Theory of Surplus Value: Pt. 2. Questo articolo non è disponibile.Theory of Surplus Value: Pt. 2

Marx's Theories of Surplus Value is the fourth volume of his monumental Das Kapital (Capital). Divided into three parts, this lengthy work reviews classic economic analyses of labour and value (Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, and others), focusing on the concept of "surplus value" - the difference between the full value of a worker's labour and the wages received for this labour. This is a key concept for Marx since in his view the capitalist maintains power through controlling surplus value.

Born in Trier and exiled to London, Karl Marx (1818–1883) laid the groundwork for modern social science. In The Communist Manifesto (1848), he mapped how class struggle drives history, while in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), he detailed how political crises emerge when social structures buckle under economic transition. For over 175 years, his framework of historical materialism has explained how material conditions shape human society.

Reimagined in the 21st century, Marx’s theories map onto platform capitalism. Today, massive tech monopolies own the digital means of production—cloud infrastructure and proprietary data—while generative AI automates cognitive labor in a modern echo of industrial mechanization. Across global gig economies and remote workforces, his concept of alienation endures: human intellect, harvested into algorithms, becomes a force that competes with workers and concentrates wealth in the hands of a new techno-bourgeoisie.

R. (Renate) Simpson (1930 – 2013)  was a refugee, author, translator and an activist of the left. She is the translator of Theories of Surplus Value – Part 2.