- commodity: an object outside us; a thing that, by
its properties, satisfies one human want or another
- every useful thing may be looked at from points of view of
quality or quantity
- use value: the utility of a thing; becomes a
reality only by use or consumption; they are the material depositories of exchange
value
- exchange value: the proportion in which values of
one sort are exchanged for those of another sort (which is a relation that is
constantly changing based on time and place)
- exchange of commodities is totally abstracted from use
value: one value is just as good as another, provided it is present in
sufficient quantity
- as use values, commodities are of different qualities,
but as exchange values, they are merely of different quantities
- if we leave out consideration of use-values of
commodities, they have only one common property left: they are objects of labour
-
“residue” of these products: they are a mere congelation of homogeneous human
labour – human labour has been expended in their production and human labour is
embodied in them
- common substance that manifests itself in the exchange
value of commodities, whenever they are exchanged, is their value
(exchange value is the only form in which the value of commodities can manifest
itself, or be expressed)
- a use-value has value only because human labour has been
embodied in it. (This is how value is created.)
- Some people may then think that if the value of a
commodity is determined by the quantity of the labour spent on it, the more
idle/unskilled the labourer, the more valuable his commodity would be (because
more time would be spent on its production). However, labour that forms the
substance of value is homogeneous human
labour. The total labour power of society,
which is embodied in the sum total of all
the values of all commodities
produced by that society is what counts, composed as it is of individual units.
- it requires to produce a commodity no more time than is socially-necessary
- labour time that is “socially-necessary” is that which is
required to produce an article under the normal conditions of production &
with the average degree of skill & intensity prevalent at the time
- the value of one commodity is to the value of any other =
the labour time necessary for the production of the one is to that necessary
for the production of the other
- the value of a commodity would therefore remain constant
if the labour time required for its production also remained constant. However,
the productiveness of labour is determined by such circumstances as:
-
the average amount of skill of the workers
-
the state of science & the degree of its practical application
-
the social organization of production
-
the extent & capabilities of the means of production
-
physical conditions of/for production
- in general, the greater the productiveness of labour, the
less labour-time required, the less amount of labour crystallized in that
object, the less its value (and vice versa: the less the productiveness of labour,
the greater the labour time, the greater the value)
- a thing can be a use value, without having a value (i.e.
air)
- a thing can be useful & the product of human labour,
without being a commodity (i.e. when someone satisfies his/her own wants with
the produce of his/her own labour)
- commodities must not only produce use-values, but
use-values for others (“social” use-values)
- nothing can have value without being an object of utility
– if the thing is useless, so is the labour contained in it
- one use-value is not exchanged for another of the same
kind (i.e. a coat for a coat)
- in the use-value of each commodity, there is contained
“useful labour” (i.e. productive activity of a definite kind & exercised
with a definite aim)
- use-values are combinations of two elements: matter &
labour
- since the magnitude of the value of a commodity represents
only the quantity of labour embodied in it, it follows that all commodities,
when taken in certain proportions, must be equal in value
- the same change in productive power that increases the
fruitfulness of labour & the quantity of use-values produced by that
labour, will diminish the total value of this increased quantity of use-values,
provided such change shorten the total labour time necessary for their
production
- commodities are two-fold: both objects of utility &
depositories of value
- human labour creates value, but is not itself value. It
becomes value only in its “congealed” state – when embodied in an object
- the value of a single commodity is expressed in terms of
numberless other elements in the world of commodities. Every other commodity
becomes a mirror of this commodity’s value – it stands in social relation to
the whole world of commodities.
- man, by his industry, changes the form of materials
furnished by nature, in such a way as to make them useful to him. However, as
soon as this labour steps forth as a commodity, it is changed into something
transcendent
- from the moment that men in any way work for one another,
their labour assumes a social form – social relation exists not between
producers themselves, but between products of their labour. (Relations appear
as material relations between people and social relations between things.)
- what, firstly concerns producers when they make an
exchange is: How much of some other product can I get for my own? In what
proportions are the products exchangeable?
-
objects rule the producers, instead of being ruled by them
-
the process of production has the mastery over man, instead of being controlled
by him
- use-value of objects is realized without exchange, while
their value is realized only by exchange
Chapter Two: Exchange
- In order that objects may enter into relation with one
another as commodities, their “guardians” may place themselves into relation
with one another, as persons whose will resides in those objects. (These
persons exist for each other only as owners of commodities. The characters who
appear on the economic stage are just personifications of the economic
relations that exist between them.)
- The owner’s commodity possesses for himself no immediate
use value – otherwise he would not bring it to the market. It has use-value for
others, but for himself its only direct use-value is that of a depository of
exchange value and, as such, a means of exchange.
- All commodities are non-use-values for their owners and
use-values for other owners. Consequently, they must all change hands
- every owner of a commodity wishes to part with it in
exchange only for the commodities whose use-values satisfy some want of his
- money is a crystal formed of necessity in the course of
the exchanges (it is an external expression for the purposes of commercial exchange)
- the first step made by an object of utility towards
acquiring an exchange value is when it forms a non-use-value for its owner, and
that happens when it is superfluous to some article needed for the owner’s
immediate wants
- what makes commodities exchangeable is the mutual desire
for their owners to get rid of them
- the constant repetition of exchange makes it a social act
- in the course of time, therefore, some portion of the
products of labour must be produced with a view to exchange. (The distinction
here becomes firmly established between the utility of an object for
consumption, and the utility for the purpose of exchange. Its use value becomes
distinguished from its exchange value.)
- the necessity for a value form grows with the increasing
number & variety of commodities exchanged
- function of money: to serve as the form of manifestation
of the value of commodities, or the material in which their values are
expressed. It is an embodiment of abstract, undifferentiated – and therefore
equal – human labour.
- money, like every other commodity, cannot express the
magnitude of its value except relatively in other commodities. This value is
determined by the labour-time required for the object’s production, and is
expressed by the quantity of any other commodity that costs the same amount of
labour time
- the difficulty lies not in comprehending that money is a
commodity – but in discovering how, why, and by what means a commodity becomes
money
