RE: [OPE] devaluation and revaluation of variable capital

wpc@dcs.gla.ac.uk

I have checked the original

Toute nouvelle invention qui permet de produire en une heure ce qui a été produit jusqu'ici en deux heures déprécie tous les produits homogènes qui se trouvent sur le marché. La concurrence force le producteur à vendre le produit de deux heures à aussi bon marché que le produit d'une heure. La concurrence réalise la loi selon laquelle la valeur relative d'un produit est déterminée par le temps du travail nécessaire pour le produire. Le temps du travail servant de mesure à la valeur vénale devient ainsi la loi d'une dépréciation continuelle du travail. Nous dirons plus. Il y aura dépréciation non seulement pour les marchandises apportées sur le marché, mais aussi pour les instruments de production, et pour tout un atelier. Ce fait, Ricardo le signale déjà en disant :

    En augmentant constamment la facilité de production, nous diminuons constamment la valeur de quelques-unes des choses produites auparavant   [21].

I was wrong in what I wrote earlier, what marx was talking about was the way that the labour value
Of commodities becomes depreciated by new inventions. So 'la loi d'une dépréciation continuelle du travail'
Means in this context the law by which the labour content of a commodity is continually reduced by
Competition.

I am not quite sure why this is seen as counting as an argument against Ian though.

-----Original Message-----
From: ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu [mailto:ope-bounces@lists.csuchico.edu] On Behalf Of Gerald Levy
Sent: 07 February 2008 14:18
To: ope@lists.csuchico.edu
Subject: Re: [OPE] devaluation and revaluation of variable capital

Hi Paul C and Alejandro A:

"Depreciation of labour"  may not be the exact phrase used by Marx
in _Capital_, but there is a discussion of the "revaluation and devaluation 
of the variable capital" in Volume III, Chapter 6, Section 2.   After
explaining the release and tying-up of constant capital, he goes on to
discuss variable capital later on in the section (beginning on p. 209 in 
the Penguin/Vintage edition).    

Note the reference to "moral depreciation" earlier in that same page.

In solidarity, Jerry

> To be sure one would have to look at the original french and then 
> compare the usage with what
> was current in mid 19th Century french literature.

> By the phrase 'depreciation of labour, I think Marx meant, in those 
> passages, a decline in the payment
> to labour or a decline in wages. This is something different from a 
> depreciation of commodities below
> their value.
> It must also be born in mind that this is a relatively early text, and 
> his economic terminology at
> this stage is not quite the same as he used later on in Capital.

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