Question

Why Does Marx begin Capital with the commodity? What does the role of contradiction play in Marx's Method? Explain in full detailed.

Answer 1

Karl Marx starts with capital because it is the main form of wealth in the capitalist society. In a bourgeois society all wealth appears to take the form of commodity . So the commodity form is the main form of capital. In Marx view capital was a cause of struggle between the capitalist and the working class.A worker produces a object but that becomes the property of the boss ie the capitalist.The boss in possession of wealth becomes the bourgeois and the worker becomes the proletariat.

The major contradiction in Marx's method is that the capitalist has all the wealth produced by the workers.The worker is just a slave getting wage. The product which the worker produces with his labor belongs to the capitalist.The capitalist buys sophisticated machines with their profits but use the machines to enslave the workers even more . The workers are made to work on the machines for longer hours to produce more goods.