From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Thu Mar 08 2007 - 09:51:07 EST
Ajit: Sorry for the double accounting error: there were two points labelled d). The sequence below has been corrected so as to avoid misunderstanding. / In solidarity, Jerry > d) capitalist production ordinarily involves the performance of labor > by workers utilizing *means of production*. Those means of production > themselves are commodities. The ownership and control of those means of > production are, as we've already stipulated, key to the class relationship > that exists under capitalism. > e) the expenditure of labor requires that the producers (wage-workers) > expend energy during a period of *labor time*. > f) the definition of capitalism used (see proposition #2) means that > capitalists control the labor and labor time of wage-workers. > g) the definition of commodities indicates that commodities are produced > in order to be *sold*. The *sale* of commodities requires not only > exchange but *money* and *markets*. > h) assume, as a simplifying assumption, that money also is a commodity. > For the purposes of the model, assume that the money commodity is > *gold*. > i) The exchange of commodities requires that there are *exchange ratios* > which are expressed in terms of money (gold). > j) because all production takes the form of commodity production and > all goods sold are commodities, this requires that both labor time and > means of production take the form of commodities. Define the amount > of money which is used to purchase means of production as *constant > capital* and the amount of money used to hire wage-workers as > *variable capital*. > k) if products did not have a utility (a quality of being useful) for > someone else, then they would not be produced or purchased as commodities. > This follows from the definition of commodities since they are produced > in order to be sold rather than individually consumed by the direct > producers or by the class which controls the labor of the direct > producers and owns the means of production (the capitalists). Hence, > commodities must have a *use-value*. > l) since commodities are produced with the intention of being sold, they > must also have an *exchange-value*. Although the exchange-value of > commodities is *presumed* (by the seller) before sale based on past > transactions, it is only *known* once it has been sold on the market.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Mar 31 2007 - 01:00:12 EDT