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The explanatory power of Das Kapital
ROBERT GRIFFITHS participated in last weekend’s conference in Moscow on ‘Marx’s Capital and its Impact on World Development.’ This is the text of his speech

IN 1867, Marx wrote to Johann Becker that Das Kapital would be “without question the most terrible MISSILE that has yet been hurled at the heads of the bourgeoisie.”

Ever since, Capital has armed the working class with the theory of surplus value, explaining why and how labour power is exploited to the profit of the capitalist class.

Since 1945, for example, the average production worker in Britain or the US has spent anywhere between 2.4 and 3.3 hours of an eight-hour working day performing unpaid labour, creating surplus value over and above the value of the commodities that can be purchased by their daily wage.

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