Re: indirect labor, the real wage, and the production of surplus value

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

At 22:14 27/11/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> --- "michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx> wrote:
> > At 23:24 26/11/2003 -0800, ajit wrote:
> > >  For you, real
> > >wages are a direct function of productivity (q). My
> > >point has been that for Marx the real wages are not
> > a
> > >function of productivity.
> >
> > Why? Why--- given that productivity increases lower
> > the value of wage goods?
> __________________________
>
> Good! so at least now you accept that, at least for
> you, there is a direct relation between labor
> productivity and real wages, because earlier you were
> denying making any such linkages. That's why I had to
> belabor on this point. The answer to your why question
> is that the fall in the value of wage goods due to
> productivity increases may have nothing to do with
> real wages.

Ajit, the question that I am asking is--- how could a fall in the values of
wage goods NOT lead to rising real wages? I'm looking for a rational
reconstruction of Marx's position. I think my position (which proposes that
the effect of the substitution of machinery on money wages is a
necessary--- although insufficiently acknowledged--- condition) is pretty
clear by now. What's yours? From your last posts, I'm beginning to think
that we are not in disagreement--- that we only disagree on what can be
found in Marx.
        in solidarity,
         michael


---------------------
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Office Fax:   (604) 291-5944
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