Marxism and Marxist Thought has a resonance and legacy that lasts to the present day and has made Das Kapital one of the most influential and controversial political treatises of the last two centuries. It could be argued, that the political analysis contained in Das Capital was the source material that gave birth to and strongly influenced the development of international communist movements worldwide and strengenthend and supported left wing politics in numerous countries. Clearly, the revolution in Russia in 1917 and in China a generation later were merely a small part of a wider movement that grew in influence over the 200 years that followed the publication of Das Kapital.

Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier, Prussia in 1818. After studying in Bonn and Berlin, Germany he moved to Paris, France and then to Brussels, Belgium. He settled in London, England in 1849. It was during his time in London that he was to produce the material that was to become Das Kapital, one of his most influential works. He died in London in 1883 and he was buried in Highgate Cemetery, London.

Das Kapital is not one book but is made up of four volumes. Marx completed Capital, Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital in 1867 and is the only one of the four volumes to be completed by Marx himself. Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital, completed in 1885 and Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole, completed in 1894, were published by Marx’s friend and supporter Friedrich Engles after Marx’s death. A further body of work has been derived from notes written by Marx and has been entitled Volume IV: Theories of Surplus Value.

Only time will tell what influence Marxism in general, and Das Kapital, in particular will have on political thought and on political economy. The number of people living in Marxist inspired political systems has declined substantially over the last 20 years. Nevertheless, there are a great many people who argue that while Marxist states have come and gone the principle of Marxism and the ideas discussed in Das Kapital are as relevant today as they were in Marx’s day.