[OPE-L:5217] Re: Re: Re: Re: use-value as qualitative

From: Steve Keen (s.keen@uws.edu.au)
Date: Tue Mar 20 2001 - 14:55:22 EST


Hi Jerry,

I use the old Progress Press edition.

This quote is the point at which Marx first reveals the source of 
surplus-value in Capital I.

Cheers,
Steve
At 09:38 AM 3/20/01 -0500, you wrote:
>It is unclear to me in what edition of Volume 1 of
>*Capital* on 'p. 188' Steve K cited below in [5189].
>However, for reference, it is from Ch. 7, Section 2
>in a paragraph that begins "Let us examine the
>matter more closely."  In the Kerr edition, this
>paragraph is on pp. 215-216. In the International
>(1939) edition, see pp. 174-175. In the Penguin ed.,
>see pp. 300-301. An interesting difference in
>translation concerns "the value which that labor-
>power creates in the labor process" (Kerr) vs.
>"the value that labour-power valorizes [*verwertet*]
>in the labour-process" (Penguin). Note that in all
>cases the VLP and the "value that ...." concern
>value as such, not uv.
>
>In solidarity, Jerry
>The past labor that is embodied in the labor power, and the
>living labor that it can call into action; the daily cost of
>maintaining it, and its daily expenditure in work, are two
>totally different things. *The former determines the
>exchange-value of the labor power, the latter is its use-value.*
>The fact that half a [working] day's labor is necessary to keep
>the laborer alive during 24 hours, does not in any way prevent
>him from working a whole day. Therefore, the value of labor
>power, and the value which that labor power creates in the labor
>process, are two entirely different magnitudes; and this
>difference of the two values was what the capitalist had in
>view, when he was purchasing the labor power... What really
>influenced him was the specific use-value which this commodity
>possesses of being a source not only of value, but of more value
>than it has itself. This is the special service that the
>capitalist expects from labor power, and in this transaction he
>acts in accordance with the 'eternal laws' of the exchange of
>commodities. *The seller of labor power, like the seller of any
>other commodity, realizes its exchange-value, and parts with its
>use-value.* (capital I, p. 188.)

Dr. Steve Keen
Senior Lecturer
Economics & Finance
Campbelltown, Building 11 Room 30,
School of Economics and Finance
UNIVERSITY WESTERN SYDNEY
LOCKED BAG 1797
PENRITH SOUTH DC NSW 1797
Australia
s.keen@uws.edu.au 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683
Home 02 9558-8018 Mobile 0409 716 088
Home Page: http://bus.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Apr 02 2001 - 09:57:29 EDT