This chapter will discuss Marx's conception of political economy as illustrated in Capital. Marx's conception of political economy is based on his philosophical views. I see no way to separate them. This chapter will discuss some of the differences between Marxian and “orthodox” political economy, then take Capital as the illustration of the Marxian approach, and end with some further remarks about Marx's conception of political economy. In discussing Capital, emphasis will be placed on a simple presentation of Marx's main points. I shall cite a large number of passages from the book in order to help the reader to perceive the flavour of Marx's writing and to understand Marx in Marx's own words.

In order to be clear about Marxian political economy, it will be necessary to free it from Marxism. Marxism insists on the discontinuity between Marx and Hegel, Marxian political economy and philosophy. I shall be insisting, on the contrary, on the continuity between Marx and Hegel, and Marxian political economy and philosophy. Similarly, orthodox, or mainstream, economics insists on the difference in kind between economics and politics, whereas Marx underlines their continuity and, as a direct consequence, calls attention to the intrinsically political character of economics. The main point I shall be making is that Marxian political economy and mainstream economy are not directly comparable, but different, and that at a time when Marxism seems to have declined in a way that cannot be recovered, the Marxian approach to political economy has never been more relevant.