Acknowledgements

This work summarises and re-elaborates ideas I have been developing in several publications and throughout a lengthy research activity. The conciseness and simplicity I have been finally able to achieve is the result of a process of refinement that would have been impossible without the contribution of many friends who provided their encouragement, their suggestions and criticisms. I wish to thank them all, but in particular: Ash Amin, Rakesh Bhandari, Sam Bowles, Paul Cockshott, Matt Cole, Richard Cornwall, Massimo De Angelis, Jim Devine, Emilio Dìaz, Panayotis Economopoulos, David Ellerman, Duncan K. Foley, Argo Golski, Geoff Hodgson, Douglas Koritz, Gerald Levy, Yahya M. Madra, John McDermott, Gary Mongiovi, Edward Nell, Ugo Pagano, Fabio Petri, Angelo Reati, Roberto Renò, Francesco S. Russo, Neri Salvadori, Gilbert L. Skillman, Ian Steedman, Emma Thorley, Marco P. Tucci, Andrew Tylecote, Alberto Valli, Andrea Vaona, Roberto Veneziani, Paul Zarembka and Maurizio Zenezini. I also wish to thank the Association for Economic and Social Analysis and the journal Rethinking Marxism for the permission to use materials previously published as ‘Karl Marx on Wage Labour: From Natural Abstraction to Formal Subsumption’ (Screpanti 2017).