Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1890-09-20

utility,
O.-How is it, then, that air, sun.
SHINE, wind and some other natural ele,
ments and forces though highly useful,
have nevertheless no price? How is it
that pound of bread or meat, though
Of the first necessity, commands far
lower price than does a pound of gold
or silver? DO we not say, too, that gold
is more valuable than bread because of
its high price, not because of its utility?
Value, you see, has a double meaning:
thing is valuable because it is useful;
such value is called use value And
thing Is valuable because of what it
commands on the market; value of this
last kind is called exchange value. Now
the question is, what is exchange value !?
Upon what does it depend? u 1t does
not depend upon utility or use value.
Water has no exchange value; gold has
high one, although the first is far more
useful. (2) 1t does not depend upon
supply and demand, as we have already
seen. (3l 1t does not depend upon the
physical qualities of the article, because
articles of different physical qualities
can have the same value. Upon what,
then, does it depend?
S. (SheeriRgtU-If the cause of value
is not to be found in the physical quail
tiles of an article shall we look for it in
the spiritual quality?
o. might answer, sneeringly also,
that every capitalist worships the spirit
that dweIls in commodity and that
this spirit is Mammon. But let us
drop this sort of talk and come to some
conclusion. Try to recollect what there
is in each commodity apart from its
physical qualities.
S,-Labor only.
O,-Ergo, only labor is ralue.
S.-But -.
O,-There is no but, Mr.. Smith. La
| Dor is value.
S. (impatientty)- Well, well! But
from what is profit derived?
O.-From the labOrer, of course. Will
you kindly tell me what a commodity
! is?
S.-A produced article fit for sale is a
commodity.
O.-And what is its value?
Swell, according to your reasoning,
it is the useful labor bestowed upon it.
O.-Vdl1te, then, is estimated bg the
PREVIOUS useful labor embodied or
mdteradltzed IN q c0mmOdty
81 should like to know what is, &C
cording to you, the value of labor?
O.-To such a question there is no
answer.
S.-Why?
O.-Labor is value. Now, to ask what
is the value of labor is the same as to
ask what is the value of value or what
is the labor of labor. Such a question
is absurd.
S.-Do | not buy labor?
Ono, what you buy from the work.
ingman is not labor. Labor is not a
commodity. What you do buy is his
working power, his power to work USE
fully, to create commodities, to produce
values. A commodity is an article fit
for sale, the value of which is deter
mined by the labor bestowed upon it,
labor already embodied, materialized
labor, Working power is produced II
is therefore commodity. Hence its
value, like the value OF all other com
modities, is the labor necessary to pro
duce it, the labor embodied in it, and
not the labor which it eriU display
which it lciN embody. Tell me, please
what is necessary to produce working
power?
S.-Means of subsistence
O.-Exactly. And the value of these
means is the value of the workinG
power. Now, tell me what the value
is of days working power.
, S,-The means of subsistence for tina
day
O-Now it is easy to understand how
profit is derived. Let us suppose tina
three hours of labor are embodied il
: the means of subsistence required t,
5 keep the working power running
whole day of, say hours. The day
value of the working power is under thi
supposition hours; and as this powe
is kept running hours, the values pro
2 duced in the surplus hours go to thu
capitalist These values are what W.
call surplus value, and the proportion
they bear to the value of the workinl
power is what we call the rate of surplu
t value. Under the above suppositiol
the surplus value is hours and the rat
t Of surplus value is 6:3=2. This is a
: present the rate in England, where tn
= capitalist class who, as such, does moth
$ ing, gets share of the annual incom,
twice as large as that of the laborin,
} class; this annual income being 81, $50,
/ 100000, out of which the workingmel
r receive i'll wages f425 900 900, or one
: third.
SIS the rate of surplus value thu
5 same as the rate of profit?
Ono. Sir 1t would indeed be shock
ing to our delicate ears, this two hun
dred percentage, Who ever heard il
3, Christian lands and in Christian age. o
| such Internal usury? The capitalist i
not an intidel, a pagan, he is
pous Christian, builds churches ant
walks in the fear of God" Ii
, reality, for every dollar that TIN
! lahnrInu class receives the CAN'T q is