The Publishing Process of the First Series of Karl Marx’s Le Capital (February–October 1872)

Abstract

The French translation of Das Kapital volume I, a work of political economy published in 44 instalments arranged in series, has an important place in the œuvre of Karl Marx. With Le Capital, Marx wanted to bring out a rendition of volume I that would appeal to the French public, and particularly to the workers. The publishing process of the first series of Le Capital took shape in the wake of the Paris Commune, which resulted in a wave of revolutionaries leaving France. Despite its importance, there are few reports that attempt to reconstruct Le Capital’s publishing process to reveal the course of events. This includes the writing, translating, editing and printing of this work. In the present text, we offer an account of how the publishing process evolved in order to better understand the working conditions that shaped the content of this French translation. We wish to concentrate on what is perhaps one of the most contentious phases in the process of publishing Le Capital, namely that of the first series.