(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #234 - Classics of subversion: Carlo Cafiero "Abstract of Capital" (fr, pt)

Among the classics of political literature that mark the libertarian communist current, we 
can not miss the Abstract of Capital Cafiero. This author was one of the first to break 
with the authoritarian communism while claiming the economic analysis of Marx, which makes 
him one of the first thinkers of our current policy. ---- Written in 1878, Abstract 
Capital reflects the desire extension of Marx's Capital, a work considered the best 
economic analysis of capitalism but as complex inaccessible. And Carlo Cafiero, close to 
Marx and Engels in the First International and Bakunin ally, was then set a goal to make 
it affordable Book I of Capital so it can be read by the workers class affected by the 
project revolutionary it.

This paradox of the revolutionary character of a speech or a book and its limited 
accessibility, which still exists in activist circles, is nevertheless not insurmountable. 
The Abstract of Capital is an example. Cafiero wanted to go beyond this difficulty to 
popularize the work that Bakunin considered " a death sentence, scientifically motivated 
and irrevocably pronounced against them not as individuals but against their class[the 
bourgeoisie]. "

The challenge is indeed managed to Carlo Cafiero: the Compendium contains 10 chapters of 
less than 10 pages, the style is fluid and thought embodied in specific examples to 
materialize concepts. The birth of the capital, the issue of accumulation through 
appreciation, salary and the division of labor, we find the bases of Marxist economics. 
Successive demonstrations are increasingly not devoid of humor, making the use of a second 
very pleasant reading level.

Simplifying the work does not in any way lose strength analysis. Marx considered himself 
as the Compendium of Cafiero was " a very good popular summary of his theory of surplus 
value. "

The Abstract of Capital is an excellent tool for political education that allows you to 
become familiar with Marxist economics and grasp of key concepts in the struggle for 
social and libertarian revolution.

Flo (AL Montpellier)

o Carlo Cafiero, Ab?g? Capital of Karl Marx. New revised and expanded edition, The 2013 
Red Dog, 10 euros.