The German Exile Who Defined Capitalism Before the Word Existed

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]In 1849, a German exile published a newspaper series in Cologne arguing that workers create more value than they are paid, and the difference is what makes their employers rich.

[00:00:10]The Prussian government shut down his newspaper that same year for sedition.

[00:00:14]He had already been expelled from Prussia, then France, then Belgium.

[00:00:19]He spent the rest of his life in London.

[00:00:21]That writer was Karl Marx. The word capitalism did not yet exist in English when he wrote this. Today, his concept of wage wage labor and surplus value powers every modern debate about gig economy workers, the minimum wage, and AI replacing human labor.