"Although one must hold on to the painstakingly

achieved insight that Marx's critique of economic

categories transcends the scope of economics as a field,
the analysis of the forms of value -- oriented toward
philosophical categories -- must be understood in its
function of sublating the antinomies of economics as a
field. In a modification of the fourth Thesis on
Feuerbach, Marx's critique of Ricardo can be
characterized as follows: Ricardo assumes the fact of
economic self-alienation, the doubling of the product into
a thing of value, something imaginary, and a real thing.
His theory consists in resolving value into labour. He
overlooks that the main task still remains to be
performed. The fact, namely, that the product is set apart
from itself and is fixed beyond consciousness, as an
independent realm of economic categories, can only be
explained by the self-fragmentation and self-
contradictory nature of social labour. This must itself
therefore be understood first of all in its contradiction, in
order to be practically revolutionized by the abolition of
the contradiction. Thus, for example, after labour has
been discovered as the secret of value, the former must
itself be theoretically criticized and practically
overturned. Methodologically, we are dealing here with
the already demonstrated problematic of the
advancement from the abstract to the concrete, from
value to the form of appearance of value."

The classic collection of essays which were instrumental

in initiating the New German Reading of Marx as well as
revitalizing value-form theory and critical theory has
never been fully translated into English. It is contracted
to be published by the Historical Materialism Book
Series. But we need your help!

The wave of Marxian scholarship known as the New

German Reading of Marx that emerged in West Germany
in the late-sixties and seventies has received
unprecedented interest due to the popularity of its
reception by authors such as Michael Heinrich, Moishe
Postone, Werner Bonefeld, Christopher Arthur, Patrick
Murray, Riccardo Bellofiore and Simon Clarke.
However, little of this work has been translated into
English.
We are planning to translate a series of seminal texts in
the New German Reading of Marx by authors such as
Hans-Georg Backhaus, Helmut Reichelt, Alfred Schmidt,
Alfred Sohn-Rethel, and important later contributions
such as those by Helmut Brentel, Joachim Hirsch, Dieter
Wolf, Ingo Elbe, Roswitha Scholz, Nadja Rakowitz,
Sonja Buckel, Sven Ellmers, Andreas Harms, Dirk
Braunstein and Frank Engster. The first work in this
series will be Hans-Georg Backhauss essay
collection: Dialectic of the Value-Form.

This seminal collection of ten essays on Marxian value

theory, the critique of political economy, and its critical
potential consists in the vastly important contributions
Backhaus made to the New German Reading of Marx,
which are still important for those interested in Value-
Form Theory and Frankfurt School Critical Theory
today.

We are now raising funds for the translation of Dialectic

of the Value-Form, which will cost $6,600. All donations
over $100 will receive a free copy of the book.

You can set up a recurring monthly donation here.

We are also set to translate:

Alfred Sohn-Rethel, Warenform und Denkform:

Aufstze [Commodity-Form and Thought-Form: Essays]

Helmut Reichelt, Zur logischen Struktur des

Kapitalbegriffs bei Karl Marx[On the Logical Structure
of the Concept of Capital in Marx] and Neue Marx-
Lektre. Zur Kritik sozialwissenschaftlicher Logik [New
Marx-Reading: A Contribution to the Critique of Social
Scientific Logic]

Dieter Wolf, Der dialektische Widerspruch im Kapital.

Ein Beitrag zur Marxschen Werttheorie [The Dialectical
Contradiction in Capital: Marxs Theory of Value A
Contribution]

Ingo Elbe, Marx Im Westen. Die neue Marx-Lektre in

der Bundesrepublik seit 1965 [Marx in the West: The
New Marx-Reading in the Federal Republic of Germany
since 1965]

Roswitha Scholz, Das Geschlecht des Kapitalismus.

Feministische Theorien und die postmoderne
Metamorphose des Kapitals [The Gender of Capitalism:
Feminist Theories and the Postmodern Metamorphosis of
Capital]

Dirk Braunstein, Adornos Kritik der politischen

konomie [Adornos Critique of Political Economy]

Joachim Hirsch, Materialistische Staatstheorie.

Transformationsprozesse des kapitalistischen
Staatensystems [Materialist Theory of the State:
Processes of Transformation in the Capitalist State
System]

Helmut Brentel, Soziale Form und konomisches Objekt,

Studien zum Gegenstands- und Methodenverstndnis der
Kritik der politischen konomie [Social Form and
Economic Object: Studies on the Understanding of
Object and Method in the Critique of Political Economy]

Nadja Rakowitz, Einfache Warenproduktion. Ideal und

Ideologie [Simple Commodity Production: Ideal and
Ideology]

Andreas Arndt, Karl Marx: Versuch ber den

Zusammenhang seiner Theorie [Karl Marx: An
Approach to his Theory as an Interconnected Whole]
Andreas Harms, Warenform und Rechtsform. Zur
Rechtstheorie von Eugen Paschukanis [Commodity-Form
and Form of Right/Law: On Evgeny Pashukanis Theory
of Right/Law]

Sonja Buckel, Subjektivierung und Kohsion. Zur

Rekonstruktion einer materialistischen Theorie des
Rechts [Subjectification and Cohesion: A Contribution to
the Reconstruction of a Materialist Theory of Right/Law]

Sven Ellmers, Freiheit und Wirtschaft. Theorie der

brgerlichen Gesellschaft nach Hegel [Freedom and
Economy: The Theory of Bourgeois Society After Hegel]

Frank Engster, Das Geld als Ma, Mittel und Methode:

Das Rechnen mit der Identitt der Zeit [Money as
Measure, Means and Method: Calculating with, and
Banking on, the Identity of Time]