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Research in Political Economy Volume 18 Copyright: JAI/Elsevier Science, Amsterdam and New York, 2000, pp. 3-39 (web publication with publisher's permission) VALUE, PRICE, AND PROFIT (Abridged): An Introduction to the Theory of Capitalism By Karl Marx (1865) Edited by his daughter Eleanor Marx Aveling, abridged by Paul Zarembka[‡] Abstract: Marx's 1865 lectures offer an easily accessible summary of his theory, addressed to an English-speaking audience. However, one weakness preventing common usage (including classroom use) is the dialogue in the first twenty pages with one John Weston. This abridged version stays with the exact words used by Marx, while eliminating almost all reference to the dialogue with Weston. The currency of that time in its division into three units is also decimalized into its modern form. The result is more readable and modern, yet completely faithful to Marx's presentation. Table of Contents: Preface, by Paul Zarembka (Sections through Section V, abridged) VI. Value and Labor VII. Laboring Power VIII. Production of Surplus Value IX. Value of Labor X. Profit is made by Selling a Commodity at its Value XI. The Different Parts into which Surplus Value is Decomposed XII. General Relation of Profits, Wages, and Prices XIII. Main Cases of Attempts at Raising Wages or Resisting Their Fall XIV. The Struggle between Capital and Labor and its Results Typos in Printed Version Preface In June 1865, Marx gave two lectures which included many of the theoretical propositions to be published two years later in Capital, Volume 1. These lectures were given in London in English but not published in Marx's lifetime. In April of 1897, the text was found among his papers by his daughter Eleanor Marx Aveling. She felt that it offered an easily accessible summary of Marx's theory which would "make a very popular pamphlet" (letter to Karl Kautsky), and edited it for publication. However, she died shortly before its appearance. Her husband Edward Aveling, an important socialist, provided a "Preface" and indicated his own minor role of numbering and titling of sections. He had it published in London in 1898. Aveling's "Preface" noted that the lectures demonstrate Marx's "patient willingness to make the meaning of his ideas plain to the humblest student, and the extraordinary clearness of those ideas." He also noted that "in a partial sense the present volume is an epitome of the first volume of Capital. More than one of us have attempted to analyze and simplify that volume, with not too much success perhaps." The text has, furthermore, the advantage of being written in English so there are no issues concerning translation. Nevertheless, two weaknesses have kept "Value, Price, and Profit" from widely serving as an introduction to Marx's thought (including classroom use). First, the opening twenty some pages are written as a polemic against the arguments of a specific individual, one John Weston. It takes some work to get past that dialogue. Second, the examples use the British currency of that time with its division into three units: Pounds, shillings, and pence. One partial solution is simply to begin reading after the sections debating with Weston, the solution chosen by Eugene Kamenka in his The Portable Marx. But earlier passages helping the context come alive and providing insight into Marx's use of data are thereby excised. And the difficulty experienced by the modern reader with use of the old currency is ignored. I am offering an abridged version of Marx's text which stays with the exact words used by Marx, while eliminating almost all reference to the debate with Weston. For the examples in the text, the currency is modernized to its decimal equivalent, as mandated in February 1971 by the British government. The title has had added to it the words "An Introduction to the Theory of Capitalism" to reflect the purpose of this abridged edition. Excised material is indicated by [...] and represents about 63% of the first five sections. From the Section VI beginning with "Citizens, I have now arrived at a point where I must enter upon the real development of the question" to the end of the text, no cuts have been made. The prior material is driven by the dialogue with Weston. Yet some passages here aid understanding and are kept. The subsequent material summarizes Marx's theory. The latter is the part to which Marx himself referred in writing Frederick Engels on June 24, 1865: it "contains many new things in its second part -- in particularly condensed, but relatively popular form -- which anticipates my book". Where shillings and pence are used as subdivisions of the British Pound, they are decimalized in accordance with the 1971 currency change. Twenty shillings had been one Pound and twelve pence had been a shilling. Afterwards, the shilling was eliminated and one hundred new pence comprised a Pound (rather than 240 old pence for a Pound).1 Since "Value, Price, and Profit" has been widely republished in slightly differing versions (even use of "Wages, Price and Profit" as the title), we should note that the actual text drawn upon here is the original edition published in London in 1898 by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Our transcription of the text begins from a transcription of a later edition done for the internet by Mike Ballard, May 5, 1995. That transcription is compared to the 1898 London edition, errors are corrected (some not so obvious) and original paragraphing and original capitalizations restored (e.g., "Value of Labor", rather than "value of labor"). The two footnotes at the very beginning and the one footnote at the beginning of Section VII are retained as in the original. Our few footnotes use 1, 2, 3, etc.. In the text, there are places where Marx uses "men" to refer to working people. Although today we would say "workers", or "working women and men", it would be a stretch to rephrase Marx's usage. "Addressed to working men" is omited from underneath Marx's name as it had appeared on the title page of the original, 1898 edition (an omission also made by other publishers). Consistent with modern usage, the two phrases, wages labor and wages system, are replaced by wage labor and wage system, respectively. Marx indicates fifteen pence (new currency) for one day of labor of twelve hours. Two years later, in Capital, Volume 1, in the first chapter of his Part on "Wages", Marx repeats this same reference wage rate. This value amounts to ninety pence per the then workweek of six days, that is, £46.80 for a 52-week work year if fully employed. Some occupations, particularly female, could earn much less and Marx provides a couple of examples in his chapter on "Time Wages" (i.e., about sixty-five pence weekly on 13+-hour workdays in Scottish bleaching works; twenty-five pence weekly on 15-hour workdays for female hand nail-makers). What does £46.80 per year in 1865 mean today when an "eight"-hour workday, five-day workweek might yield £10,000 yearly in Britain ($15,000 in the United States) for the lower end, but not lowest end, worker? A House of Commons Library report, "Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750-1998" (prepared by Robert Twigger, Economic Policy and Statistics Section, Research Paper 99/20, February 23, 1999) calculates a price index of 592.3 for 1998 compared with 8.8 for 1865. This price increase represents a rise by a multiple of 67.3 over the period! Of course, there are many problems with such long-term price-index calculations, centering around the changing lists of items being consumed and the changing qualities of goods consumed (for better or worse). Nevertheless, if we use that factor of 67.3, £46.80 in 1865 corresponds to £3150 in 1998 prices. And the workday is now shorter (although the workday now often excludes mealtimes when in 1865 mealtimes were often included, and time of transportation getting home now is much longer). A real improvement in material standards of living in Britain seems therefore to have taken place. Comparing it to productivity, however, it may well represent a fall, not rise, relative to the productive capacity of those doing the work -- the workers. For example, a productivity increase of just 1.5% yearly represents, over 133 years, an increase by a factor of 7.2 -- far more than a tripling of real earnings suggested by comparing £10,000 to £3150. Or consider workers today in India, Brazil, Kenya, etc., who earn much less yearly than the equivalent of £3150. I hope that the text below provides an introduction to Marx's theory that is accessible to as wide an English speaking audience as possible, using Marx's own words. It has, I believe, a contemporary sense that makes Marxist theory as relevant now, in a world even more capitalist, as it was in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Paul Zarembka _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
