登陆注册
5186300000047

第47章 MONEY OR SIMPLE CIRCULATION(28)

All other commodities are accumulated either as use-values,and in this case the manner of their accumulation is determined by the specific features of their use-value.Storing of corn,for example,requires special equipment;collecting sheep makes a person a shepherd;accumulation of slaves and land necessitates relations of domination and servitude,and so on.Unlike the simple act of piling things up,the formation of stocks of particular types of wealth requires special methods and develops special traits in the individual.Or wealth in the shape of commodities may be accumulated as exchange-value,and in this case accumulation becomes a commercial or specifically economic operation.The one concerned in it becomes a corn merchant,a cattle-dealer,and so forth.Gold and silver constitute money not as the result of any activity of the person who accumulates them,but as crystals of the process of circulation which takes place without his assistance.He need do nothing but put them aside,piling one lot upon another,a completely senseless activity,which if applied to any other commodity would result in its devaluation.[12]

Our hoarder is a martyr to exchange-value,a holy ascetic seated at the top of a metal column.He cares for wealth only in its social form,and accordingly he hides it away from society.He wants commodities in a form in which they can always circulate and he therefore withdraws them from circulation.He adores exchange-value and he consequently refrains from exchange.The liquid form of wealth and its petrification,the elixir of life and the philosophers'stone are wildly mixed together like an alchemist's apparitions.His imaginary boundless thirst for enjoyment causes him to renounce all enjoyment.Because he desires to satisfy all social requirements,he scarcely satisfies the most urgent physical wants.While clinging to wealth in its metallic corporeality the hoarder reduces it to a mere chimaera.

But the accumulation of money for the sake of money is in fact the barbaric form of production for the sake of production,i.e.,the development of the productive powers of social labour beyond the limits of customary requirements.

The less advanced is the production of commodities,the more important is hoarding --the first form in which exchange-value assumes an independent existence as money --and it therefore plays an important role among ancient nations,in Asia up to now,and among contemporary agrarian nations,where exchange-value has not yet penetrated all relations of production.Before,however,examining the specific economic function that hoarding fulfils in relation to metallic currency,let us note another form of hoarding.

Gold and silver articles,quite irrespective of their aesthetic properties,can be turned into money,since the material of which they consist is the material of money,just as gold coins and gold bars can be transformed into such articles.Since gold and silver are the material of abstract wealth,their employment as concrete use-values is the most striking manifestation of wealth,and although at certain stages of production the commodity-owner hides his treasures,he is impelled to show to other commodity-owners that he is a rich man,whenever he can safely do so.He bedecks himself and his house with gold.[13]In Asia,and India in particular,where the formation of hoards does not play a subordinate part in the total mechanism of production,as it does in bourgeois economy,but where this form of wealth is still considered a final goal,gold and silver articles are in fact merely hoards in an aesthetic form.The law in mediaeval England treated gold and silver articles simply as a kind of treasure-hoard,since the rough labour applied to them added little to their value.They were intended to be thrown again into circulation and the fineness of the metal of which they were made was therefore specified in the same way as that of coin.The fact that increasing wealth leads to an increased use of gold and silver in the form of luxury articles is such a simple matter that ancient thinkers [14]clearly understood it,whereas modern economists put forward the incorrect proposition that the use of silver and gold articles increases not in proportion to the rise in wealth but in proportion to the fall in the value of precious metals.There is therefore always a flaw in their otherwise accurate explanations regarding the use of Californian and Australian gold,for according to their views the increased employment of gold as raw material is not justified by a corresponding fall in its value.As a result of the fight between the American colonies and Spain and the interruption of mining by revolutions,the average annual output of precious metals decreased by more than one-half between 1810and 1830.The amount of coin circulating in Europe decreased by almost one-sixth in 1829as compared with 1809.Although the output thus decreased and the costs of production (provided they changed at all)increased,nevertheless an exceptionally rapid rise in the use of precious metals as articles of luxury took place in England even during the war and on the continent following the Treaty of Paris.Their use increased with the growth of wealth in general.[15]It may be regarded as a general law that the conversion of gold and silver coin into luxury goods predominates in times of peace,while their reconversion into bars and also into coin only predominates in turbulent periods.[16]How considerable a proportion of the gold and silver stock exists in the shape of luxury articles compared with the amount used as money is shown by the fact that in ,according to Jacob,the ratio was as 2to 1in England,while in Europe as a whole and America,25per cent more precious metal was used in luxury goods than in coins.

同类推荐
  • 坛溪梓舟船禅师语录

    坛溪梓舟船禅师语录

    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。
  • 清宫词

    清宫词

    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。
  • 圣多罗菩萨一百八名陀罗尼经

    圣多罗菩萨一百八名陀罗尼经

    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。
  • 石林诗话

    石林诗话

    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。
  • 南曲入声客问

    南曲入声客问

    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
  • 某美漫的幻想具现

    某美漫的幻想具现

    ps:新书《美漫的九头蛇间谍》~罗恩在美漫世界获得了幻想具现的能力,可以具现出任何东西!……灭霸:“经过我的努力,我终于聚齐了六颗无限宝石,整个宇宙都是我的了,哈哈!”罗恩:“哦?你有居然已经有六颗无限宝石了,不错啊!不过灭霸,你看我的手!”看着罗恩手上那密密麻麻的无限宝石,灭霸直接吐出一口鲜血,倒地而亡……QAQ~
  • 超神学院之一生惟彦

    超神学院之一生惟彦

    我愿用我的最好,去守护你的一切。分分离离,若即若离,一切都是注定。除了你,这一生,再无他恋——葛小伦
  • 金刚经灵验传

    金刚经灵验传

    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。
  • 大乘经纂要义一卷

    大乘经纂要义一卷

    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。
  • 我寄人间白满头

    我寄人间白满头

    我的一生很短,也不过二十载,穷极一生所追及的人,像是做不完的梦,连死了也解脱不了。我有两个哥哥。和一个世间最好看的啊姐。还有……还有我欢喜了整个年少的未婚夫。但也只是年少,待我成年时。他便是我这世间最厌恶,最恨的人了。后来,我死了,成了鬼,成了人人害怕的孤魂野鬼。隔着一面墙,他在墙的那一边,我在墙的这一边。他的院子里有两棵梅花树,倚着那面墙,墙的另一边是我的院子,那株梅花枝便偷偷的伸过我的院子。后来,大火烧了我院子,连着偷偷那一株伸过来的梅花枝。我死的那一日,正是他大婚之日,墙的那边鼓乐齐鸣,爆竹震天。墙的这边,我呆呆的望着那一株开得正烈的梅花。恍然想起他是我哥哥们为我寻的如意郎君。于是我翻过墙,打晕了那凤冠霞帔的新娘子,换了她的衣衫,低眉垂眼沿床坐,然后在那龙凤烛影摇红里,他惊愕的眼神中,我捅了他一刀。他大概是死了吧,我想。我便又翻回了我的院子,在屋上中间的那根大圆柱子系了条白绫,上吊之前,我踢倒了桌上的蜡烛。其实那日翻墙回来时,我偷偷饮了那铺着红布桌子上的喜酒。――若你侥幸不死,便当我喝了你的喜酒,祝伉俪情深,祝白头。
  • 时光带不走的阳光

    时光带不走的阳光

    顾昀琛:在她出现之前,我从没想过未来,有了她之后,我开始幻想和憧憬很多以后的场景,一开始我不知道自己为什么会有这样的转变,但在某一个瞬间,我突然间明白,原来是因为,她就是我的未来。苏木:好像从记忆开始的时候,生命里就有她了,潜意识总是觉得,她从来都是我的,可是,从丢了她那一次之后,我的存在,就是为了证明,她有多爱他。叶南希:他呀,一定是我的七世怨侣,这样好像也挺好,悲惨了七世,欠我们的幸福,这辈子,要一下子全部还回来,开个玩笑,他呀,是每时每刻都围绕在我身边的最温暖的阳光,嗯……时光带不走的那种。
  • 吉娃娃犬

    吉娃娃犬

    吉娃娃犬优雅、机警、灵活、精致、漂亮。然而,只有你真正拥有它、关爱它,让它融入你的生活,你才能从它们身上感受无穷的乐趣。
  • 试用期千金

    试用期千金

    遭遇车祸,三个月后醒来,李萌萌失忆了!面对自己突然入住豪宅,过着衣来伸手饭来张口的日子,她只觉得不真实。又隐隐感觉哪里不对劲。豪宅的管家像老巫婆一样对她恶言相向,却操控着这里的一切;豪宅的真千金古灵精怪,阴晴不定,倒成了和她最贴心的人;豪宅的大少爷意外夺去了她的初吻,还要挤进她混乱的梦中当王子……直到有一天,别墅外的陌生人叫出了她梦境中的名字——“夏知了”,她的双重身份和记忆才涌回脑海。究竟哪个才是她真实的生活?大少爷的柔情能否换来她的留念?
  • 我只是受了点伤

    我只是受了点伤

    那还是2000年,净水巷的少女阮苏陌倾慕顾安笙,而林立夏狂追着周嘉言。而顾安笙喜欢他人,周嘉言面临出国深造。他们在这个三叉路口走散,以为有缘的人还会相逢,却不知道等到相逢那一天,你不再是你,我不再是我。也是在告别的晚宴上,阮苏陌闹了乌龙认识了秦楚,这个人改变了她接下来的生活。因为欠着秦楚的钱,阮苏陌到秦楚家做钟点工,两人摩擦不断却也乐在其中。而顾安笙因为公司破产,失去行踪,在秦楚设的毕业饭局上,林立夏重逢已有女友的周嘉言,两人咫尺天涯。没有了顾安笙的消息,阮苏陌一时之间不知道如何是好,幸而秦楚一直陪在她身边,而周嘉言对于立夏深深的眷恋却让女友白琳嫉恨到找人报复林立夏……
  • 离离:情漠漠 魂离离 那些词 那些事

    离离:情漠漠 魂离离 那些词 那些事

    本书着重挑选了各个时代富有故事性的词,做成各个篇章,以现代视角解读爱情与婚姻的各个侧面,引经据典,文风唯美(结合安意如和白落梅的风格),如《醋坛》、《书媒》《维纳斯的特征》、《雨爱》、《西施眼》、《情夜》、《云开了》、《胭脂戏》、《绝情应是多情》分别写了男女吃醋,书作爱情的媒介,爱情的残缺,发生在雨天的爱情故事,情人眼里出西施,爱情里的游戏,由爱生恨等,典型的小清新,小忧伤。