Jerry wrote in (4284), a week or so ago:
(2) Now, let's consider this subject further. If the purpose of V3 is
mainly to analyze the distribution of s, where is his analysis of the
distribution of s between capital and the state (which, in turn, affects
the distribution of income among the working-class, e.g. wage-payments
for unproductive labour employed by the state)? If the purpose of V3 is
mainly the distribution of s, where is his analysis of how foreign trade
and the world market affect the distribution of s? If one holds that this
does not mean that V3 is "incomplete", doesn't it suggest that the subject
of the distribution of s was not fully developed by Marx in V3? Doesn't
that, in turn, suggest something about the importance of the books that
were not written?
I certainly agree that Marx's theory of the distribution of surplus-value is
not complete in Volume 3 and I never meant to suggest otherwise. Volume 3
is still at a high level of abstraction and only considers a few general
aspects of the distribution of surplus-value. Volume 3 focuses on the broad
categories of income that were common in classical economics in order to
provide an alternative explanation of these categories of income and a
critique of the classical theories of these categories.
I certainly agree with Jerry that there are other important aspects of the
distribution of surplus-value that remain to be analyzed (e.g. taxes,
international relations, etc.) which Marx was planning to analyze in later
books, and which large remain for us to do. I am not by any means saying
that Volume 3 is "complete". Rather, I am saying that Volume 3 had a clear
logical structure and that this structure follows from the fact that the
main subject of Volume 3 is the distribution of surplus-value. I am glad
that Mike L. now agrees with me on these points.
Comradely,
Fred