Cui Youping and Hu Yi: A Textual Research on the Editions of *Capital*
In a speech at the conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Das Kapital, published in 1867, is the weightiest and most abundant work of Marxism, hailed as the 'Bible of the working class.'" Since its release, throughout more than 150 years of magnificent global transformations, this work has demonstrated a powerful vitality, weathered the tests of the ages, and consistently radiated the brilliance of truth. Collecting and researching the editions of Marxist theoretical works is the foundational labor of Marxist theoretical study. On the occasion of the 155th anniversary of the publication of Volume I of Das Kapital, we have sifted through the primary editions produced during its extensive global dissemination, introducing their basic circumstances and main characteristics, and reviewing the history of its global journey from the perspective of its editions.
I. The German Editions of Das Kapital
German was Marx’s mother tongue and the primary language he used while writing Das Kapital. In the process of translating and disseminating the work across various countries, the German edition has served as the most important reference for translation and collation, which is the unique value of the German version compared to those in other languages.
(1) Marx’s Writing of Das Kapital and the Birth of the German Edition
Das Kapital was a product of the capitalist era. It emerged to meet the needs of the proletarian revolutionary struggle under circumstances where the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie had fully unfolded. It was produced on the basis of a critical inheritance of British classical political economy and through the process of struggling against bourgeois vulgar economics.
The journey of Das Kapital from preparation and writing to publication underwent a long process, which can be divided into three stages.
The first stage: The collection of materials and the writing of political economy notes and manuscripts. From October 1843 to the end of May 1858, Marx wrote his reading notes from 1843–1847 and 1850–1853, as well as the Economic Manuscripts of 1857–1858, the latter of which was the first draft of Das Kapital.
The second stage: The writing and publication of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. From June 1858 up to August 1863, Marx first wrote the Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863 under the title A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. However, during the writing process, he changed his plan, deciding to use Das Kapital as the title, with "A Critique of Political Economy" as the subtitle. The Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863 thus became the second draft of Das Kapital (comprising 23 notebooks).
The third stage: The organization for typesetting and the publication of Das Kapital. In January 1865, Marx found the publisher Otto Meissner. They initially agreed to publish the entire work at once in two volumes, but due to the expansion of the content, the publisher agreed to publish it in three volumes successively. In a letter to Dr. Ludwig Kugelmann dated October 13, 1866, Marx said:
"My circumstances (physical condition and constant interruptions by everyday affairs) force me to publish the first volume first, rather than both volumes together as I had initially intended. Moreover, it now seems there will likely be three volumes in total. This means the entire work is divided into the following parts: Book I: The Process of Production of Capital. Book II: The Process of Circulation of Capital. Book III: The Structures of the Process as a Whole. Book IV: The History of Theory. Volume I includes the first two books. I intend for Book III to be Volume II, and Book IV to be Volume III."
In reality, however, in 1867 Marx published only Book I as Volume I, and announced that Book II and Book III would be combined as Volume II, while Book IV would remain Volume III.
From 1866 to 1867, Marx began the typesetting work for Volume I of Das Kapital, completing it on April 2, 1867. On September 14, 1867, Volume I of Das Kapital was published by Meissner Publishing House in Hamburg, Germany, with a first edition print run of 1,000 copies. The book was divided into 6 chapters and 22 sections, which laid the structural foundation for subsequent editions of Volume I. The publication of Volume I was a significant milestone in the history of the international communist movement. Engels spoke highly of its publication, stating, "Since there have been capitalists and workers on earth, no book has appeared which is of as much importance for the workers as the one before us." [1]
In the autumn of 1871, the first German edition of Volume I of Das Kapital sold out. Following the outbreak of the Paris Commune revolution, the international and German workers' movements became active, urgently needing the armament of revolutionary theory. Marx immediately set about revising the first edition. On one hand, he changed the structure from 6 chapters and 22 sections to 7 parts and 25 chapters; on the other hand, he revised many expositions to be more scientific and popularized, making the content of the entire work richer and the system more rigorous. In July 1872, the second German edition of Volume I was published in Hamburg. The volume consisted of 9 fascicles, the last of which was not published until June 1873, with the bound volume appearing in 1873. This was the last German edition of Volume I that Marx personally revised and published during his lifetime. All subsequent versions of Volume I have been based on this edition.
Marx once indicated to Engels that Volume II (Books 2 and 3) would be completed by the end of autumn 1867 at the latest, and Volume III (Book 4) should be finished in the winter, showing Marx's urgency to complete the subsequent volumes at that time. However, due to Marx's poor health and various complications, his writing was forced to stop. From 1867 until his death, Marx wrote multiple manuscripts for Books 2 and 3 of Das Kapital. As capitalist society entered a new period of development, Marx hoped to supplement Das Kapital with new empirical materials and theoretical achievements. In a letter to Nikolai Danielson (the Russian translator of Das Kapital) dated April 10, 1879, he wrote: "I shall under no circumstances publish the second volume before the present English industrial crisis has reached its climax," and "it is necessary to watch the present course of things until they are ripe, before they can be 'consumed productively,' I mean 'theoretically.'" This truly reflects Marx's scientific attitude and revolutionary spirit. At the final moment of his life, when Marx's heart stopped beating while he sat in his study, the manuscripts for the subsequent volumes of Das Kapital that he was currently revising still lay upon his desk.
(2) Engels's Revision and Publication of the 3rd and 4th German Editions of Volume I and His Editing and Publication of Volumes II and III
Before his death, Marx entrusted his economic manuscripts to Engels, hoping that Engels would "make something" of these materials. After Marx’s passing, Engels unhesitatingly set aside his own years of research and took up the responsibility of organizing and publishing the posthumous manuscripts of Das Kapital. Engels said: "Of all those now living, I am the only one who can do the work. If I die without finishing it, there is no one else who can decipher these manuscripts, which Marx himself often could no longer recognize after the fact; probably only his wife and I could decipher them."
Marx had planned to publish a third German edition of Volume I based on changes made in the French edition, but he did not complete this work. Engels completed the revisions based on Marx’s notes and related materials, publishing the third German edition of Volume I at the end of 1883 and writing a preface for it.
In September 1889, Engels began preparing a new collation of the content of Volume I, hoping to establish a standard edition. He revised it once more against the French and English editions and Marx’s notes, publishing the fourth German edition of Volume I in December 1890 and writing a preface. This was the final German edition of Volume I revised under Engels's supervision, and it remains the internationally standard and most widely disseminated version of Volume I.
While revising Volume I for publication, Engels discovered through his organization of the materials that the manuscripts Marx left behind were sufficient to expand Volume II into Volume II and Volume III. In a letter to Marx’s second daughter, Laura, on March 31, 1884, Engels explicitly proposed publishing Book 2 separately first, followed by Book 3 and then the Theories of Surplus Value. It can be said that by this time, the four-volume structure of Das Kapital was determined. During the editing process, Engels placed high importance on Marx's original manuscripts. To "make the book both a coherent and as complete as possible work, and a work of the author rather than the editor," Engels restricted his work as much as possible to the selection and editing of the drafts. Where changes had to be made beyond the scope of editing, he marked them. As he said: "In terms of style, I have only changed what Marx himself would have changed, and only where it was absolutely necessary and the meaning was beyond doubt, have I added several explanatory words and connecting phrases. Wherever there was the slightest doubt about the meaning of a sentence, I preferred to include it exactly as it stood."
In June 1884, Engels set about editing the manuscripts for Volume II. Based on the basic framework in Marx’s manuscripts, he selected the most recent drafts from the many available and edited "The Process of Circulation of Capital"—which Marx had planned as Book 2—into Volume II of Das Kapital (comprising 3 parts and 21 chapters). Through Engels's efforts, this edition was published in Hamburg in July 1885. At the end of 1892, Engels corrected printing errors in the first edition of Volume II, deleted some repetitive content, wrote a short "Preface," and published the second edition of Volume II in July 1893.
In early 1885, Engels began editing Volume III. Marx had left 17 manuscripts for Book 3 throughout his life, including 16 fragmentary manuscripts and one full-volume draft. Although the structure was complete (seven major chapters), the theoretical expositions therein were incomplete and largely had the character of rough drafts. Consequently, editing Volume III was not easy; it took Engels ten years, and was not completed until the year before his death. In November 1894, the first German edition of Volume III, edited and prefaced by Engels, was published in Hamburg.
Lenin once quoted another by saying: "By publishing the second and third volumes of Capital, Engels erected a majestic monument to his genius friend, on which he also indelibly inscribed his own name. Indeed, these two volumes of Capital are the work of both Marx and Engels."
(3) Kautsky's Editing and Publication of Theories of Surplus Value
Although Engels did not have time to complete the editing of the final volume regarding the history of theory, he made preparations for the publication of Volume IV. Theories of Surplus Value is generally regarded as Volume IV of Das Kapital. Marx had originally planned to discuss the "History of Political Economy" in Book 4, restating the theories of the first three books in a "historical form." In 1895, before his death, Engels entrusted Karl Kautsky—a theorist of the German and international workers' movements and one of the leaders of the Second International—to organize the manuscripts for publication as Volume IV. Kautsky spent over ten years editing Marx's manuscripts into three volumes and four books (the second volume being divided into two books), which were published between 1905 and 1910 by Dietz Verlag, the publishing organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
(4) Other German Editions of Das Kapital
It is generally considered that the most influential standard editions of Das Kapital are the 1890 4th German edition of Volume I, the 1893 2nd German edition of Volume II, and the 1894 1st German edition of Volume III. Between 1903 and 1904, Meissner Publishing House published the three-volume German edition of Das Kapital for the first time, which was reprinted many times. From 1947 to 1949, Dietz Verlag published a three-volume German edition, which also saw many reprints. Between 1969 and 1971, Ullstein Verlag published a three-volume German edition in West Germany for the first time; this set was very popular and reprinted many times, with Volume I alone selling over 100,000 copies in West Germany.
Beginning in 1956, the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) edited and published the Marx-Engels-Werke (MEW) based on the second Russian edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels. Volumes 23–26 of this collection contain the three volumes of Das Kapital and the Theories of Surplus Value.
After 1976, the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA2) successively released the relevant volumes of Part II, featuring Capital and its preparatory materials. In 2012, this section was completed in full, totaling 15 volumes in 23 books; it is currently recognized internationally as the most authoritative and comprehensive edition of Capital.
To allow as many readers as possible to understand the content of Capital, various popular and abridged editions appeared during its publication and history of dissemination. Key German popular editions include the earliest version written by Johann Most, Capital and Labor: A Popular Abstract of Karl Marx’s “Capital” (1873), and the popular version written by Karl Kautsky, The Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx (1886). The primary popularized editions include the three-volume edition of Capital compiled by Kautsky and his son (1914, 1926, 1929), the three-volume popularized edition compiled by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of the Central Committee of the CPSU (1932–1934), and the one-volume popularized edition compiled by Julian Borchardt (1919).
II. Russian, French, English, and Other Language Editions of Capital
Once published, Capital was widely welcomed by the working classes of all nations. Following the publication of Volume I of the German edition, the official organs of the International Workingmen's Association (IWA) [5] and its various branches, as well as progressive periodicals, offered warm congratulations to Marx and published the preface to Volume I in English, French, and German. In 1868, the Brussels Congress of the IWA passed a special resolution regarding Capital, noting its great significance and requesting that it be translated into various languages for wide dissemination. Subsequently, various translations emerged as the times required. Within Engels's lifetime, Capital had already been published in 22 editions across nine languages, including German, Russian, French, Italian, English, Polish, Danish, Dutch, and Spanish. By 1967, the centenary of the publication of Volume I, the work had been published in more than 220 editions in 43 languages. Entering the 21st century, the fervor for research into Capital has not faded; editions in various languages continue to emerge in an endless stream, demonstrating its powerful vitality.
(1) The Russian Edition of Capital
The Russian edition was the first foreign-language edition of Capital and received great attention and praise from Marx and Engels. As soon as Volume I of the German edition was published, it exerted a significant influence among Russian intellectuals. Under the support and guidance of Marx and Engels, the Russian Populist [6] thinkers and economists German Lopatin and Nikolai Danielson, among others, completed the translation of Volume I into Russian. Marx added partial annotations for the Russian translation. In April 1872, this edition was released in Saint Petersburg with an initial print run of 3,000 copies. Marx spoke very highly of this translation, stating in a letter to Danielson: "The book is beautifully bound. The translation is excellent. I would like another paperbound copy to send to the British Museum." In 1898, the version translated by Danielson was reprinted in Russia.
The Russian translation of Volumes II and III was continued by Danielson and published in 1885 and 1896 respectively; these were the earliest foreign-language editions of Volumes II and III. Although Capital was characterized by the Tsarist censorship authorities as a "purely academic" and "complex work that few people can understand," the Russian edition sparked a widespread response in Russian society. Numerous influential publications successively reported on its release, and some journals launched fierce debates around the concepts in Capital regarding whether "Russia could embark on the path of capitalism." Lenin commented on this: "Thus, as soon as Capital appeared, the question of the fate of 'Russian capitalism' became the main theoretical problem for Russian socialists."
Before the October Revolution, other Russian editions appeared, such as the translation of Volume I by Y. A. Gurvich and L. M. Zak, edited by Peter Struve (1899 and 1905 editions), and the complete three-volume Russian translation by Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov (1907–1909). The Stepanov translation was the second complete Russian translation; it had a major influence in Russia and the later Soviet Union and was reprinted many times. According to Lenin's research, three Russian editions of Kautsky’s Theories of Surplus Value were also published before the October Revolution: the 1906 Saint Petersburg edition edited by Plekhanov, the 1906 Kyiv edition edited by Zhelezhnov, and the 1907 Kyiv edition edited by Tuchapsky.
After the October Revolution, the dissemination of Marxism in Russia entered a brand-new period. A series of Marxist works, including Capital, were edited and published by the Marx-Engels Institute and its successor institutions. From 1954 to 1962, the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central Committee of the CPSU edited a new Russian edition of Theories of Surplus Value based on Marx’s manuscripts and published a new German edition of the work (1956–1962). In 1954, the Institute also launched the project to edit and publish the second Russian edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels. Within this, Volumes 23–25 constituted the volumes of Capital, with the translation processed and revised based on the Stepanov edition, and Volume 26 constituted the volumes for Theories of Surplus Value. In 1967, the Institute produced a new Russian translation based on the 1867 first German edition of Volume I.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the publication of Capital briefly stagnated. Entering the 21st century, particularly since the outbreak of the financial crisis, Capital has once again become popular reading. The translations from the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central Committee of the CPSU have been revised and reprinted many times. Valery Chekhovsky translated and published a new translation (2015) based on the fourth German edition of Volume I. Additionally, various simplified readers of Capital have been widely welcomed. Selected excerpts of Volume I (2009) and an abridged version of Volume I (2019) have been published in Russian, and the Russian translation of the popularized edition of Capital edited by Borchardt was published in 2018.
(2) The French Edition of Capital
The French translation of Volume I was the second foreign-language translation to be published, following the 1872 Russian translation. It was also the final version personally proofread and revised by Marx. In early 1872, Marx invited Joseph Roy—who had been praised for translating the works of Feuerbach—to serve as the translator for the French edition of Volume I. Simultaneously, Marx signed a publication contract with the progressive French publisher Maurice Lachâtre, deciding to publish the French edition of Capital in serial installments. In 2021, the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee acquired six original letters from Marx to Lachâtre and his son-in-law, Henry Oriol. These letters provide a factual record of the historical scenes and specific processes of Marx's personal participation in the translation and publication of the French edition. For instance, Marx agreed to the serial format to make the work more accessible to the working class, and he fought tenaciously against French publishing authorities to ensure its early release.
The French edition was translated from the second German edition. Although Roy’s translation was faithful to the original, it was obscure and difficult to understand; Marx personally rewrote or even re-translated large sections. Meanwhile, Marx added new content not found in the second German edition; for example, he first explicitly distinguished between the concepts of "accumulation of capital" and "concentration of capital" [7]. Furthermore, he adjusted the organizational structure, changing it from 7 parts and 25 chapters to 8 parts and 33 chapters. These adjustments allowed the French edition to achieve new theoretical developments compared to the German edition, thus possessing "independent scientific value alongside the original."
The French edition of Volume I began publication by the Lachâtre publishing house in September 1872 and was completed in November 1875, consisting of 44 serial installments bound into 9 fascicles (the first 8 each included 5 installments; the 9th included 4). According to the contract, 10,000 copies of the French Volume I were printed. Although the French government did not permit the promotion of the work, the French edition spread rapidly across the European continent after publication. As the labor theorist Joseph Dietzgen stated, with the publication of the French edition of Capital, Marx’s theory finally occupied the international stage. By the end of the 19th century, Volume I of the French edition had been printed six times.
In 1883, the French socialist Gabriel Deville released a popular French edition of Capital—Karl Marx's Capital—which was an exposition of Volume I. Because Engels believed "many parts were indeed written somewhat hastily," Kautsky wrote and published The Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx (1886) upon his suggestion.
Between 1901 and 1902, the Paris publishing house Giard & Brière published the French editions of Volumes II and III, translated by Julian Borchardt (a member of the German SPD) and the socialist activist Hippolyte Vanderrydt; these were the earliest French versions of these two volumes.
With the assistance of the Comintern, the French Communist Party was founded in 1920, creating the conditions for the further dissemination of Marxism in France. Publishing houses led by the French Communist Party and various leftist publishers released various French editions of Capital, including: the three-volume translation by Jacques Molitor (1924–1930); the three-volume joint translation by Erna Cogniot, Cohen-Solal, and Gilbert Badia (1948–1960, where Volume I still followed the Roy translation; reprinted in 1976); the three-volume edition included in the Oeuvres of Marx compiled by Maximilien Rubel (1963–1968, which was heavily abridged); and the translation of Volume I by Jean-Pierre Lefebvre based on the fourth German edition (1983). Additionally, Progress Publishers in Moscow published a three-volume French edition of Capital between 1982 and 1984.
The Rubel and Lefebvre translations were reprinted in 2008 and 2014 respectively. Currently, the "Grande Édition de Marx et d'Engels" (GEME) project, promoted by the French Communist Party, will also include the three volumes of Capital.
(3) The English Edition of Capital
Marx completed the writing of Capital during his residence in Britain; while writing, he cited a vast amount of data and case studies regarding the development of capitalist industry and commerce in English-speaking countries. Simultaneously, as English is the most widely used language in the world, the publication of an English edition was clearly of great significance for the wide dissemination of the work.
Long before the publication of the German edition, Marx had considered translating Capital into English and actively sought the best translator. He even considered inviting his most trusted confidant, Engels, and his daughter Laura to take on this role. However, for various reasons, Marx did not live to see the English edition of Capital released. After Marx's death, Engels initiated the publication process, with Samuel Moore serving as the translator; Moore also assisted Engels in organizing the manuscripts in Volume III that mathematically explored surplus value and the rate of profit. Edward Aveling, the husband of Marx’s youngest daughter Eleanor, also undertook a portion of the translation. Eleanor herself verified the numerous citations in the draft. Engels proofread the entire manuscript and wrote the preface. In January 1887, the first English edition of Volume I was published in London in two books; the first printing of 500 sets sold out rapidly. In April of the same year, the two books were merged into a single-volume second edition. This version was based on the third German edition of Volume I, but the organizational structure followed the French edition—namely, 8 parts and 33 chapters. The English edition of Capital was not only widely disseminated in Britain and the United States but was also published in various editions in regions such as Canada and India.
In 1889, a reprint of the Moore and Aveling translation was published in New York. This was the earliest complete translation of Volume I to appear in the United States; the first edition of 5,000 copies sold out quickly and was reprinted in 1890. However, this edition was unauthorized, and was thus referred to by Engels as a "pirated edition."
In 1906, Charles H. Kerr & Co., an American socialist publishing house, obtained authorization to reprint the Moore-Aveling translation. They commissioned Ernest Untermann, a socialist writer and member of the editorial board of the International Socialist Review, to translate Volumes II and III of Capital, which were officially published in the United States in 1909. These constitute the earliest English editions of Volumes II and III.
In 1928, the British socialist writers and translators Eden and Cedar Paul produced an English translation of Volume I for George Allen & Unwin. This was the second attempt at a complete English translation of the first volume. The source text used for this edition was the fourth German edition.
Following World War II, the Soviet Union organized the publication of a series of foreign-language editions of Marxist works to expand the global influence of Marxism. Between 1954 and 1959, the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow published a three-volume English translation of Capital. This edition utilized the Moore-Aveling translation for Volume I and the Untermann translation for Volumes II and III. These translations were reprinted by Progress Publishers in Moscow between 1956–1978 and in 1986. In 1967, to commemorate the centenary of the publication of Volume I, Progress Publishers issued a reprint of the Moore-Aveling English translation.
The 1970s saw another surge in the translation and publication of Capital in the English-speaking world, with many new publishers entering the field. Between 1976 and 1981, Penguin Books, in association with New Left Review, published a three-volume English translation by Ben Fowkes and David Fernbach. The aim of this edition was to "modernize" the English translation and correct certain errors in the original versions; it was reprinted multiple times in 1979, 1982, and 1990.
The most influential project of this period was the publication of the Marx-Engels Collected Works (MECW) in English, the most comprehensive collection of their writings in the language. Launched in 1975 and completed in 2005, it comprises 50 volumes. Volumes 35–37, containing Capital, were published between 1996 and 1998.
In the 1990s, several left-wing publishers in Britain and America released popular introductory editions of Capital for a general audience, such as Chris Arthur’s abridged version of Volume I, Marx’s Capital: A Student Edition (1992), and David McLellan’s edited English selections (1995).
(4) Japanese Editions of Capital
Capital was introduced to Japan at the turn of the 20th century. After 1917, influenced by Taisho Democracy [8] and the Russian October Revolution, the dissemination and study of socialism reached a peak in Japanese intellectual circles. A cohort of Marxist theorists and journals propagating Marxism emerged. Under the influence of figures such as Tokuzo Fukuda, Hajime Kawakami, Hitoshi Yamakawa, Shusui Kotoku, Toshihiko Sakai, Sen Katayama, and Motoyuki Takabatake, Capital entered the field of vision of Japanese scholars and rapidly became a research focal point. In this context, various Japanese translations and editions were competing for publication.
According to statistics from Japanese scholars, from the publication of the first Japanese edition in 1919 until the start of World War II, there were as many as 38 different Japanese versions of Capital. Between September and December 1919, Yo Matsuura’s translation of Capital (published in two parts, covering Parts 1–3 of Volume I) appeared, marking the first Japanese release of Capital as a standalone book. In December of the same year, Choko Ikuta published a translation based on Engels’s edited edition (covering Parts 1–2 of Volume I). In 1920, Yoshihito Yamamoto published the Complete Works of Marx (single volume), the second part of which was an abridged translation of the main contents of Parts 1–3 of Volume I. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, several translations were published in succession, including those by Chozaburo Mizutani, the joint translation by Hajime Kawakami and Minoru Miyakawa, a German-Japanese parallel edition by the Ohara Institute for Social Research, a German-Japanese parallel edition with notes by the editorial board of Under the Banner of Marxism, and translations by Fumio Hasebe and Shin’ichi Fuwa. These publications greatly facilitated the spread of Marxism in Japan.
The Motoyuki Takabatake translation, published between 1920 and 1924, was the first complete three-volume Japanese translation of Capital and the only complete version published in Japan before World War II. Initially, the Takabatake edition was published as part of the Complete Works of Marx (Daitokaku edition) in nine volumes (ten books). In the "Translator's Preface," Takabatake stated that the primary source was the German edition edited by Engels, with the English version used as a reference. Following several revisions, a final version in three volumes (five books) was published by Kaizosha between 1927 and 1928.
Another popular work on Capital bears mentioning. In 1931, the Japanese Marxist, renowned playwright, and critic Masaru Sakamoto adapted Capital into a stage script of over 300,000 characters. This was the first time in the world that Capital had been adapted for the theater.
After World War II, the translation and study of Capital, which had been suppressed, began to recover. Several complete Japanese translations appeared in succession: Fumio Hasebe’s second complete translation (11 parts, 1946–1950); Itsuro Sakisaka’s third complete translation (12 parts, 1947–1953, later reorganized into 3 volumes and 4 books in 1967); and the fourth complete translation published by the Committee for the Publication of the Complete Works of Marx and Engels (translated by Jiro Okazaki based on Volumes 23–25 of the German edition of the Marx-Engels-Werke). This last version was included in the Japanese edition of the Complete Works of Marx and Engels (Volumes 23–25) between 1965 and 1967; a centenary edition revised by the translator was published in 1967, followed by a new edition under Okazaki's name between 1972 and 1975. Minoru Miyakawa’s fifth complete translation was published between 1979 and 1982.
From 1982 to 1989, the Social Science Research Institute of the Central Committee of the Japanese Communist Party organized several scholars to translate and proofread a new edition of all three volumes of Capital. In 2005, the Japanese Communist Party launched a comprehensive revision of this version, completing the publication of the 12-volume set between 2019 and 2021. This edition was the first to include Marx’s "Theory of Crisis."
(5) Other Foreign-Language Editions of Capital
During the 1880s and 90s, Marxism spread widely within the international workers' movement. Marxist parties were established in various countries, actively undertaking the translation and publication of Marxist literature. During Engels’s lifetime, the following editions of Capital were published: a Dutch abridged translation (1881), a Polish translation (1884–1889), a Danish translation of Volumes I and II (1885–1887), an Italian translation of Volume I (1886), and a Spanish abridged translation of Volume I (1886–1887).
From the 1930s to the 1970s, three-volume translations of Capital appeared in various languages, including Spanish (1931), Bulgarian (1949–1951), Finnish (1950–1957), Polish (1951–1959), Italian (1952–1956), Czech (1956), Romanian (1956–1960), Korean (North Korea, 1958, 1965), and Vietnamese (1959–1963). Between 1947 and 1948, South Korea published Korean editions of Volumes I and II. In 1956, an Arabic translation of the first nine chapters of Volume I was published in Syria. In 1965–1967, a Turkish translation of Volume I was published, followed by a complete three-volume Turkish edition in 1978.
III. The Publication of Capital in China
The dissemination of Capital in China is an indispensable part of the historical process of the Sinicization of Marxism. Since Capital was first introduced to China, generations of scholars have worked tirelessly and without pause. Particularly since the establishment of the Compilation and Translation Bureau of the CPC Central Committee (of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin), we have continued to uphold the fundamentals and break new ground, compiling and publishing numerous editions. The spread of Capital in China has been characterized by the continuous improvement of translation quality, the expanding scope of its influence, and the increasing depth of research.
(1) Chinese Editions Published Before the Founding of the People's Republic
In Chinese history, the first person to mention Marx and Capital was Cai Erkang. In the article "Great Harmony" (大同学) [9], published in the journal The Globe Magazine (万国公报) [10] in 1899 and co-authored with the British missionary Timothy Richard, he made the first mention of Marx and his "capital." Later, Liang Qichao in New Citizen Journal (1902 and 1903) and Ma Junwu in Collected Translations (1903) repeatedly referred to the ideological perspectives of Marx and Capital. The first person in China to introduce the contents of Capital in relative detail was Zhu Zhixin. In 1906, he published "Short Biographies of German Social Revolutionaries" in The People's Journal (Minbao), which provided a commentary on Capital. The salvoes of the October Revolution brought Marxism-Leninism to China, leading to a surge of articles and translations introducing and promoting Marxism and Capital. The most significant representative of this was Li Dazhao's introduction to Capital in his 1919 work "My Marxist Views."
From the 1910s to the 1930s, the Chinese translation of Capital underwent a breakthrough, evolving from fragmented excerpts and partial volumes to a complete translation of all three volumes. From June to November 1919, the supplement of the Beijing Morning Post serialized Karl Kautsky's The Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx (then translated as Kautsky's Interpretation of Mr. Marx’s Capital); the translator used the pseudonym "Yuanquan" (Chen Puxian). These installments were published as a book in 1920 by the Gongxue Society under the title Marxist Economic Theory, which is currently known as the earliest popular Chinese version of Capital. In 1930, versions of Kautsky’s popularization translated by Hong Tao and Wang Fuquan also appeared. In 1926, Li Ji’s translation of Julian Borchardt’s The People's Capital (i.e., Borchardt's popular edition of Capital) was published by Social Science Press. In 1929, the Shanghai Kunlun Bookstore, founded by Li Da and Deng Chumin, published Li Yun's translation of Borchardt’s Capital Explained, which was a republication of Li Ji’s 1926 translation.
In October 1920, the journal The Citizens (Vol. 2, No. 3) published Fei Juetian's translation of the "Author's Preface to Capital" (the Preface to the first German edition of Volume I), the earliest Chinese translation of an excerpt from the work.
In the 1930s, various Chinese translations of Capital competed for publication. In 1930, Kunlun Bookstore published Chen Qixiu’s (Chen Baoyin) translation of the first part of Volume I (Part 1, Volume I), the first Chinese edition of Capital as a standalone volume. Chen’s translation was based on the eighth edition of Kautsky’s German popular edition (1928), with reference to French and English translations and the Japanese translations by Hajime Kawakami and Motoyuki Takabatake. It included explanatory essays such as "Kautsky’s Preface to the People’s Edition" and "Prefaces to the First and Second Editions of Capital." Chen Qixiu originally planned to publish Capital in ten installments but was unable to continue due to the difficult conditions of the time. Pan Dongzhou, an early member of the CPC who had studied in the Soviet Union and was fluent in six languages, took up Chen's work, translating parts 2 and 3 (covering Parts 2–4 of Volume I) in August 1932 and January 1933, respectively. This edition was the first to include a Chinese-Western glossary in its appendix.
In September 1932, the first half of Volume I, co-translated by Hou Wailu and Wang Shenming (Wang Sihua), was printed and distributed under the name of the "Beijing International Academic Society." In June 1936, they published the second and third parts of Volume I, as well as a combined single-volume edition of Volume I, under the "World Masterpieces Translation Series." According to Hou Wailu’s memoirs, the translation was "based on the 1928 fourth German edition, with English, French, and Japanese translations used as references." Notably, this translation was the first to confirm that the only Chinese person mentioned in Capital, "Wan-Mao-In," was Wang Maoyin, a Vice-Minister of the Board of Revenue during the Qing Dynasty [11].
In May 1934, the Commercial Press published the first fascicle of Volume I of Capital (Part 1 and 2 of Volume I), translated by Wu Bannong and proofread by Qian Jiaju. This version was based on the English translation by Eden and Cedar Paul and cross-referenced with the 8th German popular edition edited by Karl Kautsky in 1928. Organized by the Compilation Committee of the Board of Trustees of the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture [12], it was the only institutional translation of Capital during the Republican period. Due to its limited circulation, it did not achieve significant influence.
Between August and September 1938, the Shanghai Reading Life Publishing House (Shanghai Dushu Shenghuo Chubanshe) published the three-volume Capital translated by Guo Dali and Wang Yanan over a period of ten years. This was the first complete Chinese translation of Capital. It was based on the latest German edition revised by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of the Central Committee of the CPSU between 1932 and 1934, with reference to English and Japanese versions. As the most complete translation in China at the time, it played a massive role in promoting the dissemination and study of Marxism in China. It was reprinted many times by Reading Life Publishing House, Northeast Guanghua Bookstore, Joint Publishing (Sanlian Shudian), and the People's Publishing House. Starting in 1940, Guo Dali also set about translating the Theories of Surplus Value, which was published in June 1949 by Shanghai Joint Publishing and New China Book Agency.
In April 1949, the theatrical version of Capital written and edited by Masaru Sakamoto was translated into a Chinese edition titled Theatrical Capital (Xiju Zibenlun) by Fei Mingjun and published by the Shanghai Social Science Research Society. The book was reprinted and distributed in 1950. This transformed the scientific work Capital into something more visual and concrete, promoting the popularized dissemination of Marxism in China to a certain extent.
2. The Translation and Dissemination of Capital in China after the Founding of the New China
Following the founding of the New China, the translation and dissemination of Capital in China entered a brand-new stage. In response to the national upsurge in studying Marxist-Leninist theory and Capital, and to better serve theoretical study, Guo Dali conducted two comprehensive revisions of the three-volume Capital, published by the People’s Publishing House in 1953 and between 1963–1966, respectively. To facilitate the study of Marxist theory by leading cadres, the People's Publishing House also published a batch of Marxist classics in large-print editions during this period. Among them, in May 1968, the People's Publishing House published a 29-fascicle, 16-mo large-print edition of the Guo Dali and Wang Yanan version of Capital. This became the final version of Capital read by Mao Zedong.
In January 1953, following instructions from Mao Zedong, the Bureau for the Compilation and Translation of Works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin of the Central Committee of the CPC (referred to as the "Central Compilation and Translation Bureau" [13]) was established. The Central Compilation and Translation Bureau is an institution directly under the Party Central Committee sets up specifically to engage in the translation of classic works; its mission is the systematic and planned translation of the complete works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin.
One of the important tasks after the establishment of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau was to translate the Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels. In 1956, the second year after the official launch of the Collected Works project, the Bureau began translating Volume I of Capital based on Ivan Stepanov’s Russian translation. However, considering that a new translation of Capital should not be a secondary translation from Russian, this version was not officially published. Subsequently, the Bureau used the German edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels (the German 4th edition of 1890) as the base text and referred to the Guo Dali and Wang Yanan translation to restart the work. After years of effort, between 1972 and 1974, Volumes 23–25 of the first Chinese edition of the Collected Works—containing Volumes 1–3 of Capital—were published. Simultaneously, Volume 26, containing the Theories of Surplus Value, was published in three fascicles. Building on this, the Bureau published a three-volume standalone set of Capital in 1975. In the 1980s, the Bureau also translated the French edition and the first German edition of Volume I, published by China Social Sciences Press and Economic Science Press in 1983 and 1987, respectively.
In 1986, the Bureau launched the editing work for the second Chinese edition of the Collected Works of Marx and Engels, primarily using the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) as the base text while referencing German, English, and Russian editions. Volumes 44–46 of this series constitute Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of Capital, published between 2001 and 2003. In 2004, a new three-volume standalone edition of Capital was published. In 2009, Volumes 5–7 of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels (Wenji), containing the three volumes of Capital, were published. In 2012, an abridged version of the three volumes of Capital based on the new translation was included in Volume 2 of the 3rd edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels (Xuanji). In 2016, a standalone abridged edition of Capital was published. In March 2018, a commemorative edition of Capital was published for the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth. Furthermore, in 2016, the Bureau produced new translations based on the first German edition and the French edition of Volume I, included in Volumes 42 and 43 of the second Chinese edition of the Collected Works.
During the dissemination of Capital, a series of popular works also emerged in China, including Hong Yuanpeng’s Capital in Plain Language (1985), Capital in Pictures (1995) edited by Gu Hailiang, the translation of Capital: A Manga Adaptation (2011) by Lin Mingxing, and the Capital Picture Book (2021) illustrated by Dai Dunbang.
3. Publication of Capital in Ethnic Minority Languages and the Taiwan Region
The Party and the state attach great importance to the translation and promotion of Marxist classics in ethnic minority regions. Since the mid-1970s, the Nationalities Languages Translation Bureau, following central directives and the needs of cadres and the masses in ethnic regions, has translated and published editions of Capital in seven languages—Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Kazakh, Korean, Yi, and Zhuang—cross-referenced with the Chinese versions compiled by the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau.
From 1981 to 1989, Volume 2 of the first edition of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels was translated into Uyghur, Korean, and Mongolian; the excerpts of Capital contained therein became the earliest minority language translations of Capital in China.
From 1986 to 2002, the 1975 three-volume standalone edition of Capital was translated into Mongolian and Korean; for the Korean version, only Volumes 1 and 2 were published. The Excerpts of Capital published by the Central Party School Press in 1983 was translated into Korean and Mongolian, published in 1986 and 1987 respectively.
Since 2007, the 2004 three-volume standalone edition of Capital has been successively translated and published in seven ethnic scripts. Mongolian, Kazakh, Korean, Yi, and Zhuang have completed the translation and publication of all three volumes, while Tibetan and Uyghur have completed Volumes 1 and 2.
The dissemination of Capital in the Taiwan region has been extremely tortuous. From 1949 to the mid-1980s, the Taiwan authorities implemented "Party bans" and "press bans," strictly restricting the publication of Marxist books. In 1987, after the Taiwan authorities lifted martial law, Marxism gained a certain space for development. In 1990, Taiwan Times Culture Publishing Enterprise Co., Ltd. launched a traditional character version of Capital. The translator was credited as "Wu Jiasi," but it was actually a reprint of the 1975 Central Compilation and Translation Bureau version published by the People’s Publishing House. In 2017, Taiwan Linking Publishing Co. published a three-volume traditional character edition of Capital based on the 2004 Bureau translation. To suit the reading habits of Taiwanese readers, this version was re-proofread and featured newly created indices.
IV. Conclusion
Capital embodies Marx's sharp insight and scientific analysis of the capitalist mode of production. After its publication, it gradually spread through European and American capitalist countries. Under the influence of the October Revolution, Capital not only spread further in the West but also saw various translations appear in Asian countries such as Japan and China. After World War II, with the development of the international workers' movement, the scope of its dissemination expanded further. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the global publication and dissemination of Capital briefly fell into silence. Since entering the 21st century, Capital has once again become a popular read. It stands like a monument in the history of the development of human civilization, guiding the direction of the era's progress with its grand momentum, rigorous logic, and scientific conclusions.
The development of practice knows no bounds, and likewise, theoretical innovation knows no bounds. As General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out, "To persist in and develop socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics, we must take Marxist political economy as our guide," and "Socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics can only be enriched and developed through practice, must be tested by practice, and in turn, guide practice." Under the guidance of the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, we must persist in taking Xi Jinping Economic Thought as our guide, deeply study and master the basic principles and research methods of Marxist political economy, and promote the continuous innovation and development of economic theory in the process of serving the economic construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics.