登陆注册
4811800000020

第20章 (2)

If, by these words, M. Proudhon means that of all commodities, gold and silver are the ones whose time of production was known the earliest, this would be yet another of the suppositions with which he is so ready to regale his readers. If we wished to harp on this patriarchal erudition, we would inform M. Proudhon that it was the time needed to produce objects of prime necessity, such as iron, etc., which was the first to be known.

We shall spare him Adam Smith's classic bow.

But, after all that, how can M. Proudhon go on talking about the constitution of a value, since a value is never constituted by itself?

It is constituted, not by the time needed to produce it by itself, but in relation to the quota of each and every other product which can be created in the same time. Thus the constitution of the value of gold and silver presupposes an already completed constitution of a number of other products.

It is then not the commodity that has attained, in gold and silver, the status of "constituted value", it is M. Proudhon's "constituted value"that has attained, in gold and silver, the status of money.

Let us now make a closer examination of these "economic reasons"which, according to M. Proudhon, have bestowed upon gold and silver the advantage of being raised to the status of money sooner than other products, thanks to their having passed through the constitutive phase of value.

These economic reasons are: the "visible tendency to become dominant", the "marked preferences" even in the "patriarchal period", and other circumlocutions about the actual fact -- which increase the difficulty, since they multiply the fact by multiplying the incidents which M. Proudhon brings in to explain the fact. M. Proudhon has not yet exhausted all the so-called economic reasons. Here is one of sovereign, irresistible force:

"Money is born of sovereign consecration: the sovereigns take possession of gold and silver and affix their seal to them."[I 69]

Thus, the whim of sovereigns is for M. Proudhon the highest reason in political economy.

Truly, one must be destitute of all historical knowledge not to know that it is the sovereigns who in all ages have been subject to economic conditions, but they have never dictated laws to theM. Legislation, whether political or civil, never does more than proclaim, express in words, the will of economic relations.

Was it the sovereign who took possession of gold and silver to make them the universal agents of exchange by affixing his seal to them?

Or was it not, rather, these universal agents of exchange which took possession of the sovereign and forced him to affix his seal to them and thus give them a political consecration?

The impress which was and is still given to money is not that of its value but of its weight. The stability and authenticity M. Proudhon speaks of apply only to the standard of the money ; and this standard indicates how much metallic matter there is in a coined piece of money.

"The sole intrinsic value of a silver mark," says Voltaire, with his habitual good sense, "is a mark of silver, half a pound weighing eight ounces. The weight and the standard alone form this intrinsic value."(Voltaire, Systeme de Law )

[ Marx quotes a chapter from Voltaire's Historie de parlement . It is entitled "France in the Period of the Regency and Law's System". ]

But the question: how much is an ounce of gold or silver worth, remains nonetheless. If a cashmere from the Grand Colbert stores bore the trademark pure wool, this trade mark would not tell you the value of the cashmere. There would still remain the question: how much is wool worth?

"Philip I, King of France," says M. Proudhon, "mixes with Charlemagne's gold pound a third of alloy, imagining that, having the monopoly of the manufacture of money, he could do what is done by every manufacture of money, he could do what is done by every tradesman who has the the monopoly of a product. What was actually this debasement of the currency from which Philip and his successors have been so much blamed? It was perfectly sound reasoning from the point of view of commercial practice, but very unsound economic science, viz., to suppose that, as supply and demand regulate value, it is possible, either by producing an artificial scarcity or by monopolizing manufacture, to increase the estimation and consequently the value of things; and that this is true of gold and silver as of corn, wine, oil or tobacco. But Philip's fraud was no sooner suspected than his money was reduced to its true value, and he himself lost what he had thought to gain from his subjects. The same thing has happened as a result of every similar attempt."[I 70-71]

It has been probed times without number that, if a prince takes into his head to debase the currency, it is he who loses. What he gains once at the first issue he loses every time the falsified coinage returns to him in the form of taxes, etc. But Philip and his successors were able to protect themselves more or less against this loss, for, once the debased coinage was put into circulation, they hastened to order a general re-minting of money on the old footing.

And besides, if Philip I had really reasoned like M. Proudhon, he would not have reasoned well "from the commercial point of view". Neither Philip I nor M. Proudhon displays any mercantile genius in imagining that it is possible to alter the value of gold as well as that of every other commodity merely because their value is determined by the relation between supply and demand.

If King Philip had decreed that one quarter of wheat was in future to be called two quarters of wheat, he would have been a swindler. He would have deceived all the rentiers, all the people who were entitled to receive 100 quarters of wheat. He would have been the cause of all these people receiving only 50 quarters of wheat; he would have had to pay only 50.

同类推荐
  • On Being and Essence

    On Being and Essence

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 煮药漫抄

    煮药漫抄

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大成捷要

    大成捷要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上一乘海空智藏经·七宝庄严经

    太上一乘海空智藏经·七宝庄严经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 景岳全书

    景岳全书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 悲伤从你的名字开始

    悲伤从你的名字开始

    十四岁,薄砂亲眼目睹父亲带着小三提出离婚。薄砂深爱着纯白少年林北风,却误使另一少年程飒南双目失明。家庭动荡,林北风和叶未央在一起。伤薄砂离开南方小镇,祸不单行,她遭遇了母亲的去世。多重打击让她心如死灰,她恨父亲的薄情寡义,也恨那个女人的横刀夺爱,甚至恨林北风对她的冷漠。 她发誓,只要她变得坚强,就可以让那些破坏她幸福的人偿还一切!可一次次的报复却没有让她有丝毫的快乐……一次偶然的机会,她与牵绊一生的少年重逢,一切已物是人非,就连当初的好友,也让她陌生……唯一不变的是,她一直深爱的那个人,永远不爱她。单薄的少女,却如砂石般坚硬……最终,她能抓住那一丝微弱地、却深刺她内心的薄风吗?
  • 读懂领导

    读懂领导

    这本书是写给每一个对工作认真、对自己认真的人。领导是我们每个人都要面对的事,领导无处不在,领导不仅仅是一个职位,领导更是一个过程。领导不仅令存在于工作中,在我们的周围、我们的自身也都处处存在着领导,并时刻都在进行领导活动。在这个竞争愈来愈激烈的时代,我们已经明显感觉到各种处世技巧的枷锁带来的桎梏,人们需要一种更接近本质的东西来打破这种从一出世便开始缚着人的各种经验和教条。所以,在本书中,我们竭力摒弃那些自称是决胜秘诀的愚不可及的言语,我们不是要使作为读者的您掌握某种肤浅的处世技巧,而是希望您可以从技巧中掌握另一种东西——方法论,这正是可以打破“经验枷锁”的东西。
  • 琼瑶作品第三辑(全16册)

    琼瑶作品第三辑(全16册)

    有华人的地方就有琼瑶,数字版权大陆首次授权《琼瑶作品第三辑(全16册)》。其中收录琼瑶作品《梅花烙》、《水云间》、《新月格格》、《烟锁重楼》、《聚散两依依》、《却上心头》、《问斜阳》、《燃烧吧!火鸟》、《昨夜之灯》、《匆匆,太匆匆》、《失火的天堂》、《我的故事》、《冰儿》、《雪珂》、《望夫崖》、《青青河边草》等16部经典爱情故事。多部影视剧集经典原著,掀起几代人的纯爱记忆!数字版中国大陆唯一合法授权!
  • 惊世田园:农家娘子好威武

    惊世田园:农家娘子好威武

    【正文已完结,放心阅读】梦里因色心丧身,魂穿异世,醒来已是人妇,夫家一贫如洗,还好有技艺在身。不经意间,发现自己携带异能空间,她利用空间挣钱富家,原本她是想安安静静的在这里生活,可是天不如人愿,一伙行迹诡秘的黑衣人打乱了她的生活。身世之谜,丈夫生死不明,情感纠葛,接踵而来,她该如何面对,如何选择......
  • 君临天下红袖陨

    君临天下红袖陨

    废材少爷遇到奇遇后一步一步走上讨伐创世神的路上
  • 哈佛最神奇的24堂智慧课

    哈佛最神奇的24堂智慧课

    这是一个神奇的故事:故事的主人公是平凡猫、调皮蛋、光光头还有精神小猪,在学校里他们可都是贪玩又不听话的主儿,好不容易等到放暑假了,四个人凑在了一起,准备去一个茂密的山林里看看,因为他们听说那里经常发生一些神奇的事儿。最后,他们碰到了什么呢?哇!一位神奇的魔法师!更神奇的是魔法师给他们讲了很多神奇的故事,以及故事中藏着的那些事儿:心灵因思考而丰富、正直,让自己生活在阳光下、勤奋,扩展生命的维度、知识给你战胜恐惧的力量、奇妙的探险引出意外的收获、神奇的故事透露人生的智慧。
  • 开心丧尸

    开心丧尸

    如果你变成了丧尸,你会怎么做?王言觉得,当丧尸嘛,最重要的就是要开心啦,要不然还能怎么办?但是丧尸生活也不是那么平静的,人类和丧尸的对立,丧尸内部的斗争,都让王言疲于奔命。即使是丧尸,王言也要鼓起不在跳动的胸膛,向世界发出怒吼:丧尸的命也是命,丧尸也想活下去!本文是我的第一本网文,想要认真写好,希望大家多多支持啊。成立了一个粉丝群,群号:970833945,对本文有兴趣的小伙伴们,欢迎来聊一聊。
  • 于役志

    于役志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 末世刀兵

    末世刀兵

    古代刀客附身末世青年,遍地废墟当中杀出朗朗乾坤!
  • 逆天凤变:绝世农女不入宫

    逆天凤变:绝世农女不入宫

    她,逍遥自在的不婚族,生命诚可贵,爱情价更高,若为自由故,两者皆可抛是她的人生信条。一朝穿越到古代的小山村不说,这里的律法竟然规定女子17岁不婚官配之,为了不被官配给张三?李四?王二麻子……她决定努力挣钱,招赘婿。可看中的落魄美男,竟然是出宫遇袭、装失忆的皇帝!进宫?No!她要逃,他不许!那日,他的身份暴露,便虎躯一震,壁咚道:入赘别想,放手没门儿!那就别怪我用非常手段,先把生米做成熟饭……你追我遂间,他忆起了尘封的前世,方知这般为爱痴狂,皆因爱她入骨,前缘早定。(正文已完结)