of

the

science.

Our

translation

comprises

the

first

book

of

the

work

only.

But

this

first

book

is

in

a

great

measure

a

whole

in

itself,

and

has

for

twenty

years

ranked

as

an

independent

work.

The

second

book,

edited

in

German

by

me,

in

1885,

is

decidedly

incomplete

without

the

third,

which

cannot

be

published

before

the

end

of

1887.

When

Book

III.

has

been

brought

out

in

the

original

German,

it

will

then

be

soon

enough

to

think

about

preparing

an

English

edition

of

both.

\"Das

Kapital\"

is

often

called,

on

the

Continent,

\"the

Bible

of

the

working

class.\"

That

the

conclusions

arrived

at

in

this

work

are

daily

more

and

more

becoming

the

fundamental

principles

of

the

great

working-

class

movement,

not

only

in

Germany

and

Switzerland,

but

in

France,

in

Holland

and

Belgium,

in

America,

and

even

in

Italy

and

Spain,

that

everywhere

the

working

class

more

and

more

recognises,

in

these

conclusions,

the

most

adequate

expression

of

its

condition

and

of

its

aspirations,

nobody

acquainted

with

that

movement

will

deny.

And

in

England,

too,the

theories

of

Marx,

even

at

this

moment,

exercise

a

powerful

influence

upon

the

socialist

movement

which

is

spreading

in

the

ranks

of

\"cultured\"

people

no

less

than

in

those

of

the

working

class.

But

that

is

not

all.

The

time

is

rapidly

approaching

when

a

thorough

examination

of

England's

economic

position

will

impose

itself

as

an

irresistible

national

necessity.The

working

of

the

industrial

system

of

this

country,impossible

without

a

constant

and

rapid

extension

of

production,

and

therefore

of

markets,

is

coming

to

a

dead

stop.

Free

Trade

has

exhausted

its

resources;

even

Manchester

doubts

this

its

quondam

economic

gospel.2Foreign

industry,

rapidly

developing,

stares

English

production

in

the

face

everywhere,

not

only

in

protected,

but

also

in

neutral

markets,

and

even

on

this

side

of

the

Channel.

While

the

productive

power

increases

in

a

geometric,

the

extension

of

markets

proceeds

at

best

in

an

arithmetic

ratio.

The

decennial

cycle

of

stagnation,

prosperity,

over-production

and

crisis,

ever

recurrent

from

1825

to

1867,

seems

indeed

to

have

run

its

course;

but

only

to

land

us

in

the

slough

of

despond

of

a

permanent

and

chronic

depression.The

sighed

for

period

of

prosperity

will

not

come;

as

often

as

we

seem

to

perceive

its

heralding

symptoms,so

often

do

they

again

vanish

into

air.

Meanwhile,each

succeeding

winter

brings

up

afresh

the

great

question,

\"what

to

do

with

the

unemployed\";

but

while

the

number

of

the

unemployed

keeps

swelling

from

year

to

year,

there

is

nobody

to

answer

that

question;and

we

can

almost

calculate

the

moment

when

the

unemployed

losing

patience

will

take

their

own

fate

into

their

own

hands.

Surely,

at

such

a

moment,

the

voice

ought

to

be

heard

of

a

man

whose

whole

theory

is

the

result

of

a

lifelong

study

of

the

economic

history

and

condition

of

England,

and

whom

that

study

led

to

the

conclusion

that,

at

least

in

Europe,

England

is

the

only

country

where

the

inevitable

social

revolution

might

be

effected

entirely

by

peaceful

and

legal

means.

He

certainly

never

forgot

to

add

that

he

hardly

expected

the

English

ruling

classes

to

submit,

without

a

\"pro-slavery

rebellion,\"

to

this

peaceful

and

legal

revolution.

NOTES:

1\"Le

Capital,\"

par

Karl

Marx.

Traduction

de

M.

J.

Roy,entierement

revisée

par

l'auteur.

Paris.

Lachatre.

This

translation,

especially

in

the

latter

part

of

the

book,

contains

considerable

alterations

in

and

additions

to

the

text

of

the

second

German

edition.

2At

the

quarterly

meeting

of

the

Manchester

Chamber

of

Commerce,

held

this

afternoon,

a

warm

discussion

took

place

on

the

subject

of

Free

Trade.

A

resolution

was

moved

to

the

effect

that

\"having

waited

in

vain

40

years

for

other

nations

to

follow

the

Free

Trade

example

of

England,

this

Chamber

thinks

the

time

has

now

arrived

to

reconsider

that

position.\"The

resolution

was

rejected

by

a

majority

of

one

only,

the

figures

being

21

for,

and

22

against.

–

Evening

Standard,

Nov.1,

1886.