philosophy 版 (精华区)
发信人: thwinson (新世纪孤独), 信区: philosophy
标 题: 7
发信站: 听涛站 (Wed Jan 3 11:16:44 2001), 转信
definite historical epoch in a society's development that such a product bec
omes a commodity, viz., at the epoch when the labour spent on the production
of a useful article becomes expressed as one of the objective qualities of
that article, i.e., as its value. It therefore follows that the elementary v
alue-form is also the primitive form under which a product of labour appears
historically as a commodity, and that the gradual transformation of such pr
oducts into commodities, proceeds pari passu with the development of the val
ue-form.
We perceive, at first sight, the deficiencies of the elementary form of valu
e: it is a mere germ, which must undergo a series of metamorphoses before it
can ripen into the price-form. The expression of the value of commodity A i
n terms of any other commodity B, mealy distinguishes the value from the use
-value of A, and therefore places A merely in a relation of exchange with a
single different commodity, B; but it is still far from expressing A's quali
tative equality, and quantitative proportionality, to all commodities. To th
e elementary relative value-form of a commodity, there corresponds the singl
e equivalent form of one other commodity. Thus, in the relative expression o
f value of the linen, the coat assumes the form of equivalent, or of being d
irectly exchangeable, only in relation to a single commodity, the linen.
Nevertheless, the elementary form of value passes by an easy tradition into
a more complete form. It is true that by means of the elementary form, the v
alue of a commodity A, becomes expressed in terms of one, and only one, othe
r commodity. But that one may be a commodity of any kind, coat, iron, corn,
or anything else. Therefore, according as A is placed in relation with one o
r the other, we get for one and the same commodity, different elementary exp
ressions of value.(23*) The number of such possible expressions is limited o
nly by the number of the different kinds of commodities distinct from it. Th
e isolated expression of A's value, is therefore convertible into a series,
prolonged to any length, of the different elementary expressions of that val
ue.
B. Total or Expanded form of value
We write z Commodity A = u Commodity B or v Commodity C or = w Commodity D
or = x Commodity E or = etc. (20 yards of linen = 1 coat or = 10 lbs tea or
= 40 lbs. coffee or = 1 quarter corn or = 2 ounces gold or = ?ton iron or =
etc.)
1. The Expanded Relative form of valueThe value of a single commodity, the l
ine, for example, is now expressed in terms of numberless other elements of
the world of commodities. Every other commodity now becomes a mirror of the
linen's value.(24*) It is thus, that for the first time, this value shows it
self in its true light as a congelation of undifferentiated human labour. Fo
r the labour that creates it, now stands expressly revealed, as labour that
ranks equally with every other sort of human labour, no matter what its form
, whether tailoring, ploughing, mining, etc., and no matter, therefore, whet
her it is realised in coats, corn, iron, or gold. The linen, by virtue of th
e form of its value, now stands in a social relation, no longer with only on
e other kind of commodity, but with the whole world of commodities as a comm
odity it is a citizen of that world. At the same time, the interminable seri
es of value equations implies, that as regards the value of a commodity, it
is a matter of indifference under what particular form, or kind, of use-valu
e it appears. In the first form, 20 yds of linen = 1 coat, it might, for o
ught that otherwise appears, be pure accident, that these two commodities ar
e exchangeable in definite quantities. In the second form, on the contrary,
we perceive at once the background that determines, and is essentially diffe
rent from, this accidental appearance. The value of the linen remains unalte
red in magnitude, whether expressed in coats, coffee, or iron, or in numberl
ess different commodities, the property of as many different owners. The acc
idental relation between two individual commodity-owners disappears. It beco
mes plain, that it is not the exchange of commodities which regulates the ma
gnitude of their value; but, on the contrary, that it is the magnitude of th
eir value which controls their exchange proportions.
2. The Particular Equivalent Form Each commodity, such as, coat, tea, corn
, iron, etc., figures in the expression of value of the linen, as an equival
ent, and consequently, as a thing that is value. The bodily form of each of
these commodities figures now as a particular equivalent form, one out of ma
ny. In the same way the manifold concrete useful kinds of labour, embodied i
n these different commodities, rank now as so many different forms of the re
alisation, or manifestation of undifferentiated human labor.
3. Defects of the Total or Expanded form of value
In the first place, the relative expression of value, is incomplete because
the series representing it is interminable. The chain of which each equation
of value is a link, is liable at any moment to be lengthened by each new ki
nd of commodity that comes into existence and furnishes the material for a f
resh expression of value. In the second place, it is a many-coloured mosaic
of disparate and independent expressions of value. And lastly, if, as must b
e the case, the relative value of each commodity in turn, becomes expressed
in this expanded form, we get for each of them a relative value-form, differ
ent in every case, and consisting of an interminable series of expressions o
f value. The defects of the expanded relative value-form are reflected in th
e corresponding equivalent form. Since the bodily form of each single commod
ity is one particular equivalent form amongst numberless others, we have, on
the whole, nothing but fragmentary equivalent forms, each excluding the oth
ers. In the same way, also, the special, concrete, useful kind of labour emb
odied in each particular equivalent, is presented only as a particular kind
of labour, and therefore not as an exhaustive representative of human labour
generally. The latter, indeed, gains adequate manifestation in the totality
of its manifold, particular, concrete forms. But, in that case, its express
ion in an infinite series is ever incomplete and deficient in unity. The e
xpanded relative value-form is, however, nothing but the sum of the elementa
ry relative expressions or equations of the first kind, such as
20 yards of linen = 1 coat 20 yards of linen = 10 lbs. of tea, etc. Each
of these implies the corresponding inverted equation,
1 coat = 20 yards of linen 10 lbs of tea = 20 yards of linen, etc.
In fact, when a person exchanges his linen for many other commodities, and t
hus expresses its value in a series of other commodities, it necessarily fol
lows, that the various owners of the latter exchange them for linen, and con
sequently express the value of their various commodities in one and the same
third commodity, the linen. If then, we reverse the series, 20 yards of lin
en = 1 coat or = 10 lbs. of tea, etc., that is to say, if we give expressio
n to the converse relation already implied in the series, we get,
C. The General form of value
1 coat | 10 lbs. of tea | 40 lbs. of coffee
| 1 quarter of corn
| = 20 yards of linen 2 ounces of gold
| ?a ton of iron| x com. A., etc.|
1. The altered character of the form of value
All commodities now express their value (1) in an elementary form, because i
n a single commodity; (2) with unity, because in one and the same commodity.
This form of value is elementary and the same for all, therefore general.
The forms A and B were fit only to express the value of a commodity as some
thing distinct from its use-value or material form. The first form, A, furn
ishes such equations as the following: 1 coat = 20 yards of linen, 10 lbs.
of tea = ?a tone of iron. But to be equated to linen, and again to iron, is
to be as different as are linen and iron. This form, it is plain, occurs pra
ctically only in the first beginning, when the products of labour are conver
ted into commodities by accidental and occasional exchanges. The second fo
rm, B, distinguishes, in a more adequate manner than the first, the value of
a commodity from its use-value; for the value of the coat is there placed i
n contrast under all possible shapes with the bodily form of the coat; it is
equated to linen, to iron, to tea, in short, to everything else, only not i
tself, the coat. On the other hand, any general expression of value common t
o all is directly excluded; for, in the equation of value of each commodity,
all other commodities now appear only under the form of equivalents. The ex
panded form of value comes into actual existence for the first time so soon
as a particular product of labour, such as cattle, is no longer exceptionall
y, but habitually, exchanged for various other commodities. The third and
lastly developed form expresses the values of the whole world of commodities
in terms of a single commodity set apart for the purpose, namely, the linen
, and thus represents to us their values by means of their equality with lin
en. The value of every commodity is now, by being equated to linen, not only
differentiated from its own use-value, but from all other use獀alues genera
lly, and is, by that very fact, expressed as that which is common to all com
modities. By this form, commodities are, for the first time, effectively bro
ught into relation with one another as values, or made to appear as exchange
-values. The two earlier forms either express the value of each commodity
in terms of a single commodity of a different kind, or in a series of many s
uch commodities. In both cases, it is, so to say, the special business of ea
ch single commodity to find an expression for its value, and this it does wi
thout the help of the others. These others, with respect to the former, play
the passive parts of equivalents. The general form of value, C, results fro
m the joint action of the whole world of commodities, and from that alone. A
commodity can acquire a general expression of its value only by all other c
ommodities, simultaneously with it, expressing their values in the same equi
valent; and every new commodity must follow suit. It thus becomes evident th
at, since the existence of commodities as values is purely social
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