Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) (complete works)... also view the video presentation at http://vimeo.com/33204484

1. The MEGA Project and the end of
Marxism as we knew it
Michael R. Krätke
Lancaster University

2. All that I know is that I am not a
Marxist (Marx in 1881)

3. Editing the Classics – the unknown
Marx and Engels
 MEGA – what’s in an acronym: Marx / Engels Complete
Works
 A Mega-Project – the largest historical critical edition
project in the social sciences
 more than a hundred scholars collaborating in 8 countries on
4 continents
 a long-lasting project: started in the 1960s, will continue
(after the recent evaluation) for at least another 10 years
 output: 164 volumes according to the original plan, still
114 volumes according to the revised plan of 1992

4. The Marx papers – or why the MEGA is
important
 when Marx died in March 1883 …
 Engels in charge of the Marx papers
 Engels as editor of Marx’ unpublished / unfinished work
 First priority: Volume II and III of Capital
 After Engels’ death in 1895: the Marx – Engels papers
became part of the archives of the German Social Democratic
party
 Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein were its guardians and
published bits and pieces (one larger bit ‘Theories of Surplus
Value’ in 1905 – 10)
 During the high times of ‘classical Marxism’ only a part
(about a third) of Marx’ and Engels’ writings were actually
published (only a handful of specialists knew them all)

5. A short History of the MEGA
 The first plan for a complete works editions: Vienna 1911
 The first MEGA project: 1921 – 1940 ( 3 sections planned, only
13 volumes published)
 The first MEGA and its collaborators: victims of the Stalinist
purges (including the most eminent Marx scholar of his time and
director of the Marx-Engels-Institute, David Rjazanov)
 The second MEGA: 1964ff (Institutes of Marxism-Leninism in
Moscow and Berlin)
 The crisis of the second MEGA 1989/90
 The relaunch of the MEGA 1991 - 92 ( a different project in a
different context) – new organization (IMES, BBAW, IISH, FES,
funded by the EU, G, NL, Russian Federation),
internationalization of the project

6. The Marx – Engels papers today
 A lot of manuscripts, many letters have been lost or were
destroyed
 A lot has been found (until today we are able to retrieve by
chance letters and papers in archives and collections)
 The bulk of the Marx – Engels papers (80%) is preserved at
the IISH, Amsterdam
 The rest (20%) is preserved in Russian State Archives in
Moscow

7. New rules and editorial principles
 Four basic rules of the edition (since the relaunch):
 Completeness – publish everything (everything that is
preserved in the Marx / Engels papers or could/can be
retrieved – with the exception of marginalia in books)
 Publish everything in the original version (fidelity to the
original, also in terms of language)
 Show the evolution of the texts (all the variants, corrections,
changes made by the authors)
 No political comments, strictly scholarly, scientific
comments – in the notes and in the introductions

8. The Four Sections of the MEGA
 The MEGA is divided in four sections:
 Section I – all the writings by Marx and Engels (except
capital) (32 volumes planned, 18 published)
 Section II – all the writings by Marx and Engels pertaining to
“Capital” (15 volumes planned, all published)
 Section III – correspondence (35 volumes planned, 12
published)
 Section IV – the notebooks and excerpts (32 volumes
planned, 14 published)
 We are now halfway – 58 volumes published, section II
complete, working parties busy with the remaining volumes

9. Novelties in each section of the MEGA
 In section I: Many new articles, drafts, books by Marx
and Engels plus articles edited by Marx or Engels, plus
books and articles written by third persons in direct
collaboration with Marx or Engels
 In section II: All the hitherto unpublished manuscripts
pertaining to Capital
 In section III: The complete correspondence, including
the letters written by third persons to either Marx or
Engels
 In section IV: Invitation to the study of Marx and Engels
(notebooks, excerpts, collections of material, short
sketches)

10. Discoveries and rediscoveries: The
Impact of the first MEGA
 Unpublished manuscripts, notes and letters – the unknown
Marx and Engels come to light
 Impact of the first MEGA: Major texts, hitherto unknown led to
a ‘new lecture of Marx’ and heated debates about the core
theories of ‘Marxism’
 First publication of ‘Dialectics of Nature’ (1925)
 First publication of ‘German Ideology’ (1927)
 First publication of the ‘Economical – philosophical manuscripts’
(Paris manuscripts of 1844) (1932)
 First publication of bits of Marx’ original manuscripts for
‘Capital’(1933)
 First publication of the ‘Economic manuscript of 1857/58’
(Grundrisse) (1939/1941)

11. Discoveries and rediscoveries: the
Impact of the second MEGA
 Republication of known texts in the original form:
 ‘German Ideology’ – a book that Marx and Engels never
wrote
 ‘Dialectics of Nature’ – a book that Engels never wrote
 ‘Paris manuscripts’ – until the 1970s unknown in its original
form and context
 ‘Grundrisse’ – until recently unknown in its real historical
context (the manuscripts, the journal articles on the crisis of
1857/58, the ‘Books on crisis’, the correspondence)

12. Discoveries and rediscoveries: The
Impact of the second MEGA
 Big novelties: all the manuscripts / drafts pertaining to ‘Capital’
(from 1850 to 1882) published for the first time
 Engels’ editing manuscripts for volume II and III of ‘Capital’
published for the first time
 The journalists Marx and Engels rediscovered (Neue Rheinische
Zeitung, New York Daily Tribune, Radical and Liberal British,
Austrian and German papers) – new articles and unpublished
parts of series of articles (f.i. on ‘Revolutionary Spain’)
 Many unfinished projects (by Marx and Engels) documented
(historical, political, economic writings)
 Cooperation between Marx, Engels (and others) documented
(f.i. ‘Anti-Dühring’, ‘Dialectics of Nature’, ‘Origin of the
Family’)

13. More discoveries: you are invited to the
study of Marx and Engels
 Marx’ notebooks – a hitherto unknown source (Kreuznach,
Paris, Manchester, Brussels, London notebooks – 1843 to 1882)
 Marx’ notebooks on science and technology (since 1851,
continued in the 1860s and 1870s)
 Marx’ notebooks on science (chemistry, geology, physiology,
physics – 1861 – 63, 1869, 1877-79, 1880 – 82)
 Marx’ ethnological notebooks (1850s, 1877 – 79)
 Marx’ mathematical notebooks (1873, 1877 – 78)
 Marx’ studies and notebooks on world history (1840s, 1850s,
1878 – 1883)
 Marx’ empirical – statistical studies and notebooks on political
economy (money, credit, crises, agriculture, world economy –
1846 – 1882)

14. Marx rewriting Marx / Engels editing
Marx
 Marx’ preparations (notes and marginalia) for new (revised)
editions / translations of his own works (Misère de la
philosophie, 18th Brumaire)
 Marx’ many research manuscripts and drafts for ‘Capital’,
volume I, II and III
 Marx rewriting Capital, volume I (1872 – 1875 and later) –
last word in 1881: I have to rework / rewrite it completely!
 Engels editing Marx’ manuscripts for Capital, volume II and
III
 Marx popularizing Marx (books by Johann Most, Gabriel
Deville)

15. The various impacts of the second
MEGA
 Towards a new lecture of Marx – in particular: Re-reading and re-
interpreting the ‘Critique of political economy’
 Towards a new lecture of Marx – rediscovering the ‘Critique of politics’
 Towards a new understanding of Engels as a polymath of the 19th
century
 Putting Marx and Engels in their context (f.i. considering the
correspondence networks)
 Debunking myths and resuming / resolving old debates (the Late Marx,
the young Marx – old Marx problem, the Marx-Engels problem, the
Marx-Hegel problem)
 Stating ‘Marxian problems’ and resolving ‘Marxian problems’ by
‘Marxian means’ (or others)
 Establishing the true legacy of Marx (and Engels): research programs
(historical materialism, critique of political economy, critique of
politics, critique of modernity, critique of socialism) and unsettled
problems

16. Rereading Marx’ ‘Capital’ – the
importance of section II of the MEGA
 Section II provides all the material for new and critical
lecture of Marx’ unfinished life-long project
 All the manuscripts pertaining to the project of a
systematic ‘Critique of Political Economy’ (from 1843 –
1882 have been published)
 All the versions of Capital, volume I, written and edited
by Marx himself and edited by Engels (including the
translations) based upon Marx’ preparatory work have
been published
 Some of Marx’ notebooks documenting his continous
study of political economy, economic history, economic
events (like major crises) and economic statistics have
been published in section IV (much more to come)

17. The long road towards ‘Capital’
 First economic studies and first drafts – 1843- 44
 Continued economic studies and first programmatic texts (1845, 1847, 1849)
 Second period of intense economic studies, notebooks and small drafts (1850 – 56)
 First large research manuscript / draft of the critique of political economy (1857/58) –
6-Book plan
 First publication of the first part of the critique (1859)
 Second large research manuscript (1861 – 63) – changing plans
 First complete version of ‘Capital’, volume I, II and III (1864-65)
 First published version of ‘Capital’, volume I (1867) – Marx’ big compromise
 Reworking the manuscripts for Capital, volume II (1867 – 1881, 7 ms)
 Reworking the manuscripts for Capital, volume III (1868 – 1882, 15 ms)
 Revising Capital, volume I (second German and first French edition, 1872- 75)
 Preparing the third German and first English edition of Capital, volume I (1877 – 82)
 But: ‘Capital’ remained unfinished and incomplete!

18. Investigating the long road towards
‘Capital’ - What does this tell us?
 ‘Capital’ was not one stroke of a genius, rather the outcome
of a long, winded research process
 Against the prevailing myths – neither linear progress, nor
regression
 Not one change of plans, but many (with good reasons –
tackling unsolved problems)
 A series of experiments with the new form of presentation
(discovering the limits and the possibilities of ‘dialectics’)
 A series of experiments with mathematical analysis
 A long learning process, theoretical experiments and
empirical research are intertwined

19. Why did Marx want to rewrite / rework
‘Capital’ (and continued to do it) ?
 Five different versions of ‘Capital’ (accordingly: changing
views and ‘inconsistencies’)
 More than just problems with the ‘dialectical form of
presentation’ (and its limits)
 Theoretical progress by means of ‘discoveries’ and
‘experiments’: From the antinomies of classical political
economy via ‘new solutions’ to new (‘Marxian’) problems
 Major achievements / great findings (albeit left in an
incomplete form): from the value theory (monetary,
dynamized) to the theory of macrostructural change (great
transformations of capitalism)

20. Some unsettled (‘Marxian’)
problems of political economy
 dynamized, diachronic theory of value (combining the
rationality of the form and the logic of markets): ‘Value
revolutions’ and ‘price revolutions’
 advanced theory of money: how do we explain the value of
credit, fiat and ‘virtualized’ money?
 advanced theory of capital: the problem of ‘fictitious capital’
 theory of exploitation: more than ‘surplus value’ (variety of
exploitations via credit, unequal exchange)
 productive and unproductive labour: who creates ‘value’,
when, how and why?

21. More unsettled problem of
(Marxian) political economy
 Space – time ‘compression’: the logic of capitalist expansion
and the logic of acceleration
 Capitalist development: ‘real’, ‘monetary’ and ‘fictitious’
accumulation
 Theory of the world market / world money
 Theory of crises – the highest level of complexity
 Self-destruction and self-preservation: the contradictions of
modern capitalism dealing with labour, productivity, natural
resources, the environment, social inequality, social
(in)stability

22. Debunking myths: Late Marx
 Why did Marx not complete ‘Capital’?
 Manuscripts (7 for Capital, volume II, 15 for Capital, Volume III)
 Excerpts and notebooks: On technology, agriculture, on money, credit,
banking and stock markets, on economic history, economic statistics
 Two new main regional focusses: The USA and Russia (developmental
states)
 A minor new focus: Japan and Asia
 Marx’ renewed studies of science (basics of chemistry, physics, geology,
physiology) – important for understanding technology, labour
processes, agricultural change
 Marx’ studies of the calculus – looking for new ways of mathematical
analysis
 Marx’ studies of ethnology and anthropology – important for
understanding the impact of capitalism as a world system
 Marx’ studies of world history – important for understanding the
history of modern capitalism
 All of these are linked to the continued work on ‘Capital’ (to specific
problems of economic analysis Marx was trying to solve)

23. More myths
 Marx versus Marx, the young versus the old: there is no break, but
several turns in Marx’ intellectual itinerary
 However, Marx turned away from philosophy towards social science
(‘Marxist’ philosophy is an invention of some Marxists)
 What happened to original ideas / concepts ( like alienation, like human
nature, nature – man relations)?
 Continued to pursue and develop the original research program of the
1840s (very few, very modest statements as main themes, threads for
research) – ‘Historical materialism’ is a research programme in the
making
 The Marx – Engels problems (two opposite myths – unity and
falsification)
 The Marx – Hegel problem ( the continuity of Marx’ critique of
Hegelianism and Hegelian dialectics, Marx’ ‘empiricism’ and
‘positivism’, Marx and Kantian criticism)

24. What does this mean for ‘Marxism’ as
we know it?
 Stalin was right: Marxology / Marx scholarship is dangerous
for ‘Marxism’
 Farewell to the myths of and about Marxism (there is no
‘orthodoxy’ – not even in terms of ‘method’)
 Classic encounters: Marx and Engels as very modern social
scientists (inter- and transdisciplinary, combining empirical,
historical and theoretical work)
 An advanced theory of modernity (capitalism, bourgeois
society and the state), its rise and fall
 Pioneering work in terms of ‘theorizing history’,
integrating micro – macro, combining structure and action