The Political Thought of the Economic Karl Marx. Value as the Political Nerves of the Capitalist Social Order

Abstract

This article proposes a political reading of capitalism using the categories associated with Marx’s economic analysis. It adds to the analysis of political power in the hands of the State, religion, ideologies, an analysis of the invisible umbilical cord that configures society, solidifying social ties and consolidating social relations in an imperceptible but very powerful manner. The umbilical cord is value understood as social relation and, therefore the political nature of capitalism cannot be fully understood without  understanding the domination that value expresses. Our sources for this analysis are mainly, but not exclusively, the works in which Marx begins to shape his analysis of capitalism. Value continues to be the cement of society, the network of power that unites society, which organizes and regulates social relations, that is, the political nerves of capital.