Latest editorial
The victories that followed the American civil war and the 1960s civil rights era are once again under attack, echoing earlier efforts to roll back equality and redefine democracy, says JOE SIMS
KARL MARX wrote a lot about capital. And for Marxists today one meaning of “capital” at least is clear. It is private property — financial as well as physical, whether owned by individuals or corporations — which can be used to generate value.
Under capitalism, that value is produced through labour, by workers, who receive less in wages or other benefits (such as education or health services, paid for through taxation) than the value they produce.
The excess, the “surplus,” is taken as profit by the owners of capital, either for personal consumption or to invest in more capital to generate yet more wealth.
