"But then again, I'm not sure exactly what it means to have to have "the law of value"continuing "to operate under socialism." Does that mean that the economy Comment
"The Economic Development of the USSR" by Roger Munting, St. Martin Press 1982 contains enough stats to interest a professional economist and not bore a lay person. The book begins before the October Revolution and traces economic events up to 1980. Munting critically examines agriculture and industry in the Soviet Union - their relationship to one another and technological transfer from the capitalist world, which required the Soviets to purchase items on the basis of the law of value under the bourgeois property relations.
The issue is not "planning" as such but the exchange of labor hours - within the borders of the Soviets and in its relations with the capitalist world (foreign exchange) based on an existing technological regime.
There is an old joke that says, the Soviets would overthrow world capitalism and allow one capitalist country to exists so that they would know how to price products.
Melvin P.
It is sometimes asked whether the law of value exists and operates in our country, under the socialist system.
Yes, it does exist and does operate. Wherever commodities and commodity production exist, there the law of value must also exist. In our country, the sphere of operation of the law of value extends, first of all, to commodity circulation, to the exchange of commodities through purchase and sale, the exchange, chiefly, of articles of personal consumption. Here, in this sphere, the law of value preserves, within certain limits, of course, the function of a regulator. But the operation of the law of value is not confined to the sphere of commodity circulation. It also extends to production. True, the law of value has no regulating function in our socialist production, but it nevertheless influences production, and this fact cannot be ignored when directing production. As a matter of fact, consumer goods, which are needed to compensate the labour power expended in the process of production, are produced and realized in our country as commodities coming under the operation of the law of value. It is precisely here that the law of value exercises its influence on production. In this connection, such things as cost accounting and profitableness, production costs, prices, etc., are of actual importance in our enterprises. Consequently, our enterprises cannot, and must not, function without taking the law of value into account. Is this a good thing? It is not a bad thing. Under present conditions, it really is not a bad thing, since it trains our business executives to conduct production on rational lines and disciplines them. It is not a bad thing because it teaches our executives to count production magnitudes, to count them accurately, and also to calculate the real things in production precisely, and not to talk nonsense about "approximate figures," spun out of thin air. It is not a bad thing because it teaches our executives to look for, find and utilize hidden reserves latent in production, and not to trample them under foot. It is not a bad thing because it teaches our executives systematically to improve methods of production, to lower production costs, to practise cost accounting, and to make their enterprises pay. It is a good practical school which accelerates the development of our executive personnel and their growth into genuine leaders of socialist production at the present stage of development. The trouble is not that production in our country is influenced by the law of value. The trouble is that our business executives and planners, with few exceptions, are poorly acquainted with the operations of the law of value, do not study them, and are unable to take account of them in their computations. This, in fact, explains the confusion that still reigns in the sphere of price-fixing policy. Here is one of many examples. (Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR - J.V. Stalin) |
- DeLong on Paul Sweezy - brief comment on law of value Charles Brown
- Waistline2
