| This question <78|82> overall <78|80> Hans: <76|81>. |
| Question 60: Labor power creates products. The value of the products comes from the value of labor power, and the use value from the use value of labor power. Is this a correct rendering of Marx's theory? |
| [79] Hans: Quality and Quantity Sorry to say, TOAD's answer [44] to Question 60 has a number of errors. Let us go through it in detail. TOAD writes: |
| Marx explains that the linen is a product of nature and would exist weathor or not man used it for any purpose. |
| No, linen is a woven fabric, it contains a lot of labor. |
| However after the linen is woven into a fabric that can be used it has use value because of the labor that was put into changing it into fabric, eventhough the use value of the fabric is half of the finished product it still has use vlaue. |
| Use values can not be compared. You cannot say whether an ice cream cone has more or less use value than a VCR rental. You cannot even say whether linen has more or less use value than a coat. You can describe the use value of each, but not arrange them on a comparative scale. |
| The use value of the fabric doubles when the coat is taylored because there is twice as much labor in the coat then there is in the linen. |
| Marx writes in 126:1 that the use value of a commodity “is independent of the amount of labor required to appropriate its useful qualities.” |
| The value of the coat only represents the amount of labor put into the production of the coat as the value of the linen only represents the amount of labor put into weaving the material. Therefore the coat has twice the value as the material. |
| Yes, as values, these things can be measured on the same scale. This scale is labor time. |
| The use value of the material is half that of the coat because the two kinds of labor are of different qualities. The quality of the labor in the material is half the quality of the labor in the coat. |
| Things that have different qualities cannot be measured on the same scale. This would be comparing apples and oranges. All you can say is: |
| The use value of the material is DIFFERENT THAN that of the coat because the two kinds of labor are of different qualities. The quality of the labor in the material is DIFFERENT THAN the quality of the labor in the coat. |
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