In a reply to Gil Skilman, Chai-on asserts:
A commodity is anything that is traded with money. Labor-power, too
cannot be an exception in my humble opinion. Land, too is a commodity
no matter whether it is produced by human labor or not, and whether it is
done by the capitalist method or not.
Michael W:
I do not agree that for Marx, and certainly not for a dialectical reconstruction
of a Marxist account of capitalism, the moment of entering trade for money is an
adequate characterisation of a commodity. In addition a commodity must be
produced, by the incorporation of labour, under capitalist relations of
production, with a view to entering systematic generalised capitalist commdodity
exchange. On this basis, neither labour-power, nor unimproved gifts of nature
('land') are grasped by the commodity form. Of course anyone can 'define'
'commodity' any way they chose - but why sever all these crucial internal
relations?
Comradely greetings,
Michael W.