As we know, it is only *socially-necessary-labor time* (SNLT), i.e. abstract labor, that creates value. How is SNLT measured? Can it be simply measured with a stopwatch using standard units of time, i.e. weeks, hours, minutes, seconds, fractions of a second, etc.? I think not. To explain just *one problem* now with this measurement of SNLT: as we know "the time spent in production counts only in so far as it is socially necessary for the production of a use- value" (Vol 1, Penguin ed., p. 303). This, Marx writes, has "various consequences." One such consequence is that the labour-power must be of "normal effectiveness": "In the trade in which it is being employed, it must possess the average skill, dexterity and speed prevalent in that trade, and our capitalist must take care to buy labour- power of such normal quality. It must be expended with the average amount of exertion and the usual degree of intensity; and the capitalist is as careful to see that this is done, as he is to ensure that the workmen are not idle for a single moment. He has bought the use of the labour-power for a definite period, and he insists on his rights. He has no intention of being robbed" (Ibid). Of course, the capitalist has no intention of being robbed. But that is rather besides the point, isn't it? The presumption above is that there tends to be an average intensity of labor established in any trade. Is this the case? It must be *tautologically true* that there is an "average" even if it is difficult -- or impossible! -- to measure. How would you go about "timing" the average? What has to be remembered is that one can not time abstract labour, one can only time how long it takes for individual workers to perform specific tasks. Thus, with Taylorism, one can time different workers performing the same job. However, with the division of labor, individual workers do not in general perform exactly the same job (i.e. set of tasks). Rather, specialization results in workers, say on an assembly line, performing different tasks. How then does one gauge the "speed" of the worker? If all workers had the same physiology and metabolism (which, of course, they don't) then one might be able to use a proxy like a timing of the heartbeat (pulse). When we consider the matter *regionally and internationally*, we can observe a *very* wide range in terms of the intensity of labor both within the same branch of production and in different branches of production. This is a matter that is well known to many trade unionists: i.e. even if they can't directly calculate SNLT, they *know* that the intensity of labor is greater (or lesser) at different plants, in different regions, and in different countries. Indeed, I can verify from personal experience that the intensity of labor can vary very significantly at: a) plants operated by different capitalist firms in close geographic proximity to each other (e.g. a Ford and a GM assembly plant located about 10 miles away from each other on the same road -- Rt. 1 in NJ); b) at plants operated by the same company in the same nation and/or region (e.g. the GMAD plants in Linden and Tarrytown); and c) even in the SAME plant (and indeed, most workers at an individual plant often know for which jobs the intensity of labor is lower and, consequently, which jobs are more "desirable" for that reason). When one compares the intensity of labor in different capitalist nations (with, consequently, *different cultures and histories of class struggle*) then the presumption that there is a standard (as distinct from average) intensity of labor internationally becomes untenable. That being the case: how can SNLT be measured? Who has a solution for the "SNLT problem"? If one were to say that SNLT is, and can only be, measured by money (the value-form position), then this would be one solution. Do others agree with *that* solution or do they see problems with it? If, on the other hand, one views abstract labour *only* in terms of the physiological expenditure of labor time, then I don't think one has come to terms with the importance of *socially necessary* labor time. In solidarity, Jerry
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