ABSTRACT
WHEN Marx refused to be present at the Geneva congress on the ground that the completion of his main work—up to the moment he had done only minor things, he thought—seemed more important for the cause of the workers than anything he could do at the congress, he was engaged in polishing and putting the final touches to the first volume. At first this final work, which began on the 1st of January 1866, proceeded quickly, for “ naturally it gave me pleasure to lick the club clean after so many birth pangs ”.
