"A masterly work... A passionate and intelligent application of Marxist categories."

Guglielmo Carchedi, Retired Professor, University of Amsterdam

"This thought-provoking book clarifies many of the controversies and confusions surrounding Marx's Capital, and considers how to measure and assess some crucial Marxist variables."

Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"Tonak and Savran show convincingly that Marx's Capital remains the bedrock for understanding the laws of motion of capitalist production."

Michael Roberts, Author of The Great Recession, The Long Depression and Marx 200

"This is living Marxism!"

Tamás Krausz, Author of Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize-Winner Reconstructing Lenin: An Intellectual Biography, editor of Hungarian Marxist journal Eszmélet

"Indispensable."

Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS University of London, University of Johannesburg, and LUT University.

This book provides an accessible introduction to Marx's seminal work Capital and explores some of the core ideas of Marxian political economy relevant for modern day economies.

The first section of the book gives an overview of Capital, providing a historical background and the story of its making, as well as the authors' original thinking in the methodologies of Capital. This part also introduces readers to an important discussion of productive versus unproductive labour. The second part discusses the application of these ideas to some understudied questions of measuring profit on alienation, the rate of exploitation, including the reconstruction of input-output tables, as well as the role of the welfare state and the social wage. The third part sets forth new research in Marxian analysis in the 21st century, facing the challenges brought about by digital technology, digital labour, lean production and the long-run recessionary state of the global economy. The last part complements the first part on Marx's theory of value by presenting original arguments regarding the Marxism/Neo-Ricardianism debate.

Sungur Savran is a graduate of Brandeis University in politics and holds a PhD in economics from Istanbul University. He has taught as visiting scholar at universities in the United States. He is actively engaged in socialist politics.

E. Ahmet Tonak is a Research Affiliate at Smith College. He has taught economics at Bard College at Simon's Rock and was a visiting professor at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey and UMAss Amherst.

Sungur Savran received his BA in Politics at Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA, and his PhD in Economics at Istanbul University, Turkey. Taught at Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, and (as visiting professor) at several US colleges, including the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, New York. Carried out research as visiting scholar at Sussex University, England, and Université de Paris-X Nanterre, France. Currently teaching at Istanbul Okan University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science. Published articles in Monthly Review, Capital and Class, Khamsin and other journals and edited and wrote chapters for several books on Turkey and Marxist economic theory published in the US and Britain, as well as many books and articles in Turkish. Is on the editorial board of the journal of theory and politics Devrimci Marksizm, published quarterly in Turkish, and its English-language annual edition, Revolutionary Marxism. Was an active member of the editorial board of 11. Tez (Thesis Eleven), a theoretical quarterly in defense of Marxism, which came under attack not only from the military regime of the 1980s but also ideologically from liberals on the left. Has worked extensively as a trade union educator. Actively engaged in internationalist Marxist politics within the Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP) of Turkey and the International Socialist Centre Christian Rakovsky.

E. Ahmet Tonak received his BS in Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey, his MS in Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Stony Brook University, and his MA and Ph.D. in Economics at the New School for Social Research. Taught at Bard College at Simon's Rock, as well as Istanbul Bilgi University and the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. Lately, he was a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Hampshire College. He is currently a Research Affiliate at Smith College and teaches at UMass Amherst. Has published in Review of Radical Political Economics, Monthly Review, and Capital and Class. In addition to many books and articles in Turkish, he wrote Measuring the Wealth of Nations: The Political Economy of National Accounts (with A. Shaikh) and edited Critical Perspectives on the World Bank and the IMF and Turkey in Transition: New Perspectives (with I. Schick). He has served as the Managing Co-editor of New Perspectives on Turkey and a member of the Editorial Board of Review of Radical Political Economics. He was active against the military dictatorship in Turkey as the president of the Turkish Students' Association of New York in the 1970s and as one of the founders of the Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Turkey in the 1980s. As Marxism came under ideological attack in the 1980s, as well as the repressive assault by the military regime, he became part of an effort to publish a theoretical quarterly in defense of Marxism called 11. Tez (Thesis Eleven) from 1985 onwards. Later, he was a columnist for the socialist daily BirGün and the news portal Sendika.org.

Chapter 1: Introduction Sungur Savran and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Part I. Capital: An Overview.- Chapter 2: Grundrisse: An Introduction to Capital in the Making E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 3: Capital: An Introduction to the Three Volumes Sungur Savran.- Chapter 4: Critique of Political Economy Sungur Savran.- Chapter 5: Productive and Unproductive Labour: An Attempt at Clarification and Classification Sungur Savran and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 6: Capital: The Book of Communism Sungur Savran.- Chapter 7: Marx's Capital in Turkey Sungur Savran and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Part II. Operationalising Capital: Measuring Surplus Value and the Welfare State.- Chapter 8: Clarification and Application of the Category Profit on Alienation Alper Duman and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 9: Are Unproductive Workers Not Exploited? Yigit Karahanogullari and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 10: The Net Social Wage in Turkey, 1980-2019 Yakup Karabacak and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 11: Recasting Input-Output Networks in a Marxist Framework Alper Duman and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Part III. Capital and 21st Century Capitalism.- Chapter 12: Does the Digital Sector Produce Surplus Value? The Case of Facebook E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 13: Lean Production and Flexibility: The Highest Stage of Taylorism Sungur Savran.- Chapter 14: "New" Imperialism: Moribund Competitive Capitalism E. Ahmet Tonak.- Chapter 15: The World in Economic Depression: A Marxist Analysis of Crisis Sungur Savran and E. Ahmet Tonak.- Part IV. Marxism versus Neo-Ricardianism.- Chapter 16: The Controversy Between the Neo-Ricardians and the Marxists Sungur Savran.- Chapter 17: The Negation of "Negative Values" Sungur Savran.- Chapter 18: On the Theoretical Consistency of Sraffa's Economics Sungur Savran.- Chapter19: Confusions Concerning Sraffa (and Marx): Reply to Critics Sungur Savran.