The thing I always emphasized for my students in discussing the LTV and class struggle is that the conclusion (hypothesis?) that labor power is sold at its' value that is subsistence (however defined) is the LOWER BOUND for the wage --- if it goes below that, the labor force productivity falls and it even shrinks (Marx makes a big deal about this in discussion the fight for the 10 hour day) -- If it rises to the value of the commodities produced with that labor time, capitalists cease production.
BETWEEN THOSE TWO LIMITS is where class struggle at the point of production takes place. One does not have to be RIGID in claiming that the wage always settles at the value of labor power (subsistence) to show that there is an ongoing class struggle and that capitalists will ONLY engage in production where there is SOME GAP between the value of the commodities and the value of the labor power that went into producing it === OR in more modern terminology SOME GAP between the wage the the unit price of the commodity. I seemed to be a good way to get students who if they thought of it at all thought the LTV was some non-empirical mind trick without any relation to reality to see the concrete (in "textbook"terms) relationship between the way Marx describes the origin of profit and how it manifests itself in the real world as a "push and pull" at the point of production. ()sorry if this is obvious!) On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 2:15 PM Tom Walker via groups.io <lumpoflabor= [email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Feb 9, 2025 at 08:58 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > And this is the critical point of convergence for Marx's critique of > capital with his historical materialism, a point that leads from political > economy to *class struggle.* > > Yes. > _._,_._,_ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#35123): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/35123 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/111057829/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
