In 5632 Ajit wrote: > The problem is simple: how do you deal with the > means of production part of the commodity in its > exchange? Reuten-Williams after an answer to that problem in _Value-Form and the State_, pp. 68-71. In brief, from their perspective the magnitude of the value transferred from the means of production is determined by the *current value* (or what R/W call the *current ideal value*) of the m of p rather than the historical value (historical costs). On this point, see 9c (71) and note 6 (69). On my first (mis-) reading of 5632, I thought that Ajit was referring in part to the theorization of the *division of labor* in VFT. This led me to look through a whole pile of books either written by or including articles by VFT authors including Chris, Tony S, Geert, and Mike W. To my surprise, I found hardly anything written specifically on this subject. Even in R/W's systemic dialectical presentation, the division of labor under capitalism is not a subject that is developed. What is the reason for this omission? Have any VFT authors written a review of Rob Beamish's book _Marx, method, and the division of labor_ (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1992)? I think it is a very important piece of scholarship on this topic. More generally, where is the theorization within R/W and other VFT writings on the subjects developed in _Capital_ Vol 1, Chs. 13-15? The closest that I can find to a theorization of those subjects from a VFT perspective are Tony's writings at a much more concrete level of analysis re "Lean Production" (e.g. his article in the Arthur/Reuten ed. _The Circulation of Capital_). I am truly puzzled by this. In solidarity, Jerry
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