Das Kapital

Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie

By: Karl Marx

Narrated by: Johannes Steck, Gert Heidenreich

Die Party ist vorbei. Der Crash ist da. Aus der Bankenkrise 2008 wurde über Nacht eine Krise der Weltwirtschaft. Da ist guter Rat teuer, und man beginnt sich an die Spekulationsblasen und Krisen der Vergangenheit zu erinnern. Kapitalismuskritik ist wieder in Mode, bleibt aber meist an der Oberfläche. Doch wie keinem anderen Ökonomen ist es vor 150 Jahren Karl Marx gelungen, die aberwitzigen Bewegungen des Kapitals und seinen Hang zur Selbstzerstörung zu beleuchten, vor allem wenn es sich um eine ungezügelte kapitalistische Marktwirtschaft handelt. Er beschreibt die historisch neuartigen Wachstumschancen dieser Wirtschaftsweise ebenso klarsichtig wie ihre dunklen Seiten. Und er gibt Antworten auf die Frage nach sozialer Gerechtigkeit.©1890 Friedrich Engels (P)2009 Hörbuch Hamburg HHV GmbH, Hamburg

Beware of not just the language

If you look at the cover it is crystal clear that this text is in German. But it is in 20th century German with a number of English expressions “verdeutschst “as a lot of the good history it delivers stems from Englands industrial coming to be. So being a German native speaker living in the US helped.

Further beware that this is the abridged version which I already found to be long and very repetitive. Especially since this is the first volume (Band 1) of 3. So this does not get into the theory yet in depth that capital will accumulate until it is concentrated in the hands of very few and replace the power of the state. So more patience is required.

As mentioned it does give a good background about the origins of labor laws in the truest sense. The original ones were about peasants’ obligations to work. It further dives into the first insights into the efficiencies of an industrial process with capital investment being best returned by maximizing utilization. Again coming from manufacturing shorter would be better.

The reading itself is superb. Gert Heidenreich is just a gem.

Good abridged German reading.

Beware that you will need to be fluent in German beyond a layman's level of skill to enjoy this reading. Also beware that it is abridged, which I did not know when I purchased this book. But the reading is very good so in that department you still receive a good bang for the buck.

Not in English

I probably should have noticed by the Narrator names, but this is the german version. FYI

Not in English

Don't waste your money if you don't speak German. That this waa even available in an English speaking part of the world is absurd.