登陆注册
5186300000044

第44章 MONEY OR SIMPLE CIRCULATION(25)

So far as use-value is concerned,each commodity represents only one element of physical wealth,only one separate facet of wealth,through its relation to a particular need.But money satisfies any need since it can be immediately turned into the object of any need.Its own use-value is realised in the endless series of use-values which constitute its equivalents.All the physical wealth evolved in the world of commodities is contained in a latent state in this solid piece of metal.Thus whereas the prices of commodities represent gold,the universal equivalent or abstract wealth,the use-value of gold represents the use-values of all commodities.Gold is,therefore,the material symbol of physical wealth.It is the "epitome of all things"(Boisguillebert),the compendium of social wealth.As regards its form,it is the direct incarnation of universal labour,and as regards its content the quintessence of all concrete labour.It is universal wealth in an individual form.[2]Functioning as a medium of circulation,gold suffered all manner of injuries,it was clipped and even reduced to a purely symbolical scrap of paper.

Its golden splendour is restored when it serves as money The servant becomes the master.[3]The mere underling becomes the god of commodities.[4]a.Hoarding Gold as money was in the first place divorced from the medium of circulation because the metamorphosis of the commodity was interrupted and the commodity remained in the form of gold.This happens whenever a sale is not immediately turned into a purchase.The fact that gold as money assumes an independent existence is thus above all a tangible expression of the separation of the process of circulation or of the metamorphosis of commodities into two discrete and separate transactions which exist side by side.The coin itself becomes money as soon as its movement is interrupted.In the hands of the seller who receives it in return for a commodity it is money,and not coin;but when it leaves his hands it becomes a coin once more.Everybody sells the particular commodity which he produces,but he buys all other commodities that he needs as a social being.How often he appears on the market as a seller depends on the labour-time required to produce his commodity,whereas his appearance as a buyer is determined by the constant renewal of his vital requirements.In order to be able to buy without selling,he must have sold something without buying.The circuit C --M --C is indeed the dynamic unity of sale and purchase only in so far as it is simultaneously the continuous process of their separation.

So that money as coin may flow continuously,coin must continuously congeal into money.The continual movement of coin implies its perpetual stagnation in larger or smaller amounts in reserve funds of coin which arise everywhere within the framework of circulation and which are at the same time a condition of circulation.The formation,distribution,dissolution and re-formation of these funds constantly changes;existing funds disappear continuously and their disappearance is a continuous fact.This unceasing transformation of coin into money and of money into coin was expressed by Adam Smith when he said that,in addition to the particular commodity he sells,every commodity-owner must always keep in stock a certain amount of the general commodity with which he buys.We have seen that M --C,the second member of the circuit C --M --C,splits up into a series of purchases,which are not effected all at once but successively over a period of time,so that one part of M circulates as coin,while the other part remains at rest as money.In this case,money is in fact only suspended coin and the various component parts of the coinage in circulation appear,constantly changing,now in one form,now in another.The first transformation of the medium of circulation into money constitutes therefore merely a technical aspect of the circulation of money.[5]

The first spontaneously evolved form of wealth consists of an overplus or excess of products,i.e.of the portion of products which are not directly required as use-values,or else of the possession of products whose use-value lies outside the range of mere necessity.When considering the transition from commodity to money,we saw that at a primitive stage of production it is this overplus or excess of products which really forms the sphere of commodity exchange.Superfluous products become exchangeable products or commodities.The adequate form of this surplus is gold and silver,the first form in which wealth as abstract social wealth is kept.

It is not only possible to store commodities in the form of gold and silver,i.e.,in the material shape of money,but gold and silver constitute wealth in preserved form.Every use-value fulfils its function while it is being consumed,that is destroyed,but the use-value of gold as money is to represent exchange-value,to be the embodiment of universal labour-time as an amorphous raw material.As amorphous metal exchange-value possesses an imperishable form.Gold or silver as money thus immobilised constitutes a hoard .

In the case of nations with purely metallic currency,such as the ancients,hoarding becomes a universal practice extending from the individual to the State,which guards its State hoard.In Asia and Egypt,during their early period,these hoards were in the custody of kings and priests and served mainly as evidence of their power.In Greece and Rome the creation of State hoards became a principle of public policy,for excess wealth in this form is always safe and can be used at any moment.The rapid transfer of such hoards by conquerors from one country to another and their sudden effusion in part into the sphere of circulation are characteristics of the economy of antiquity.

同类推荐
  • 春归

    春归

    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。
  • 圭塘欵乃集

    圭塘欵乃集

    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。
  • 西湖老人繁胜录

    西湖老人繁胜录

    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。
  • 画禅室随笔

    画禅室随笔

    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。
  • 东溪试茶录

    东溪试茶录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 思如絮,愁绵断

    思如絮,愁绵断

    “若是没有喜欢过,我大可以安安稳稳地活着,可偏偏我喜欢上了你……那就只有死路一条。”
  • 我的二货将军

    我的二货将军

    “陌潇。”穆奕远转身眼眸微眯。“嗯,奕远兄有何事?”陌潇没抬头,顺着他的话问道。“听说……你是女儿身?”“!!!”
  • 西京杂记

    西京杂记

    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。
  • 雏田的火影生活

    雏田的火影生活

    在这混乱的时间线中,如果遇上了穿越者的情况下会发生什么事情
  • 学会宽容,人生步步为赢

    学会宽容,人生步步为赢

    宽容是爱,爱自己、爱生活、爱身边的一切人和物;宽容是情,用乐观心包容一切、理解一切;宽容是忘记,放下过去,放下不如意,生活才会更美丽;宽容是理解,用豁达的心胸接纳生活的不和谐;宽容是洒脱,用潇洒驾驭艰困的生活,用平和的心对待生活。《学会宽容,人生步步能赢》从宽容面对生活、自己、内心、人际、以及生活的不如意、不公平、不快乐等13个方面入手,让读者真正能够体会宽容的力量,拥有强大的内心,人生会更加精彩。
  • Sixes and Sevens

    Sixes and Sevens

    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。
  • 藏族传统民间手工艺(E眼藏地行 卷七)

    藏族传统民间手工艺(E眼藏地行 卷七)

    藏族是中华民族大家庭中的一员。藏族的聚居地以青藏高原为主,分布于我国西藏自治区、四川、青海、甘肃和云南等省。另外,尼泊尔、巴基斯坦、印度和不丹等国境内也有藏族人居住。藏族也是居住地海拔最高,距离太阳最近的民族。藏族有自己的语言文字,文献典籍的种类之繁,数量之多,内容之丰富,在我国各民族中仅次于汉族,位居第二。公元19世纪中叶西藏正式纳入中国版图后,藏民族成为中华民族大家庭的一个成员,与各兄弟民族生死相依,荣辱与共,共同创造了中华民族辉煌的历史。
  • 一寸河山一寸血2

    一寸河山一寸血2

    本书以全新的视角,讲述了中国正面抗日全史。它也是离新中国最近的历史,那是个社会结构、思想经济全面动荡转型的时代,新中国就是从那里走来,而我们就生活在新中国里,我们之所以会是现在这个样子,与那个时代密不可分。了解它,有助于我们了解自己这个时代。本书以皇姑屯事件和“九一八”事变为发端,以东北沦丧为起点,再现十四年抗战历史背景下的风云人物、精彩往事。本书犹如一部恢宏的画卷,作者以或幽默、或深沉、或激越、或悲壮的笔调,带你走近张作霖,走近蒋介石,走近汪精卫,领略他们曾经有过的铁甲与鲜花,情义与权谋,眼泪与欢笑,欣慰与悲怆。本册为第2册,主要讲述了1933年到1937年,日军由局部侵华到全面侵华的历史。
  • 家庭幸福经济学

    家庭幸福经济学

    对于“什么是幸福”,范伟曾在电影中有过这样的解释:“我饿了看见别人手里拿个热肉包子,那他就比我幸福;我冷了,看见别人穿了一件厚棉袄,他就比我幸福;我想上茅房,就一个坑,你蹲那儿,你就比我幸福。”范伟的这段话通俗易懂,却有着丰富的经济学内涵。幸福的感觉能在比较中获得,经济学中便有比较优势的理论。
  • 孙子兵法·三十六计(最爱读国学系列)

    孙子兵法·三十六计(最爱读国学系列)

    《孙子兵法》又名《孙子》《吴孙子兵法》,相传为春秋末年著名军事家孙武所著。该书总结春秋时期作战经验,揭示战争规律,对战争意义、治军方略、战略战术等多有创见,蕴含着丰富的辩证唯物主义思想,是我国最早且最有价值的军事理论著作,被誉为“兵经”、“百代谈兵之祖”。《三十六计》约成书于明清之际,作者佚名。全书按六计并为一套,共分六套。每计名称后的解说,均系依据《易经》中的阴阳变化之理及古代兵家刚柔、奇正、攻防、彼己、虚实、主客等对立关系相互转化的思想推演而成,含有朴素的军事辩证法思想。