| This question <39|49> overall <39|41> Maktub: <452|95>. |
| Question 107: In the Simple or Accidental form of value, which commodity plays an active role, and which a passive role? Explain what it means in this situation to be active or passive. |
| [40] Maktub: active or passive In the example that Marx gives in the book 20 yards of linen = 1 coat, the commodity that plays the active role is the linen, because the value of the linen is expressed through the coat, or in other words, the coat serves as the material in which the value of the linen is manifested. The second commodity, the coat, is the passive commodity, because the value of the whole is expressed through the coat, the coat's value is derived from the linen. |
| In this situation, linen is the active element, linen in and of itself has very little use-value, for example, if I had 20 yards of linen, but that linen was not made into something useful, the linen serves no purpose as a commodity. It needs a venue where it can take the form of a material value. The coat is the passive element, as the linen is processed and made into the coat, the coat is the means where the linen gets its material value. The linen uses the coat for value. The linen is the active element, it is the element that uses the other for value. |
| I like what Perro [107] says when he says that the value of the linen is expressed in the use value of the coat. I believe that the linen in and of itself has value, but that value has to be put into relative terms, and to obtain a use value out of linen, it has to be incorporated into the coat, and the coat derives its use value from the linen. Its a reflective process. |
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