Rakesh writes: >>It does no real theoretical work. Whatw ork does labor value do, if >>virtualy the entire apparatus ofg Marxism theory can be restated >>without it? Moreover, and more crucially, whatw ork has it done? >>People haves pent overa century trying topatch up the theory. But >>there have been no interesting developments or applications, just >>ways of saving the true religion as stated in die heilige Schrift. > >Of course value and value form do real theoretical work by > >(1) keeping our focus on social, cooperative labor and its >specifically bourgeois form; > >(2)giving descriptive focus to the laboring activity of the working >class and the class relation of who labors for whom <snip>
I agree with Rakesh. One of the points of thinking in terms of value is, I think, to overcome the limit of economism. That is, thinking in terms of prices & wages alone can only tell us how one segment of workers fare in comparison to others, as well as whether the purchasing power of individual workers _as consumers_ is going up or down. Thought in terms of prices & wages, lower wages for other segments of workers may seem good to you, as they allow your segment to command more products & services created by them. Thought in terms of value, however, lower wages for other segments of workers essentially cheapen the value of your segment's labor power. Thus, even though your real wages as well as nominal wages are going up, you may be still losing out to the class that exploit you. Thought only in terms of wages & prices (terms of market competition), there is no objective basis for solidarity across barriers (occupational categories, national borders, productive vs. unproductive labor, races, genders, etc.) that separate different segments of workers, but thinking in terms of value allows us to discover the objective basis. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>
