A clear and compact guide to Marx's road toDas KapitalErnest Mandel traces the development of Marx's economic ideas from theEconomic and Philosophical Manuscriptsto the completion of theGrundrisse. In a series of crystalline chapters, he provides an overview of subjects central to Marxist economic theory. Mandel focuses on Marx's concept of alienation, which gained much currency among Marxists in the twentieth century, and traces the development of debates surrounding the labour theory of value, and Marx's writings on communism and "crisis." These discussions remain pertinent today, and these texts vital to all those who wish to interpret and to change the world.From the Trade Paperback edition.