登陆注册
5186300000017

第17章 THE COMMODITY(15)

David Ricardo ,unlike Adam Smith,neatly sets forth the determination of the value of commodities by labour-time,and demonstrates that this law governs even those bourgeois relations of production which apparently contradict it most decisively.Ricardo's investigations are concerned exclusively with the magnitude of value ,and regarding this he is at least aware that the operation of the law depends on definite historical pre-conditions.

He says that the determination of value -by labour-time applies to "such commodities only as can be increased in quantity by the exertion of human industry,and on the production of which competition operates without restraint".[16]

This in fact means that the full development of the law of value presupposes a society in which large-scale industrial I production and free competition obtain,in other words modern bourgeois society.For the rest,the bourgeois form of labour is regarded by Ricardo as the eternal natural form of social labour.Ricardo's primitive fisherman and primitive hunter are from the outset owners of commodities who exchange their fish and game in proportion to the labour-time which is materialised in these exchange-values.On this occasion he slips into the anachronism of allowing the primitive fisherman and hunter to calculate the value of their implements in accordance with the annuity tables used on the London Stock Exchange in 1817.Apart from bourgeois society,the only social system with which Ricardo was acquainted seems to have been the "parallelograms of Mr.Owen".Although encompassed by this bourgeois horizon,Ricardo analyses bourgeois economy,whose deeper layers differ essentially from its surface appearance,with such theoretical acumen that Lord Brougham could say of him:

"Mr.Ricardo seemed as if he had dropped from another planet."Arguing directly with Ricardo,Sismondi not only emphasises the specifically social character of labour which creates exchange-value,[17]but states also that it is a "characteristic feature of our economic progress"to reduce value to necessary labour-time,to "the relation between the needs of the whole society and the quantity-of labour which is sufficient to satisfy these needs".[18]

Sismondi is no longer preoccupied with Boisguillebert's notion that labour which creates exchange-value is distorted by money,but just as Boisguillebert denounced money so does Sismondi denounce large industrial capital.Whereas Ricardo's political economy ruthlessly draws its final conclusion and therewith ends,Sismondi supplements this ending by expressing doubt in political economy itself.

Since the determination of exchange-value by labour-time has been formulated and expounded in the clearest manner by Ricardo,who gave to classical political economy its final shape,it is quite natural that the arguments raised by economists should be primarily directed against him.If this polemic is stripped of its mainly trivial [19]form it can be summarised as follows:

One .Labour itself has exchange-value and different types of labour have different exchange-values.If one makes exchange-value the measure of exchange-value,one is caught up in a vicious circle,for the exchange-value used as a measure requires in turn a measure.This objection merges into the following problem:given labour-time as the intrinsic measure of value,how are wages to be determined on this basis.

The theory of wage-labour provides the answer to this.

Two .If the exchange-value of a product equals the labour-time contained in the product,then the exchange-value of a working day is equal to the product it yields,in other words,wages must be equal to the product of labour.[20]But in fact the opposite is true.Ergo ,this objection amounts to the problem,--how does production on the basis of exchange-value solely determined by labour-time lead to the result that the exchange-value of labour is less than the exchange-value of its product?This problem is solved in our analysis of capital.

Three .In accordance with the changing conditions of demand and supply,the market-price of commodities falls below or rises above their exchange-value.The exchange-value of commodities is,consequently ,determined not by the labour-time contained in them,but by the relation of demand and supply.In fact,this strange conclusion only raises the question how on the basis of exchange-value a market-price differing from this exchange-value comes into being,or rather,how the law of exchange-value asserts itself only in its antithesis.This problem is solved in the theory of competition.

Four .The last and apparently the decisive objection,unless it is advanced --as commonly happens --in the form of curious examples,is this:if exchange-value is nothing but the labour-time contained in a commodity,how does it come about that commodities which contain no labour possess exchange-value,in other words,how does the exchange-value of natural forces arise?The problem is solved in the theory of rent.

FOOTNOTES

1.A comparative study of Petty's and Boisguillebert's writings and characters --apart from illuminating the social divergence between Britain and France at the close of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth --would explain the origins of those national contrasts that exist between British and French political economy.The same contrast reappears in Ricardo and Sismondi.

同类推荐
  • 小儿疮疡门

    小儿疮疡门

    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。
  • 孙毅庵奏议

    孙毅庵奏议

    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。
  • 大乘起信论义记

    大乘起信论义记

    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。
  • 春秋公羊传

    春秋公羊传

    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。
  • Robbery Under Arms

    Robbery Under Arms

    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
  • 三国演义

    三国演义

    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。
  • 35岁之前要掌握的16条成功法则

    35岁之前要掌握的16条成功法则

    一个没有掌握成功法则的人,好比盲目航行的船,在“东碰西撞”后,收获的必然是失败。本书是35岁之前成功的“导航图”,一旦有了正确指引,即使远航的路再艰辛、再黑暗,也能抵达成功的彼岸。在本书里,我们收集了大量中外成功人士的例子,并对他们的成功经验加以分析研究,从而总结出了取得成功的十六条黄金法则。遵照这些法则,一步一步完善自我,你就会逐渐实现你的成功之梦。
  • 解放延安

    解放延安

    本书以纪实手法纪录了在解放延安战争中,中国人民解放军浴血奋战的光辉事迹,歌颂了他们的大无畏精神,再现了解放战争的悲壮场面……
  • 机甲之死神星空

    机甲之死神星空

    以高达为蓝本的机战类科幻军事小说。人类的战线上,巨大的机甲将主宰战场的主旋律,成为交战双方攻城略地的利器。这些人造的巨型武器将把战争拖入到一个新的局势。在庞大而激烈的战场上总是会有英雄引导着士兵,雷。迈克斯威尔,作为联邦第一机甲王牌,和自己的死神小队同联邦普通的士兵一起,战斗在战场的第一线。
  • 剑客的宿命

    剑客的宿命

    剑客对决,或寒刃藏鞘,或尖锋相对,于数招内定生死。这时,平日的权势、谋略、知识通通无所倚仗,只是双方最原始的、赤裸裸的精、气、神、力、技比拼,方到舍弃一切浑然忘我一刀破出之际,生死立判,这就是剑客的宿命。一个男人被传送到日本电影中,不知前路亦不知归处,以一介剑客的身份,与最顶级的剑客对决,与最底层的无赖争食,浪迹于不同时代,不同剧情,体验残酷与温情。
  • 我的腹黑俏丫头

    我的腹黑俏丫头

    一个是一脸笑意却极度腹黑的小美女,一个是看似恶魔实则超爱心软的酷王子,在圣凌学院这个贵族学院里,究竟会掀起怎样的风浪呢?敬请期待吧!
  • 相识恰如迟暮

    相识恰如迟暮

    青春是一场是无忌惮的岁月,深如远山的遇见,毫无顾忌的追逐。起先你只是简单的走了进来,后来你贯穿故事的始终。以前最怕的就是疼,可是顾南城,你说我们不适合,披荆斩棘想努力成为你的适合,其实我不知原来会遇上你,原来那个人就是你。
  • 卧游录

    卧游录

    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。
  • 孩子注意力不集中,妈妈怎么办?

    孩子注意力不集中,妈妈怎么办?

    对任何人来说,注意力都是一笔宝贵的财富。遗憾的是,今天的很多孩子都有注意力不集中的问题。只有打开孩子的注意力之门,才能真正挖掘出孩子的潜能。本书从注意力是孩子心灵的窗户、孩子注意力不集中的表现与危害、孩子注意力不集中的原因、给孩子创造有利于专注的环境、全面提升孩子的生活品质、利用孩子的兴趣提升注意力、重视调适孩子的不良情绪、教孩子学会自我控制、对孩子进行注意力训练这9个方面,全面阐述了孩子注意力不集中方方面面的问题,并给出了改变这种情形的有效方法,从而帮助妈妈培养出一个做事专注的孩子。
  • 明伦汇编皇极典赏罚部

    明伦汇编皇极典赏罚部

    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。