mecw 35

From: Christopher Arthur (cjarthur@WAITROSE.COM)
Date: Fri Apr 09 2004 - 06:59:15 EDT


Hans
I notice you quote from MECW 35. I fear this may well become the standard
reference so note the folowing item I published a while ago.

Note: On Marx-Engels Collected Works Volume 35
Chris Arthur
On the subject of the Marx-Engels Collected Works, I would like here to
correct the generally favourable review of Volume 35 I published in Studies
number 3. This volume is the English translation of the first book of
Capital edited by Engels. It was made from the third German edition.
Subsequent to that the fourth German edition appeared with additions
inserted by Engels, notably passages from Marx¹s French edition. It is
standard practice for new printings of Engels¹ English edition to add these
passages from his fourth German edition; this is done in the Lawrence &
Wishart edition of 1983, for example. But here, in MECW 35, the process
failed.
On p.37 Engels¹ Preface to the fourth edition lists five places where he
put in additions from the French, and the CW 35 editors give the
corresponding pages to this edition. Unfortunately in only one of the five
is the addition both correctly made and indicated. Nothing at all has been
done in two places; and, catastrophically, these are the two substantial
ones. On p. 37 an addition of four pages is indicated at Œpp. 582-83¹, but
at the relevant spot on p. 583 nothing appears. On p. 37 an addition of two
pages is indicated at Œpp. 621-22¹ but these pages give the old third
edition material instead of substituting for it the new fourth edition
expansion.
In sum this Volume 35 is neither the original 1887 text, nor a properly
updated one.

17 Bristol Road, Brighton, BN2 1AP, England


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Apr 10 2004 - 00:00:01 EDT