[Marxism] If you want to identify the ruling class, you have to decide what is a social class.

[Aaron Aarons]

At 01:32 -0700 2008/11/02, Aaron Aarons wrote:
>1) Mathematically, adding c to v and/or s makes no sense, since c is a measure of value while v and s are measures of value per unit time. It's like adding miles and miles per hour.

At 08:08 -0500 2008/11/02, S. Artesian wrote:
>In reference to 1:  Marx uses  "c+v+s" extensively.  That is in fact how he
>defines the value of a commodity, is it not?   c,v,s are in fact all made
>equivalent through their expression in money terms, in their exchange, with
>the s hidden by the wage form.

Expressing c, v and s in money terms doesn't change the fact -- if it is, in fact, a fact -- that c is a quantity independent of the unit of time used while s and v depend on the choice of that unit. Thus, e.g., if you change the time unit from a day to a week, s and v will each be multiplied by 5 (or 6 or 7), while c will remain unchanged.

If I'm wrong about the meaning of c, i.e., if "constant capital" is not in fact constant but something else, I'd appreciate an explanation. I've raised this before and never gotten one.

 - Aaron

P.S. I'll deal with the response to my point (2) in a later post.