History of economic thought died, Engels completed the second volume of "Das Kapital" from his notes. Marx wrote his magnum opus "Das Kapital" (1867) at the British Museum's library in London. Karl Marx begins with the concept of commodities. Before capitalism, says Marx, production was based on slavery – in ancient Rome for example – then serfdom in the feudal societies of medieval Europe. The current mode of labor exchange has produced an erratic and unstable situation allowing the conditions for revolution. People buy and sell their labor as people buy and sell goods and services. People themselves have become disposable commodities. As Marx
Theories of Surplus Value "Das Kapital" and in several letters during the following ten years, Friedrich Engels had indicated his intention to publish the manuscript of "Theories of surplus-value". However, although he succeeded in publishing the second and third volume of ‘’Das Kapital’’, he was unable to publish the "Theories" before he died in 1895. The out-of-print Progress Publishers English edition of TSV is available online: Theories of Surplus Value Theories of Surplus Value () is a draft manuscript written by Karl Marx between January 1862 and July 1863. It is mainly concerned with the West European theorizing about "Mehrwert" (added value or surplus-value)