Theory of labour value
living labour as an alternative to physiological and value-form interpretations
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to present an interpretation of the Marxist theory of labour-value that differs from the traditional and physiological interpretation of value as labour embodied into commodities at the time of production, and from the interpretation that goes back to Rubin’s work (or a certain reading of his work), which sees the quantitative determination of value through the market (circulation) – or by the emergence of an exchange-oriented type of production. In this alternative interpretation, it is the living labour, the socially necessary labour for the reproduction of a commodity at the moment of its exchange, that quantitatively determines the commodity’s value, while abstract labour is the result of the reduction of the labour process to a moment of the capital valorisation movement, characteristic of the capitalist era. After exposing this interpretation, a critical assessment of previous interpretations is presented.
References
ARTHUR, Christopher J. “The Practical Truth of Abstract Labour” in: BELLOFIORE, Riccardo et alii (eds.). In Marx’s Laboratory: Critical Interpretations of the Grundrisse. Leiden / Boston: Brill, 2013, pp. 101-120.
BELLOFIORE, Riccardo. “A ghost turning into vampire: the concept of capital and living labour” in: BELLOFIORE, Riccardo; FINESCHI, Roberto (orgs.). Re-reading Marx: New Perspectives after the Critical Edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 178-194.
BORTKIEWICZ, Ladislaus von. “Value and Price in the Marxian System”, International Economic Papers, n. 2, 1952 [1907]. Disponível em: http://jphdupre.chez-alice.fr/livre/pdf/bortkiewicz.pdf. Acessado em: 19/11/2019.
BURKETT, Paul; FOSTER, John Bellamy. “The Podolinsky Myth: An Obituary. Introduction to ‘Human Labour and Unity of Force’, by Serguei Podolinsky”, Historical Materialism, n. 16, pp. 151-161, 2008.
CARCANHOLO, Reinaldo. “Mercadoria, valor e fetichismo” in: CARCANHOLO, Reinaldo (org.). Capital: essência e aparência, vol. I. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, 2011, pp. 27-100.
CARCHEDI, Guglielmo. “The Fallacies of ‘New Dialectics’ and Value-Form Theory”, Historical Materialism, n. 17, pp. 145-169, 2009.
COLLETTI, Lucio. From Rousseau to Lenin: Studies in Ideology and Society. New York: New Left Books, 1972.
DE PAULA, Patrick G. Valor como trabalho vivo e renda fundiária: uma releitura da crítica da economia
política. Tese (Doutorado em Economia) – Faculdade de Economia, Universidade Federal Fluminense. Niterói, 2020.
GERMER, Claus. “The Commodity Nature of Money in Marx’s Theory” in: MOSELEY, Fred (ed.).
Marx’s Theory of Money: Modern Appraisals. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
GLEICHER, David. “A historical approach to the question of abstract labour”, Capital & Class, vol. 7, n. 3, pp. 97-122, 1983.
KICILLOF, Axel; STAROSTA Guido. “On Materiality and Social Form: A Political Critique of Rubin’s Value-Form Theory”, Historical Materialism, n. 15, pp. 9-43, 2007.
KLIMAN, Andrew. Reclaiming Marx’s Capital: A Refutation of the Myth of Inconsistency. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2007.
KRAUSE, Ulrich. Money and Abstract Labour. Londres: Verso, 1982.
MARX, Karl. Teorias da mais-valia: história crítica do pensamento econômico, vol. 1. 3 vols. (vol. 1: 1980; vol. 2: 1983; vol. 3: 1985). São Paulo: DIFEL, 1980.
______. O capital: crítica da economia política (3 vols.). São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1983.
______. O capital (3 vols.). São Paulo: Editora Nova Cultural, 1996.
______. Grundrisse: manuscritos econômicos de 1857-1858: esboços da crítica à economia política. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2011.
MAVROUDEAS, Stavros. “Forms of Existence of Abstract Labour and Value-Form” in: FREEMAN, Alan; KLIMAN, Andrew; WELLS, Julian (eds.) The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004, pp. 181-198.
MCGLONE, Ted; KLIMAN, Andrew. “The Duality of Labour” in: FREEMAN, Alan; KLIMAN, Andrew;
WELLS, Julian (eds.) The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004, pp. 131-150.
MOHUN, Simon. “Socially necessary labour” in: BOTTOMORE, Tom (ed.). A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Oxford: Blackewell Publishers, 1991, pp. 503-504.
MOSELEY, Fred. “The Determination of the “Monetary Expression of Labor Time” (“MELT”) in the Case of Non-Commodity Money”, Review of Radical Political Economics, vol. 43, n. 1, pp. 95-105, 2011.
______. Money and Totality: A Macro-Monetary Interpretation of Marx’s Logic in Capital and the End of the “Transformation Problem”. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2016.
MURRAY, Patrick. “Marx’s ‘Truly Social’ Labour Theory of Value: Part I, Abstract Labour in Marxian Value Theory”, Historical Materialism, n. 6, pp. 27-65, verão 2020.
REUTEN, Geert. “Money as Constituent of Value” in: MOSELEY, Fred (ed.). Marx’s Theory of Money: Modern Appraisals. Nova York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 78-92.
ROBERTS, Bruce. “Abstract Labor” in: BRENNAN, David et alii (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Marxian Economics. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.
ROSDOLSKY, Roman. The Making of Marx’s ‘Capital’. Londres: Pluto Press, 1977.
RUBIN, Isaak. A teoria marxista do valor. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1980.
STEEDMAN, Ian. “Heterogeneous Labour and Marx’s Theory”, History of Political Economy, vol. 17, n. 4, pp. 551-574, 1985.
