Since the lecture had to be canceled in 2024 due to illness, we have included it once again in the program for the 2025 lecture series.

Marx’s writings resemble an iceberg. During his lifetime, only a small tip was visible. Not only is there a vast amount of preparatory work for his unfinished *Capital*—he published only the first volume in 1867— Marx also excerpted vast amounts of literature from various disciplines over the course of decades. These excerpts are being edited for the first time in Section IV of the Marx-Engels Collected Works at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Not only are they extraordinarily extensive (32 volumes in total, 13 of which are still pending), but they also contain a wealth of surprises that call for a revision of our understanding of Marx. Not least, they raise the question of how Marx actually arrived at his insights.

About the author: Dr. Timm Graßmann studied social sciences in Berlin and Warsaw and earned his doctorate from the University of Osnabrück with a dissertation on Marx’s theory of crisis. Since 2014, he has been a research associate at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, serving as an editor for the Marx-Engels Collected Works. In October 2024, Schmetterling Verlag published his book *Marx Against Moscow: On the Foreign Policy of the Working Class*.

About the lecture series: This public lecture series has been taking place for over 20 years now, featuring scholars from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities as well as from its seven sister academies. The lectures are aimed at a broad audience to provide insights into the research being conducted. Afterward, attendees have the opportunity to engage in conversation with the scholars over pretzels and wine in the Academy’s courtyard garden.

The series is held in cooperation with vhs Heidelberg.