Re: Law of value

[Jim Devine <JNDF%LMUACAD.BITNET@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul Cockshott is absolutiely right (sorry about the typos). Marx
uses the phrase "law of value" and the word "law" in general in
a different sense than scientists do.  My impression is that he
used the phrase "law of value" a lot  and used the "labor theory of
value" to refer to Ricardo's work -- but I'm willing to be conveinced
by textual evidence. As far as I can tell, for Marx, "law" is
equivalent to "principal" (as when teh old Bolsheviks referred
to the "law" of uneven and combined development).

I only use the phrase "law of value" to distinguish what I see
as Marx's theory from the usual interpretation (values as a price
theory). Mike Lebowitz's "MTV" may be better.
Either one seems more memorable than "interpretation 1-A" vs.
"interpretation 3-b" and the like.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   BITNET: jndf@lmuacad    INTERNET: jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (off); 310/202-6546 (hm); FAX: 310/338-1950