Endnotes
[87] This is Marx's report read at the Central Council meetings on June 20 and 27, 1865. Being a further step in the elaboration of his economic theory, it was at the same time, thanks to its popular form, a model of how to present such material to advanced workers. Marx was prompted to make this report by the speeches of the Central Council member, John Weston, the Owenite. At the meetings of April 11, May 2, 20 (the minutes of this meeting have not survived) and 23, 1865, Weston sought to prove the uselessness of a general rise in wages for the workers and hence concluded that the corresponding efforts on the part of the trade unions would have deleterious consequences. The problems raised by Weston became the subject of discussion in the Central Council in May-August 1865. On May 20 and 23 Marx made preliminary remarks, and on June 20 and 27 countered Weston's views with an extended scientific substantiation of the working-class tactics of economic struggle and elucidated a number of key points in the Marxist political economy. Other speakers at these and subsequent meetings (Eccarius and Cremer) expressed their solidarity with Marx's report and disagreement with Weston's views; they recommended the publication of the discussion, Marx's report included. As is seen from Marx's letter to Engels of June 24, 1865 (see present edition, Vol. 42), Marx thought that in principle the publication of the report would be expedient, but was afraid that this would prematurely anticipate his Capital on which he was working hard at the time. These considerations, the excessive burden of theoretical studies connected with the writing of Capital and the various affairs of the International prevented Marx from publishing his work which has survived in manuscript form. Notes for the report have also been preserved in his notebook (see this volume, p. 338). The report was first published in London in 1898 by Marx's daughter Eleanor Marx-Aveling under the title Value, Price and Profit with a' preface b\ Edward Aveling. The manuscript had no title and opened with the words "Read to the Central Council on Tuesday, 20th June 1865". It was divided by the author into 14 sections marked with Arabic numerals. The introduction and first six sections had no headings in the manuscript; these were provided by Aveling. In this volume all the headings have been preserved, but have been enclosed in square brackets to distinguish them from those given by Marx himself. Marx's work became widely known under a different title— Wages, Price and Profit. It was provided by the German translator who published it in Die Neue Zeit in 1898. However, the logical presentation of the theoretical problems shows that the title provided by the Avelings in the first publication is more appropriate. That is why it is used in this publication.