| This question <138|624> overall <138|141> Hans: <136|141>. |
| Exam Question 107: Is labor the only source of the use-values of its products, or do other factors contribute to the use-values as well? Is labor the only source of the values of its products, or do other factors contribute to the values as well? (“Value” is here the property which makes things exchangeable.) |
| [140] Hans: substratum = underlying layer. It is sometimes difficult to read a text in such a way that one understands what the author wanted to convey. In 133:2/o, Marx writes: |
| Any of the use-values coat, linen, etc. ... is a combination of two elements--matter and labor. If we take away the useful labor expended upon them, a material substratum is always left, which is furnished by nature without the help of man. |
| Tiny [138] thought this meant that, if labor is taken away, nature itself will produce things for us: insects will produce silk etc. Marx meant to say something completely different. His “taking away labor” was meant figuratively. If you analyze a finished product and take away the labor and its effects, there will always an underlying layer that is furnished by nature without labor: in a watch it is the ore of the metal, in bread it is the wild-growing wheat. |
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