Preface to Marx-Engels Collected Works Volume (33)

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Volume 33 of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels contains the continuation of Marx’s Economic Manuscript of 1861-63 (Notebooks XV to XX, pp. 944-1251 of the manuscript, and the continuation of Notebook V, pp. 211-19). The preceding part of the manuscript will be found in volumes 30 to 32. The whole manuscript is presented here in accordance with its new publication in the languages of the original in Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), Zweite Abteilung, Bd. 3 (Teile 1-6), Berlin, 1976-1982.

In the text contained in this volume Marx continues his analysis of the capitalist economy, concentrating, in particular, on the theory of surplus value and its relation to profit, and proceeds with his critique of earlier political economists (Thomas Hodgskin, Sir George Ramsay, Antoine Elisée Cherbuliez, Richard Jones).

Obvious slips of the pen in Marx’s text have been corrected by the editors without comment. The proper and geographical names and other words abbreviated by the author are given in full. Defects in the manuscript are indicated in footnotes, places where the text is damaged or illegible are marked by dots. Where possible, editorial reconstructions are given in square brackets.

Foreign words and phrases are given as used by Marx, with the translation supplied in footnotes where necessary. English phrases and individual words occurring in the original are set in small caps. Longer passages and quotations in English are given in asterisks. Some of the words are now somewhat archaic or have undergone changes in usage. For example, the term “nigger”, which has acquired generally—and especially in the USA—a more profane and unacceptable status than it had in Europe during the 19th century. The passages from English economists quoted by Marx in French or German are given according to contemporary English editions. In all cases the form of quoting used by Marx is respected. The language in which Marx quotes is indicated unless it is German.

The text and apparatus to Volume 33 were prepared by Alexander Chepurenko and Lyubov Zalunina (Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CC CPSU). Svetlana Kiseleva (IML) took part in compiling the Name Index and the Index of Quoted and Mentioned Literature. The bulk of the text in this volume was translated by Ben Fowkes (Lawrence & Wishart) and edited by Victor Schnittke and Andrei Skvarsky. The translation of pp. 1084-1157 of Marx’s manuscript was taken from the threevolume edition of Marx’s Theories of Surplus Value, issued by Progress Publishers, Moscow. It was made by Emile Burns, Renate Simpson and Jack Cohen and edited by Salo Ryazanskaya. This section was editorially checked with the new MEGA edition by Natalia Karmanova and Alia Varavitskaya (Progress Publishers). The volume was prepared for the press by Svetlana Gerasimenko (Progress Publishers).

The scientific editor for this volume was Larisa Miskievich (Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CC CPSU).