On the Limits of The Limits to Capital

Harvey's magisterial text is a sustained attempt to develop the basic method, extend the substantive arguments, and overcome some of the theoretical limits of Marx's classic critique of political economy. Yet Limits to Capital has its own limits and these are often rooted in the limits of Capital itself. Let us recall that the latter is an unfinished text. In the 1857 outline of his future magnum opus, Marx stated his intention to write six 'books' (Marx 1973; cf. Harvey 1982: xiv). These would deal in turn with capital, landed property, wage-labour, the state, foreign trade, and the world market and crises. The chosen order of presentation corresponded to his method of analysis, which moved from abstract-simple objects to the reproduction of the totality as a concrete-in-thought. In this context, the world market and crises would be the 'rich totality of many definitions and relations' and must therefore await the introduction of the other elements. Controversy continues over the completeness of the first three of the proposed books (especially that on wage labour); but all agree that Marx left no more than sketches and hints about the final three.