Re: [OPE] Reply to critics

> As far as I know the distinction between productive and unproductive
> labor was introduced by Smith. Marx elaborated it and corrected some
> minor inconsistencies in Smith, but essentially they were in agreement
> on this issue.

 
Hi Paula:
 
I don't think that's exactly right: in TSV, Part I, Ch. 4 he says
early on: "Jumpled together in his [Smith's, JL] presentation we
find two definitions of what he calls productive labour". In any event
in this section, Marx explicitly deals with the question of services.
E.g. he writes: "An actor, for example, or even a clown, according to
this definition (an entrepreneur) to whom he returns more labour than he
receives from him in the form of wages; while a jobbing tailor who
comes to the capitalist's house and patches his trousers for him,
producing a mere use-value for him, is an unproductive labourer.
The former's labour is exchanged with capital, the latter's with
revenue" (p. 157, Progress ed.)
 
In solidarity, Jerry
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Received on Tue Oct 12 18:14:56 2010