Das Kapital sciences published before 1950. In "Das Kapital" (1867), Marx proposes that the motivating force of capitalism is in the exploitation of labor, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of surplus value. The owner of the means of production is able to claim the right to this surplus value because he or she is legally protected by the ruling regime through property rights and the legally established distribution of shares which are by law only to be distributed to company owners and their board members. The historical section shows how these rights were acquired in the first place chiefly through
Francis Wheen journalism. Wheen is the author of several books, including a biography of Karl Marx which won the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 1999, and has been translated into twenty languages. He followed the biography of Karl Marx with a "biography" of "Das Kapital", which follows the creation and publication of the first volume of Marx's major work as well as other incomplete volumes. Wheen had a column in "The Guardian" for several years. He writes for "Private Eye" and is currently the magazine's deputy editor. His collected journalism, "Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies", won him the Orwell Prize in 2003. He has