[ show plain text ]
Jerry, I don't get what you are trying to say, neither with regard the
footnote nor with regard to any "moral". The footnote is not Marx's but an
editor's.
The translation of Marx reads:
"Productive labor is here defined from the standpoint of capitalist
production, and Adam Smith here got to the very hear of the matter, hit
the nail on the head. this is one of his greatest scientific merits (as
Malthus rightly observed, this critical differentiation between productive
and unproductive labor remains the basis of all bourgeois political
economy) that he defines productive labor as labor *which is direclty
exchanged with capital*..."?
and my initial question would be unaffected by this editor's footnote.
Actually, I am not so interested in Marx's opinion of Malthus as his
opinion of bourgeois political economy and productive/unproductive labor.
Paul
***********************************************************************
Paul Zarembka, supporting RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, web site
******************** http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka
On 01/12/00 at 11:46 AM, Gerald Levy <glevy@pratt.edu> said:
>Re Paul Z's [OPE-L:2109]:
>> Jerry, in answer to your question in the posting, I could not find
>> Malthus on the issue which might have led to Marx's favorable comment.
>Then, I'll just have to answer my own question -- with help from Volume
>31 of the _Collected Works_.
>A note at the end reads: "Marx is referring to Malthus' remark that the
>differentiation between productive and unproductive labour is the
>cornerstone of Adam Smith's work and the basis on which the main line of
>his reasoning rests (T.R. Malthus, *Principles of Political Economy...*,
>2nd ed., London, 1836, p. 44 (p. 585 of _CW_: 31)
>The moral of this story is to check with the _Collected Works_ rather
>than just relying on the older translations (e.g. the Progress ed. of
>_TSV_). yOf course, I am as guilty as the next person since it is easier
>to work with the older editions if they are heavily personally notated
>and underlined.
>In solidarity, Jerry
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 31 2000 - 07:00:07 EST