This book is the first in a planned series that provides a modern interpretation of Karl Marx's opus – the three volumes of Capital, and the three parts of Theories of Surplus Value, often called the Fourth Volume of Capital. The author, who has a joint honours degree in Economics and Politics, has studied Marx's writings for more than 40 years, as well as having been actively involved in the labour movement for much of that time. In that spirit, the book is written as a modern interpretation, in the same way that Marx intended his book at the time, as a book that is accessible to all workers prepared to make a minimum of effort to understand it. It tries, therefore, to remove some of the unnecessary obstacles to such understanding, such as the original use of imperial measurements, complicated fractions, and pre-decimal currency. As well as trying to put Marx's ideas into modern language, it also tries to show how Marx's analysis and ideas have relevance in understanding today's world, by relating them to current events, and the modern economy. At the same time, the book does not shy away from saying where the author believes that Marx was wrong, or where changes in the modern world, make necessary a use of Marx's method to take the analysis forward, rather than simply sticking with a dogmatic analysis of how things were 150 years ago.