Written during the winter of 1857-8, the "Grundrisse" was
considered by Marx to be the first scientific elaboration of
communist theory. A collection of seven notebooks on capital and
money, it both develops the arguments outlined in the Communist
Manifesto (1848) and explores the themes and theses that were to
dominate his great later work "Capital". Here, for the first time,
Marx set out his own version of Hegel's dialectics and developed
his mature views on labour, surplus value and profit, offering many
fresh insights into alienation, automation and the dangers of
capitalist society. Yet while the theories in "Grundrisse" make it
a vital precursor to "Capital", it also provides invaluable
de*ions of Marx's wider-ranging philosophy, making it a unique
insight into his beliefs and hopes for the foundation of a
communist state.