Historedia
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Publication of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

When
1859
Where
Publication location not specified in sources
Part of
Karl Marx publishes A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

Marx published his first serious critique of political economy in 1859, intended as a preview for his later major work, Das Kapital.

The book critically examined axioms and categories of economic thinking, focusing on classical economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo. It contained the first connected account of Marx's materialist conception of history and the base and superstructure model.

Sources

  1. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-01-10
  2. Karl Marx Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.