The world's easiest lecture on Marx's "Das Kapital" in print

'Capital that even monkeys can understand', a book that is synonymous with an easy-to-understand explanation of Marx's 'Das Kapital', was first published in 2008 and was republished in 2016.
It is called “Capital: A New Book Even Monkeys Can Understand.”
Even though it has been eight years since its first publication, 'Capital: A Guide Even Monkeys Can Understand' has established itself as a steady seller, consistently receiving love from readers.
Although a revised second edition was published in the meantime, the world has changed a lot since then, so author Seungsu Lim took on the task of writing a completely new version this time.
This book, which is fully infused with readers' questions and lecture experiences, is the definitive introductory book to Marx's "Das Kapital."

The works and ideas of Marx, who dissected the structure of capitalism in the 19th century, should be known to anyone living in a capitalist society (worker).
However, the vastness and complexity of nuclear power plants did not easily open their doors to many.
This book easily opens this door, revealing the secrets and limitations of the capitalist structure and the fundamental causes of the gap between rich and poor in capitalist society.
I recommend this book to readers who want to approach Marx's ideas that are not accessible in the Korean curriculum.

In a capitalist society, production activities are carried out through the ‘relationship between capitalists and workers.’
This is called capitalist relations of production.
Additionally, in a capitalist society, most people make a living by selling their labor.
People who can't find a job are in a very difficult situation.
So, workers are bound to be relatively weak in their relationship with capitalists.
--- p.27

The exchange value that Marx talked about simply means that 'commodities must be the result of labor.'
What this means is that goods are exchanged in the market, meaning that the labor that went into making each product is exchanged. Conversely, this means that anything that is not the result of labor has no exchange value and cannot become a product.
--- p.49

When money enters the process of constantly increasing its size, it is called capital.
You can clearly distinguish between money and capital.
But how does money grow? It's said to grow by eating profits, but where does that profit come from? --- p.72

In the sense that capitalists take the surplus value produced by workers as their own, they are essentially no different from slave owners or feudal lords.
This is the hidden exploitative structure of capitalist society.
In this sense, 'wage workers' could be said to be modern-day 'slaves'.
But because exploitation is so cleverly concealed, we live as wage slaves without even knowing it.
--- p.103

In Capital, Marx explains his position on technology using the Luddite Movement as an example.
When machines were first introduced to Britain, many skilled workers lost their jobs.
Angry skilled workers organized a movement to destroy machines, which became the famous Luddite movement.
Marx understands that the skilled workers are angry, but he points out that they have misdirected their anger.
Marx saw the problem as arising from the 'capitalistic' use of machines.
--- p.144

Absolute surplus value or relative surplus value is a way for capitalists to extract more profit from workers.
But there is another way besides this.
It's a particularly bizarre way to make workers 'voluntarily' more exploited.
In common parlance, this is a way to blow your nose without using your hands.
The topic of today's lecture is the performance-based pay system.
--- p.149

Marx talked about fetishism in Capital.
It means that matter has become God.
God is omnipotent, isn't he? In medieval Western Europe, even seemingly irrational acts, such as witch hunts and the Crusades, were justified if they were God's will.
Likewise, in a capitalist society where everything is traded as a commodity, money has assumed the status of an omnipotent god.
Money reigns supreme over everything, and as long as it makes money, even outrageous things become justified.
--- p.188~189

As the organic composition of capital becomes more sophisticated, there is a clear tendency for workers to be driven out of their workplaces.
Marx called those who were unemployed and unable to find work the industrial reserve army.
It may be a daunting task for those who cannot find work, but for capitalists, the existence of the industrial reserve army is actually a great help.
The existence of a large industrial reserve army gives capitalists an advantage in negotiating with workers because they can easily find replacement workers.
--- p.206

But there is one fact that should not be overlooked.
The profits of industrial capital, the profits of commercial capital, the interest of large capital, and the rent of landowner capital all have one source.
This is the surplus value exploited from the workers.
The capitalist factions share in the surplus value created by the workers in the production process.
…Because of this, even though the capitalist factions fight among themselves, their stance toward workers is the same.
As the pie of surplus value grows, each faction's share will also increase.
When workers unite and demand their rights, they band together as one capitalist group and respond as if they never fought.
--- p.225

At some point, sales slump and inventory piles up in a company's warehouse, and that's when the panic begins.
So why, then, do goods stop selling "at a certain point" and pile up in warehouses? Marx attributed this to the anarchic nature of production, a hallmark of capitalist society.
What does the concept of anarchy of production mean? --- p.253-254

Marx believed that in the long run, the trend of increasing organic composition of capital would exceed the trend of increasing rate of exploitation.
I think the profit rate will decline in the long run.
As capitalism progresses, products that did not exist before, such as smartphones, appear.
Water wasn't traded as a commodity in the past, but now we buy it with money.
Since new products generally have high profit margins, this acts as a factor that offsets the tendency for profit margins to decline.
--- p.272

The term "neoliberalism" has been used a lot since some time ago, but behind neoliberalism lies America's neocolonial ruling method.
Let's get specific. You've probably heard of the WTO, IMF, and FTA. WTO stands for the World Trade Organization. IMF stands for the International Monetary Fund. FTA stands for Free Trade Agreement.
Behind these seemingly disparate trade organizations, monetary funds, and trade agreements lies America's neocolonial agenda.
--- p.285

The regular curriculum does not properly cover the contents of Capital.
They teach exclusively about the capitalist market economy system in a friendly manner, but the reality of capitalism experienced outside of school and in society is quite different from what is in textbooks.
A huge gap between rich and poor, irreversible environmental destruction, worker exploitation, and ruined farmers…
Yet, schools do not address these serious issues seriously.
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a capitalist organization, dispatches lecturers to high schools and universities, claiming to strengthen education on market economy, but the government assists or even encourages this activity by the FKI.
What would the government's response have been if a labor union had undertaken a similar project?

--- p.308~309