Karl Marx's first confrontation with political economy: the 1844 manuscripts

Marx's first, flawed, attempt at a critique of political economy has received little attention. This paper reviews the evidence for Marx's knowledge of political economy before his reception of Engels' Umrisse; his economic reading in the Paris period; and the arguments of the first manuscript of the EPM itself, showing the absence of Ricardo and the pervasive use of Smith's Wealth of Nations, in particular, the division of labour, the rent theory, the subsistence wage, and the three states of society. The material on estranged labour was envisaged by Marx as an explanation of the capitalist economic system superior to that offered by the political economists. But his subsequent reading of Ricardo's Principles leads Marx to discard the economics of the EPM.