Abstract

Karl Marx’s Capital are mostly read as an excellent but disputed analysis of the capitalist mode of production in its ‘classical’ stage in mid-nineteenth century Great Britain, isolated from Marx’s life-long historical-philosophical and strategic-political search for a communist alternative. Brie challenges the view that Marx’s Capital and his economic manuscripts are merely an analysis of the capitalist mode of production, stressing the importance of the historical elements of Marx’s masterpiece and the permanent elaboration of a post-capitalist, that is, communist society in all of the drafts. This approach reveals the embeddedness of Marx’s economic analysis in his search for a strategy of transformation beyond capitalism, and its close link to the workers’ and socialist movements of his time. Brie demonstrates the critical importance of such a Marxian reading for current discussions around socio-ecological transformation towards a post-growth society.