A Contribution to The Critique Of The Political Economy

[155] The transformation of money into capital we shall consider in the third chapter which treats of capital and forms the end of the first book.

[156] This introduction was first published in the Neue Zeit (see Translator's Preface, p. 5) of March 7, 14 and 21, 1903, by Karl Kautsky, with the following explanation:

"This article has been found among the posthumous papers of Karl Marx. It is a fragmentary sketch of a treatise that was to have served as an introduction to his main work, which he had been writing for many years and whose outline was clearly formed in his mind. The manuscript is dated August 23, 1857.... As the idea is very often indicated only in fragmentary sentences, I have taken the liberty of introducing here and there changes in style, insertions of words, etc.... A mere reprint of the original would have made it unintelligible.... Not all the words in the manuscript are legible....

"Wherever there could be no doubt as to the necessity of corrections, I did so without indicating them in the text; in other cases I put all insertions in brackets. Wherever I am not certain as to whether I have deciphered a word correctly, I have put an interrogation point after it; other changes are specially noted. In all other respects this is an exact reprint of the original, whose fragmentary and incomplete passages serve to remind us only too painfully of the many treasures of thought which went down to the grave with Marx, treasures which would have sufficed for generations if Marx had not so anxiously avoided giving to the world any of his ideas until he had tested them repeatedly from every conceivable point of view and had given them a wording that would be incontrovertible. In spite of its fragmentary character it opens before us a wealth of new points of view."

[157] The original reads "person."

[158] The manuscript reads "production."

[159] The manuscript reads "production."

[160] The German text reads "instruktiv," which I take to be a misprint of "instinktiv." Translator.

[161] Compare this with foot-note 1, on p. 34 of Capital, Humboldt edition, New York:

"Truly comical is M. Bastiat, who imagines that the ancient Greeks and Romans lived by plunder alone. But when people plunder for centuries, there must always be something at hand for them to seize; the objects of plunder must be continually reproduced." K. Kautsky.

[162] The English expression is used by Marx in his German original. Transl.

[163] Marx evidently has in mind here a passage in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (vol. 2, ch. 2) in which he speaks of the circulation of a country as consisting of two distinct parts: circulation between dealers and dealers, and that between dealers and consumers. The word dealer signifies here not only a merchant or shopkeeper, but also a producer. K. Kautsky.

[164] Here two words in the manuscript can not be deciphered. They look like "ausser sich" ("outside of itself"). K. Kautsky.

[165] Distribution (Verkehr) is used here in the sense of physical distribution of goods and not in sense of economic distribution of the shares of the products between the different factors of production. Translator.

[166] As the "notes" written down by Marx in the following eight paragraphs are extremely fragmentary, making translation in some cases impossible without a certain degree of interpretation, and as the original is not accessible in book-form, they are reproduced here in German for the benefit of the student who may feel interested in the original wording as it had been jotted down by Marx.

[167] Im Original ist zu lesen    Va

[168] Im Original ist zu lesen    egtl.

[169] The site of the "Times" building in London. K. K.