Old Marxism-Thaxis exchange on this issue. Rebecca,
In my opinion, the use values produced by slave labor in a system where overall wage-labor relations prevail (as in the U.S. chattel slavery in the 1800's), the use-values produced by the slave labor are treated as commodities or as if they contain exhange value. In other words, the cotton picked by the slaves was sold on the capitalist market as if it were produced by wage labor. Thus, the slaves produce surplus value. The one hitch is that the main overall demand for commodities is from the wage-laborers, and the slaves are not paid a wage by definition. So there is some deflation - too many goods, not enough dollars chasing them - in the capitalist world system as a whole, I would hypothesize. This issue was discussed at length a couple of months ago. I will send some of the old discussions. Charles Brown >>> "Rebecca 06/30 3:40 AM >>> Andy: So you are claiming that slave labor under conditions of commodity production and exchange in the world capitalist market does not produce surplus-value? *That's* tenacity. Rebecca: It was you too Andy that agreed that surplus value is only formed from within capitalist production. You are disingenuous. And you still cannot answer the simple question I ask you. I will now ask you another question which you probably cannot answer either. If slave labour produces surplus value under the conditions described in the passage you quote from Marx then how is surplus value produced under these conditions? Warm regards Rebecca --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED]
