Capital and community:
the results of the immediate process of production and the economic work of Marx
 
by: Jacques Camatte
Translation: David Brown
Published: In French as Capital et Gemeinwesen (Paris: Spartacus, 1976). This translation published by Unpopular books, London 1988.
Transcription, markup & minor editing: Rob Lucas, 2006
Public domain: This work is completely free.
Note on this translation

 

The title of the work has been altered from the French in two ways. Firstly, Gemeinwesen is given as community as the German word is little used in English texts. Secondly, instead of The Sixth Chapter, the Resultate des unmittelbaren Produktions Prozesses is translated as Results of the Immediate Process of Production.

Page references in the text to works by Marx and Engels refer to a table given below. They are not always simple citations to the English editions, as these are often inadequate. To avoid endless notes refering to German editions, these are given in an appendix of cross-references.

Abbreviations used:-

Marx Engels Collected Works (London, 1975-) MECW
Marx Engels Selected Works Volume 3 (London, 1970) MESW
Marx Engels Selected Correspondence (London 1975) MESC
The Letters of Karl Marx ed. S.K. Padover (Englewood Cliffs, 1979) Padover ed.
Capital Vols. I, II and III (Penguin ed. Haruiondsworth, 1976, 1978, 1981) Capital
Theories of Surplus Value Parts I, II and III (London, 1969, 1969, 1972) TSV
Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (London, 1971) Contribution
Grundrisse (Harmondsworth, 1973) Grundrisse
Results of the Immediate Process of Production in Capital I Results
Notes on Wagner in Theoretical Practice 5 (London, Spring 1972) Notes on Wagner

in German:-

Urtext in Grundrisse (Berlin, 1953) pp. 869-947 Urtext
Marx Engels Werke (Berlin, 1956-68) MEW
Marx Engels Gesamtausgabe (Berlin, 1978-) MEGA
Resultate des unmittelbaren Produktions Prozesses (Frankfurt, 1969) Resultate

in French:-

Marx Oeuvres; Economie I (Paris, 1965) Economie I

 

Technical questions on translations of German terms used by Marx are largely dealt with in notes or in the body of the text below (cf. Note on Alienation pp. 104-112; footnotes on pages 25, 37, 46, 91, 94, 96, 116, 134 and 147; in the text proper p. 19 and p. 67), or are simply included in the form of the original German word in brackets in the citations used. In one case (Chapter Seven) this was impossible. Here the term Empfangsschein Marx used to translate Gray's "receipt" I have given as labour receipt throughout the chapter, although Marx also uses the terms certificate and even bank note for the same thing in the Contribution (' ....an official certificate... i.e. a receipt (Empfangsschein) .. and this bank-note (Banknoten) of one labour week..." pp. 83-4). In both the Contribution and Capital II Marx uses Anweisung too (= order, token), while in the Critique of the Gotha Programme simply Schein which are translated as token and certificate respectively, although they mean exactly the same as the previous terms.

Finally, questions of French translations of Marx's works dealt with by the author are all given in full as they illustrate many important points. However, it was not felt at all useful to comment on every change we have made in English translations of Marx, also the book would have had to have been considerably extended.

David Brown

London, July 1982

 

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