>In the opening paragraph of Capital Marx proclaims:
>
>The wealth of those societies in which the capitalist mode of production
>prevails,
>presents itself as "an immense accumulation of commodities," its unit
>being a single
>commodity. Our investigation must therefore begin with the analysis of a
>commodity.
>So the capitalist mode of production can prevail in more than one society.
>
>To say that the "wealth of those societies presents itself as an immense
>accumulation of
>commodities" is not true. Much of the wealth is in the form of industrial
>capital which is
>not capital in the form of the commodity. This mistaken premise renders
>the validity of
>making the commodity a starting point questionable on that basis.
>
>Warm regards
>George Pennefather
Labour-power is a commodity. Raw materials are commodities. Means of
production are commodities. When they're passed from the sphere of
production to the sphere of circulation and then consumption that is.
Marx isn't just referring to final consumer commodities by the term commodity.
GP's comment boils down to a misunderstanding of Marx's use of the term
commodity, and a pretty pointless confusion between commodities being sold
(commodities in the market) and commodities having been sold being consumed
(commodities in use).
So we can all sleep peacefully in the confidence that Marx's premise wasn't
mistaken and that the validity of his chosen starting point has not been
undermined.
But what unbelievably puffed-up complacency we get here from the
Think-Tank! Over his suds he spots a fatal flaw in the whole architecture
of Capital -- and he calmly retails it to a minor Internet list without so
much as catching his breath or breaking into a tremor! And the title of the
post: Capital is wrong!! My oh my... It would take a Marx working over a
Herr Vogt or a Herr Duehring to do justice to this one.
And from a "Communist" Think-Tank, no less!
I'm looking forward to the next epoch-making revelation -- Universe does
not exist (no exclamation mark) might just about do the trick...
Even warmer regards,
Georgia Centmother
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