Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 12:45:18 -0600 From: Hans Ehrbar <ehrbar-AT-marx.econ.utah.edu> Subject: Annotations to Karl Marx's *Capital* Some of you know that I have been writing a detailed set of Annotations to Karl Marx's *Capital*. A draft of this is available for downloading on the internet. It is the portion of my notes which I am using for my class. This is not all the chapters I have worked on, but it would be a good start for anyone who might want to look at what I am doing. I am including here also a standard invitation for outside observers to my class. The class started on September 25, but there is still room if anyone wants to join. But if you would be interested in discussing issues in my Annotations without joining the class, I would be delighted to do so. We could do this on Kent Palmer's Marx list, which has been mute for some time (and Kent has given me permission to use it for this purpose). Write the following message to listserv-AT-think.net sub marx to join this list which at the moment is pretty much silent. I announced my class to that list too, and perhaps we can get a discussion going on that list around the issues in my Annotations. As a side effect we may re-surrect this list as a Marxist resource on the Internet. Now here is the canned announcement: Subject: Announcement of Capital Class on the Internet I am scheduled to teach my email class about Marx's Capital at the University of Utah three times this academic year: the first time from September 25 until December 4, 1996, the second time in Janary - middle of March, and the third time end of March - beginning of June 1997. The University has given me permission to invite some outside observers into the discussion, since this makes the discussion more interesting. There are still some places available, and you are invited to join. Even if you do not want to join the class, you may be interested in taking a look at the study guide. It is the draft for a book with a new translation and detailed annotations for selected chapters in Marx's Capital. It contains Chapters 1, 2, 4 (General Formula of Capital), 12 (Relative Surplus Value), and 19 (Wage). I am making very detailed comments, trying to understand every sentence and every turn in Marx's argument. Much of it is still tentative, but some explanation can, to my knowledge, be found nowhere else in the literature. I would greatly appreciate your help and feedback in this enterprise. Even after publication, I plan to have an electronic version legally available for everyone to download. The remainder of this message gives more information (1) how to get the study guide, (2) how to get the Acrobat reader which is the best program to print or read this study guide and other electronic documents, and (3) information for those who want to take part in the class. (1) HOW TO GET THE STUDY GUIDE The present draft is available for downloading either as a postscript file (extension .ps) or in adobe's "portable document format" (extension .pdf) at the archives for the marxism list. If you haven't used the "acrobat reader" for pdf files yet, I recomment to try it out; in my view, it is the best available format for electronically exchanging fully formated documents. Instructions how to get a free acrobat reader follow below. The study guide comes in two version: the "blue" version has Marx's text in English only (187 pages), and the "green" version has it in German and in English (253 pages). Since the class number is Econ 508, the file names are ec508bl.ps blue version (English only) as postscript file ec508bl.pdf blue version (English only) as pdf file ec508blv.pdf blue version (English only) as pdf for screen viewing ec508gr.ps green version (with German) as postscript file ec508gr.pdf green version (with German) as pdf file The file ec508blv.pdf has very small pages so that, if you use the "fit visible" command in the acrobat reader, the text is fairly well readable on the screen. While the other files produce a two-column printout, this file shows only a small part of one column on each page. (It has therefore many more pages.) Each of the files is between 1.8 and 2.6 megabytes. You can get the files on the www by using the URL ftp://jefferson.village.virginia.EDU/pub/pubs/listservs/spoons/marxism.archive/papers/ec508bl.pdf for the blue version for instance. If your browser is properly installed, this will automatically put you into the acrobat reader and lets you view and print the study guide. To retrieve these files by ftp, you have to ftp jefferson.village.virginia.EDU log in as user "anonymous", and then cd pub/pubs/listservs/spoons/marxism.archive/papers Don't forget to give the command "binary" before getting the pdf files. If you have no access to the www or ftp, only to email, but you have the acrobat reader on your computer, I could cut the study guide into several portions, make pdf files that are ascii files (this is possible), and email the pieces to you. Or there might be even other ways. Please let me know if you are interested. For a deeper discussion on the internet it is necessary that we have the capability to exchange documents. (2) HOW TO GET THE ACROBAT READER The acrobat readers, which allow you to screen-view and print the pdf files, are freely available. In order to get a reader, use the url http://www.adobe.com The adobe web site also has detailed instructions how to download things over the net and install them. Alternatively you may use anonymous ftp to ftp.adobe.com and go to the directory pub/adobe/acrobatreader >From there it is a nicely sorted directory tree by operating system and version nunber. The version 3 of the reader is just in beta testing and its final release will be made in October or so. I recommend that you get that beta version. (3) INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLASS PARTICIPANTS Appendix D of the study guide has a syllabus, with detailed schedule of the assignments and instructions how to sign up for the two mailing lists which make up the class. The outside observers should follow these instructions, but instead of a student number, they should write the word "observer". The class starts on September 25, 1996, but the first class session is only a technical intro. The answers to the first set of study questions are due by October 2nd. This first set is optional and will not be graded, therefore there will not yet be much internet traffic in the first week. The students need time to get their email accounts first, and they are not so interested in work which does not give them a grade. This would be a good opportunity for the outside observers to get a good discussion started. Even if you are an observer and do not pay for the class, please do the homeworks and submit them. I will gladly give you feedback. You will learn much more if you do the work, and your contributions will also raise the level of the discussion in the class. Hans G. Ehrbar Associate Professor University of Utah
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