ABSTRACT
This is bibliographically the most complex phase of Marx's life. It is tempting simply to see it as the period when Marx 'wrote Capital', including its so-called 'fourth volume', Theories of Surplus Value. To do so, though, grossly oversimplifies the developments of the period. More important, in such an assessment there is an implication of an assumed bibliographical and substantive status of these works that is not supported by the available evidence. Marx's 'writing' of Capital involved him in much anguish and uncertainty and the endeavour remained largely unfinished. Indeed, it will be argued below that it is not possible to be certain about what it was that he did not finish!
