The Civil War in France; Marx, 1871 — Reference points #10

Audiobook of “The Civil War in France” by Karl Marx, on the Paris Commune and the lead up to it, delivered as speeches by Marx in 1870-71. Read it online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/ which also links to a timeline, glossary, and other references and background.

Article on it to be published in Solidarity 774: https://workersliberty.org/solidarity

Chapters/timestamps:

00:00 Publication info

02:13 Engels’ 1891 intro

The First Address, July 23, 1870

21:23 The Beginning of the Franco-Prussian War — Chapter 1

The Second Address: September 9, 1870

33:06 Prussian Occupation of France — Chapter 2

The Third Address: May, 1871

52:06 France Capitulates & the Government of Thiers — Chapter 3

01:18:39 Paris Workers’ Revolution & Thiers’ Reactionary Massacres — Chapter 4

01:39:05 The Paris Commune — Chapter 5

02:19:20 The Fall of Paris — Chapter 6

02:51:56 Engels 1891 Postscript

#10 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Audiobook recording with thanks to “Adrestia's Revolt” and “Dakki Reads”. Music public domain. Photo of a barricade in the Paris Commune, March 18, 1871

Solidarity 773, 26 August 2026. Articles:

Reform is on the back foot but not beaten

Trump lashes out: oppose sanctions on Iran

Left unites against far-right attack on socialist stall

Resisting Reform in Wakefield

Andy Burnham and council housing

Israeli right plans to bisect West Bank

Eulogising Castro… and re-writing Cuban history

Crackdown sharpens in Russia

Support Ukraine; oppose targeting civilians

Trump scrabbles to avoid mid-terms setback

Afghan women suffer from both Taliban and Trump

More money for prisons is no answer

Free Lee, Chow and all HK political prisoners!

Self-determination for Western Sahara

Burnham is still “Labour right”. How will the left respond?

How British Trotskyism began

How close are the “tipping points”?

Capital, chapters six and seven

Apologetics ride out

Making a new "philosophical movement"

A wealth tax? A Zucman tax

Musk and feral Trumpism

Public service broadcasting and us

Poor choice for Scottish Labour leader

Sharon Graham re-elected in Unite

Rebuilding union strength in local government

Raising £15,000 by November

All down to service control

Arday: from questions to vilification

Béla Lugosi, 1882-1956, trade union organiser

Students get ready for the term

Rayner agrees to meet MHCLG PCS

RNLI strikers increase pressure on bosses

Iran: against war, against sanctions

Stop Rosebank and Jackdaw

The "Right Side of History"?

Strike for heatwave protection

Fight this bid to ban union trans-inclusivity!

Unite and the "catalogue of deficiencies"

More online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-773-26-august-2026

Ninth part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: VIII: Primitive Accumulation. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents/Timestamps:

Part VIII: Primitive Accumulation

00:00 Chapter 26: The Secret of Primitive Accumulation

07:50 Chapter 27: Expropriation of the Agricultural Population from the Land

33:35 Chapter 28: Bloody Legislation against the Expropriated, from the End of the 15th Century. Forcing down of Wages by Acts of Parliament

49:35 Chapter 29: Genesis of the Capitalist Farmer

52:40 Chapter 30: Reaction of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry. Creation of the Home-Market for Industrial Capital

01:00:25 Chapter 31: Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist

01:23:10 Chapter 32: Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation

01:29:45 Chapter 33: The Modern Theory of Colonisation

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Ninth part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (Andrew S. Rightenburg) public domain

Eighth part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: Part VII: The Accumulation of Capital. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Contents/Timestamps (see below for tables):

Part VII: The Accumulation of Capital

00:00 Intro to Part VII

03:18 Chapter 23: Simple Reproduction

27:37 Chapter 24: Conversion of Surplus-Value into Capital

Section 1: Capitalist Production on a Progressively Increasing Scale. Transition of the Laws of Property that Characterise Production of Commodities into Laws of Capitalist Appropriation

Section 2: Erroneous Conception, by Political Economy, of Reproduction on a Progressively Increasing Scale

Section 3: Separation of Surplus-Value into Capital and Revenue. The Abstinence Theory

Section 4: Circumstances that, Independently of the Proportional Division of Surplus-Value into Capital and Revenue, Determine the Amount of Accumulation. Degree of Exploitation of Labour-Power. Productivity of Labour. Growing Difference in Amount Between Capital Employed and Capital Consumed. Magnitude of Capital Advanced

Section 5: The So-Called Labour Fund

01:29:55 Chapter 25: The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation

Section 1: The Increased Demand for labour power that Accompanies Accumulation, the Composition of Capital Remaining the same

Section 2: Relative Diminution of the Variable Part of Capital Simultaneously with the Progress of Accumulation and of the Concentration that Accompanies it

Section 3: Progressive Production of a Relative surplus population or Industrial Reserve Army

Section 4: Different Forms of the Relative surplus population. The General Law of Capitalistic Accumulation

Section 5: Illustrations of the General Law of Capitalist Accumulation

The mentioned table of the distribution of certain incomes in 1864-5 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch25.htm#S5 or summarised below:

1864

Total £95.8m | 308.4k people

Of those £57.0m | 23.3k

Of those £36.4m | 3.6k

Of those £22.8m | 832

Of those £8.7m | 91

1865

Total £105.4m | 332.4k people

Of those £64.6m | 24.3k

Of those £42.5m | 4.0k

Of those £27.6m | 973

Of those £11.1m | 107

The tables on Ireland at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch25.htm#S5f the second summarised (table B/C):

CHANGE IN AREA UNDER CROPS/GRASS IN IRELAND

CEREAL CROPS

1861 ↓ 16k

1862 ↓ 73k

1863 ↓ 145k

1864 ↓ 122k

1865 ↓ 72k

TOTAL ↓ 428k

GREEN CROPS

1861 ↓ 37k

1862 ↓ 75k

1863 ↓ 19k

1864 ↓ 2.3k

1865 ↑ 25k

TOTAL ↓ 108k

GRASS & CLOVER

1861 ↓ 48k

1862 ↑ 6.6k

1863 ↑ 7.7k

1864 ↑ 47k

1865 ↑ 69k

TOTAL ↑ 83k

FLAX

1861 ↑ 19k

1862 ↑ 2.1k

1863 ↑ 64k

1864 ↑ 88k

1865 ↓ 50k

TOTAL ↑ 123k

TOTAL CULTIVATED LAND

1861 ↓ 81k

1862 ↓ 139k

1863 ↓ 92k

1864 ↑ 10k

1865 ↓ 28k

TOTAL ↓ 330k

↓ decrease ↑ increase

k = thousand acres

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Eighth part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (Andrew S. Rightenburg) public domain

Seventh part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: Part V: Production of Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value and Part VI: Wages. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents/timestamps:

Part V: Production of Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value

00:00 Chapter 16: Absolute and Relative Surplus-Value

20:53 Chapter 17: Changes of Magnitude in the Price of Labour-Power and in Surplus-Value

Section 1: Length of the Working day and Intensity of Labour Constant. Productiveness of Labour Variable

Section 2: Working day Constant. Productiveness of Labour Constant. Intensity of Labour Variable

Section 3: Productiveness and Intensity of Labour Constant. Length of the Working day Variable

Section 4: Simultaneous Variations in the Duration, Productiveness, and Intensity of Labour

45:08 Chapter 18: Various Formula for the Rate of Surplus-Value

Part VI: Wages

51:38 Chapter 19: The Transformation of the Value (and Respective Price) of Labour-Power into Wages

01:06:04 Chapter 20: Time-Wages

01:18:40 Chapter 21: Piece Wages

01:31:17 Chapter 22: National Differences of Wages

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Seventh part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (Andrew S. Rightenburg) public domain

Sixth part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: Part IV: Production of Relative Surplus-Value — chapter 15 (i.e. the rest of part IV). Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Figures mentioned can be found within the following sections:

§5 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm#S5

Summarised below, the UK-wide result of mechanical improvements in the cotton industry due to the USA civil war.

1857 | 1861 | 1868

Factories: 2,210 | 2,887 | 2,549

Power looms: 298,847 | 399,992 | 379,329

Spindles: 28.01m | 30.39m | 32.00m

Employed: 379,213 | 451,569 | 401,064

§7 https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm#S7

Summarised, grain etc. UK imports/exports:

Years: 1831–35 | 1836–40 | 1841–45 | 1846–50 | 1851–55 | 1856–60 | 1861–65 | 1866

Import: 1.10mn | 2.39mn | 2.84mn | 8.78mn | 8.35mn | 10.91mn | 15.01mn | 16.46mn

Export: 0.23mn | 0.25mn | 0.14mn | 0.16mn | 0.31mn | 0.34mn | 0.30mn | 0.22mn

Excess: 0.87mn | 2.14mn | 2.70mn | 8.62mn | 8.04mn | 10.57mn | 14.71mn | 16.24mn

Population: 24.62mn | 25.93mn | 27.26mn | 27.80mn | 27.57mn | 28.39mn | 29.38mn | 29.94mn

Corn/head: 0.036 | 0.082 | 0.099 | 0.310 | 0.291 | 0.372 | 0.501 | 0.543

§8C https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm#S8c

Chief medical officer gave evidence of impacts of industries on health:

Industry & # employed | Deaths/100,000 by age: 25–35 | 35–45 | 45–55

Agriculture (E&W), 958,265 employed | 743 | 805 | 1,145

London tailors, 22,301 men + 12,379 women | 958 | 1,262 | 2,093

London printers, 13,803 employed | 894 | 1,747 | 2,367

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents:

Part IV: Production of Relative Surplus-Value

Chapter 15: Machinery and Modern Industry

Section 1 : The Development of Machinery

Section 2: The Value Transferred by Machinery to the Product

Section 3: The Proximate Effects of Machinery on the Workman

Section 4: The Factory

Section 5: The Strife Between Workman and Machine

Section 6: The Theory of Compensation as Regards the Workpeople Displaced by Machinery

Section 7: Repulsion and Attraction of Workpeople by the Factory System. Crises in the Cotton Trade

Section 8: Revolution Effected in Manufacture, Handicrafts, and Domestic Industry by Modern Industry

Section 9: The Factory Acts. Sanitary and Educational Clauses of the same. Their General Extension in England

Section 10: Modern Industry and Agriculture

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Sixth part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (Andrew S. Rightenburg) public domain

Fifth part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: Part IV: Production of Relative Surplus-Value — chapters 12 to 14. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents/timestamps:

Part IV: Production of Relative Surplus-Value

00:00 Chapter 12: The Concept of Relative Surplus-Value

19:11 Chapter 13: Co-operation

45:04 Chapter 14: Division of Labour and Manufacture

Section 1: Two-Fold Origin of Manufacture

Section 2: The Detail Labourer and his Implements

Section 3: The Two Fundamental Forms of Manufacture: Heterogeneous Manufacture, Serial Manufacture

Section 4: Division of Labour in Manufacture, and Division of Labour in Society

Section 5: The Capitalistic Character of Manufacture

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Fifth part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (Andrew S. Rightenburg) public domain

Fourth part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: the rest of Part III: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value — chapters 8 to 11. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents/timestamps:

Part III: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value

00:00 Chapter 8: Constant Capital and Variable Capital

Chapter 9: The Rate of Surplus-Value

35:31 Section 1: The Degree of Exploitation of Labour-Power

01:01:04 Section 2: The Representation of the Components of the Value of the Product by Corresponding Proportional Parts of the Product Itself

01:10:06 Section 3: Senior’s “Last Hour”

01:27:59 Section 4: Surplus-Produce

Chapter 10: The Working Day

01:30:23 Section 1: The Limits of the Working Day

01:43:38 Section 2: The Greed for Surplus-Labour. Manufacturer and Boyard

02:09:23 Section 3: Branches of English Industry Without Legal Limits to Exploitation

02:49:58 Section 4: Day and Night Work. The Relay System

03:15:48 Section 5: The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. Compulsory Laws for the Extension of the Working Day from the Middle of the 14th to the End of the 17th Century

03:59:51 Section 6: The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. Compulsory Limitation by Law of the Working-Time. English Factory Acts, 1833 to 1864

05:00:48 Section 7: The Struggle for a Normal Working Day. Reaction of the English Factory Acts on Other Countries

05:17:53 Chapter 11: Rate and Mass of Surplus-Value

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Fourth part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (librivox) public domain

Third part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: chapter 6 from part II and chapter 7 from part III. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Article on it, particularly chapters six and seven as in this audio https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-08-18/capital-chapters-six-and-seven . If you are only going to listen to one Capital audio for now while you follow the reference points reading list, listen to this one.

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Contents/timestamps:

00:00 Chapter 6: The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power (from Part II: The Transformation of Money into Capital)

Part III: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value

Chapter VII: The Labour-Process and the Process of Producing Surplus-Value

30:22 Section 1: The Labour-Process or the Production of use-values

01:02:53 Section 2: The Production of Surplus-Value

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Third part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (librivox) public domain. Image Paris 1968 poster.

Second part of the audiobook of Capital Volume 1 by Karl Marx. This section: chapters 4 and 5 from Part II. Read online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

Study notes at https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2021-09-03/marxs-capital-volume-1-12-week-course

Article on it (particularly chapters six and seven, released as a later audio upload) https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-08-18/capital-chapters-six-and-seven

Contents/timestamps:

Part II: The Transformation of Money into Capital

00:00 Chapter 4: The General Formula for Capital

36:42 Chapter 5: Contradictions in the General Formula of Capital

Otto Rühle's abridged version at https://workersliberty.org/capital-abridgement

Second part of #9 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list

Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a

Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Music and audiobook (librivox) public domain. Image Paris 1968 poster.