> > >Which reminds me of a story about Bakhtin- snowed up in a Russian winter >and > >without adequate supplies, he is supposed to have used one of his books >as > >cigarette paper. No copies of the work remain. > > > >Russell T'which Hugh replies: >Well, money tokens like banknotes don't actually have exchange value, they >represent it. So you can't remove exchange value from such a token. You can >defrock it, however, and excommunicating it would make its papery use-value >come into prominence, as it would no longer be able to perform its proxy >magic. Paper money isn't a commodity as such, it points to the money >commodity, which is the universally recognized bearer of generalized value >in the society in which it functions, traditionally gold. Can you explain some more Hugh, on how money isn't a commodity as such and how it merely represents rather than embodying exchange value? Surely gold in its money form does just the same and it matters not whether the univeral commodity is gold, paper, or in the case of Philip K Dick, jars of marmalade! And further, can the fetishism of commodites be de-frocked in a purely cognitive exercise? Does it not require a wider transformation: that of a society where production is democratically planned for agreed use rather than to maximise profit via exchange? >If you're snowed up and think you can't get out alive (and winter does >strange things to you) then the social framework is dissolved. This affects >not just banknotes but things like books etc. Makes you wonder if he was >with anybody or all by himself. NB. Strange thing winter- off to Helsinki next week- weather web sites say it's pretty chilly over there, but just how cold does it get in that neck of the woods this time of year Hugh? And how the hell to people get through a Swedish winter- in Stockholm airport you can't even buy duty-full whisky to keep out the cold?! Russ ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
