This question <72|93> overall <91|93> TedBell: <565|146>. graded B–

Question 203: Describe the joint work of all commodities which is necessary to appropriately express the value of one commodity.

[92] TedBell: Joint work of commodities.   The joint work of all commodities is necessary in order to express the value of a single commodity in the view of Marx. In order to find the value of a commodity you must be able to compare that commodity to another commodity, this in turn creates a network of goods in which the value is determined or given for the value of a single good in relation to every other good. In the example Marx gave he used 20 yards of linen, which is equal to 10lbs of tea, and it was also equal to 40lbs of coffee. Marx therefore deduced that 10lbs of tea was equal to 40lbs of coffee given their relation to the linen. This means that the coffee contained only a quarter as much substance of value as the tea or a quarter as much labor. A commodity only has value if it can be exchanged for another commodity; the joint work of all commodities is necessary to find the individual values of single commodities in relation to the values of other individual commodities.

Hans: You write: “a commodity only has value if it can be exchanged for another commodity.” Marx by contrast says that commodities have their values before they even enter the market. They get it in production. They are exchanged because they have value. In 155:3/o Marx wrote, for instance,

It becomes plain that it is not the exchange of commodities which regulates the magnitude of their values, but rather the reverse, it is the magnitude of the value of commodities which regulates the proportion in which they are exchanged.

They do not get their value through comparison with other commodities in the exchange, as you imply.

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