(OPE-L) Re: Meillassoux on population and wages

From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Wed Jun 11 2003 - 20:23:20 EDT


Paolo wrote on Monday, June 09:

> What struck me in the interview is that there is nothing in Marx, to my
> knowledge, suggesting that wages could not stay below the value of labor
> power for a long period of time.

I agree.  Do you and others agree that:

a) there is nothing in Marx which suggests that wages can not rise
above the value of labour power for a long period of time?

b) there is nothing in Marx which suggests that wages can not rise
above the value of labour-power during an expansion and drop
below the value of labour-power during a contraction?  (NB: on that
last possibility, note _Capital_, Volume 3, Ch. 14, Section 2).

c)  Marx is not at all precise on how often the value of labour-power
within a particular nation can change.  While he asserts that "in a given
period, the average amount of the means of subsistence for the worker
is a  known *datum*" (Volume 1, Penguin ed., p. 275),  he leaves
unanswered how often the VLP can change in a dynamic context.  This
raises the possibility that  for Marx the VLP could remain stable for a
relatively long period of time _and_  change rapidly and frequently during
other historical periods.

In solidarity, Jerry


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