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Which Translation of Capital to Read? (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Cowbee@hexbear.net to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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2025 is the year I plan on reading Volumes 1-3 of Capital. I understand that Marxists.org has the Moore/Engels version, but most people seem to prefer the Fowkes translation in Penguin. Recently, there is the Reitter translation of Volume 1 that supposedly uses a later original German edition of Capital as the base than the widely beloved Fowkes translation, but I am not sure if anyone has any experience with it yet.

Which would you recommend for someone diving into Capital for the first time? I'd prefer a physical version (to take notes) but I am not too fussed if its an ebook, I'm not incapable of using a notebook or anything instead of direct annotation.

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[–] roux@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just did a quick search and there are 2 reddit posts suggesting the Penguin Classics translation by Ben Fowkes so maybe go with that one?

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

From the digging around of Reddit, most people agree Fowkes over Moore/Engels, but the new Reitter translation could be better than both. If I can't find a clear rec one way or the other with respect to Reitter, then I will likely default to Fowkes.

[–] roux@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just grabbed the Fowkes version since I never really added the actual book to my collection lol. It's 1152 pages though. desolate

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yep, hence my intention to read all 3 volumes (ignoring Volume 4 for now) at a steady pace in 2025, haha. Most works I have read up to this point have been no more than 300 pages, but I feel prepared and motivated. If I'm going to be spending a long time with the text, I figured I'd at least ask what a good consensus on translation is, haha.

[–] Cuervo@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 days ago

volume I penguin edition isn't as long as it looks. the first 100, maybe 150 pages are an introduction by, iirc, Ernest Mandel.

The very last 'chapter' is a summary of the whole book intended to prepare readers for volume II but not really 'part' of capital vol I; it's also about 100 pages.

If you focus on Marx' s words, it's still long but much more approachable. I would recommend reading the Marx and Engels front matter carefully, though - there's a lot of important and concise detail in those (the postfaces, prefaces, afterwords to different editions, etc). that said, these might be better to read at the end.