25 - The labor theory of value: labor-power

Summary

All Marx's economic theories are attempts to mirror the relations he sees in the real world, and for him this world underwent no basic changes in the period 1844–67. Hence, his theoretical activity between the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and Capital (1867) is devoted to following out the more obscure relationships, refining his organization and language, and, above all, to collecting supporting material.

Yet, Marx's efforts at obtaining clarity have generally failed, because most of his readers remain ignorant of the ‘deeper’ meanings of his terms, of how they function in his overall system. ‘Capital’, as he reminds us over and again, is a social production relation, and cannot be given an ostensive definition. The same applies to ‘labor’, ‘value’, ‘profit’, ‘interest’, ‘money’ and every other tool of Marx's economic analysis. By treating these entities as things rather than relations, followers as well as critics have cut themselves off from what Marx is saying, and no amount of scholarship can heal the breach. It is as if they sought to put together a puzzle after systematically twisting all its pieces out of shape.

Most of the present work, including the preceding chapters of this section, can be viewed as my attempt to determine what these pieces are; I am now ready to fit them together. Earlier, Marx's economics was examined from the standpoint of the theory of alienation; the theory of alienation will now be allowed to emerge from the economic theories put forward in Capital.