However, I want to tell the media and readers that Marx never said such a thing. This is a typical example of spreading wrong information!
The above sentence is the footnote of Marx's famous saying, "Capital comes to this world, and from head to toe, every pore is dripping with blood and dirt."
Marx's famous saying comes from the end of the sixth section of "Chapter XXIV so-called primitive accumulation" in Volume I of Das Kapital, that is, Marx's Das Kapital (Volume I), People's Publishing House, 1975, 1 edition, p. 829.
Footnote (250) of this famous saying is:
"Critics Quarterly" said: "Capital escapes turbulence and disputes, and its nature is timid. This is a fact, but not the whole truth. Capital is afraid of no profit or too little profit, just as nature is afraid of a vacuum. Once there is a proper profit, capital will be bold. If there is a profit of 10%, it is guaranteed to be used everywhere; With a profit of 20%, it will be active; With a profit of 50%, you will take risks; For the profit of 100%, it dares to trample on all human laws; With 300% profit, it dares to commit any crime, even risking being hanged. If unrest and conflict can bring profits, it will encourage them. Smuggling and slave trade are proof. " (Tojo's tannin, trade unions and strikes, pages 65438+35 and 36, London edition, 0860)
The content in brackets at the end of the footnote shows that the above paragraph is from the book Trade Unions and Strikes by Thomas Joseph Denning, a British trade union activist and political critic.
In other words, the phrase "300% profitable capital dares to take the risk of decapitation" was actually said by Thomas Joseph Denning, a British trade union activist and political critic.
I have long wanted to clarify this statement by media reporters and experts, but I always feel that the problem is too small to write. However, this wrong statement is always "shaken" in front of the public, and the more "shaken", the author thinks it is better to tell the public the truth as soon as possible.
April 20, 1965 438+02
Attached:
After reading this article, jhzeng, a netizen, looked for comments in the English version of Penguin Publishing House, and found that "In fact, Critics Quarterly only said that' capital escapes turmoil and disputes, and its nature is timid'. The following words are Jordan's further comments". In fact, the author doubted the Chinese translation of this footnote many years ago. Perhaps this is a mistake made by the Central Compilation Bureau in the 1975 version?
According to English footnote (250), the author speculates that:
The Critic Quarterly only said that "capital is timid by nature to escape turmoil and disputes"; Marx only said, "This is true, but not the whole truth"; The following passage about "300% profit capital dares to take the risk of decapitation" is a long passage quoted by Marx from Thomas Joseph Denning's book.
Subsequently, the netizen jhzeng conducted a textual research again. He searched online for a copy of Denning's book Trade Unions and Strikes and other materials. Based on this information, he reached the following conclusions:
Marx quoted Denning's works, but the first sentence of that passage (that is, 250 footnotes), "Capital escapes turmoil and disputes, and its nature is timid", was said by Critics Quarterly, and the rest were all comments by Denning.
The author agrees with jhzeng, a netizen, and thanks him for his research! Because of his textual research, this question has a clear answer. ?
I hope that the later version of Das Kapital 1990 can correct the above mistakes. I also hope that qualified netizens can check the new version to see if it is like this, and make an explanation here. thank you
It is not unreasonable that Marx's Das Kapital is still a textbook or teaching reference book in the west. The author studied all Marx's early economic works. In all fairness, Marx's Das Kapital today has a wonderful exposition on the operating mechanism of the market economy, which has established his position in the history of economics. Although he wrote Das Kapital with the theme first, his discussion method and conclusion are very problematic. But we are not qualified to ask the great scholars in the period of primitive market economy.
Supplement 20 12 on April 24th.
Link to the blog page transferred from Li Shangyong