First published in 1859, the Critique is the precursor for the systematic theoretical analysis of political economy expounded in Capital. In this work Marx examines the problem of commodities and commodity production, as well as the question of money as a universal measure of value and medium of exchange. This examination provides the crucial methodological basis for understanding the labor theory of value and surplus value - the key concepts of Marxist economics. Maurice Dobb, eminent Cambridge economist, has provided an introduction which explains the significance of the Critique within the body of Marx's economic work.