[Marxism] work - ability - needs

[S. Artesian]

Pance,

I think you have it wrong.  Marx develops this notion of abstract labor time 
as the basis for the exchange value of the commodity.  The passages in 
ACTTCOPE, Capital, and the Grundrisse certainly make it clear that the 
formal equality, egalitarianism of  labor-time is the basis for the exchange 
value of the commodity.  Yes Marx presents and reverses the way I remembered 
the passage, but only to make it, this fundamental egalitarianism of 
labor-time, "stricter." A man during an hour is worth the same as another 
man. No, not every value imparted by the labor-time day is the same.  Marx 
points out that a jeweller's day may be equivalent to three days of that of 
a weaver.  But keep going and turn the page.  Marx says "Quality no longer 
matters.  Quantity alone decides everything; hour for hour, day for day; but 
this equalizing of labor is not by any means the work of M. Proudhon's 
eternal justice; it is purely and simply a fact of modern industry."

Marx continues:  "In the automatic workshop, one worker's labour is scarcely 
distinguishable in any way from another worker's labour: workers can only be 
distinguished one from another by the length of time they take for their 
work.  Nevertheless, this quantitative difference becomes, from a certain 
point of view, qualitative, in that the time they take for work depends 
partly on purely material causes, such as physical constitution, ages and 
sex; ...... In short, if there is a difference of quality in the labour of 
different workers, it is at most a quality of the last kind, which is far 
from being a distinctive specialty."

 The core, the physical, social attribute of exchange value is the 
universal, egalitarian nature of labor-time.   But this is an alienated form 
of social labor, circumscribed in production by private property. 
Capitalist production, again at its very core, cannot directly validate the 
direction, expenditure, the "worth" of the labor-time so aggrandized, so 
alienated.  It can seek that validation only in the "common" meeting place 
of all private production properties, the market.  And only through this can 
the existing aggrandized exchange value be realized as profit. That is why 
Marx states that question is only resolved through competition.

Now look again at Cuba's plan to remove caps-- and reward greater... greater 
what, exactly?  Greater productivity?   But we know productivity is first 
and foremost a function of the organization of labor, of the technical 
augmentation of labor power, of increased investment.  And how will that 
productivity advantage be realized in the products so produced?  In the 
market?  By the state if the products bring, what?  more foreign exchange? 
Thus, the egalitarian impulse, so unhelpful at this point in Cuba's history, 
get's replaced by realization of exchange value on the market.  This is the 
differentiation that must become a class differentiation.  And as you point 
out, it is a step backward.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pance Stojkovski" <pance at rogers.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] work - ability - needs