Law of value

[wpc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Paul Cockshott)]

I have gone back and checked up the places where Marx does use the
phrase law of value in Capital III. There he seems to use it as
a theory of prices, in the sense of it being a law that prices
are determined by values
'The law of value dominates price movements with reductions or
increases in required labour-time making prices of production
rise or fall.' (Capital III 179)

>From the index to Capital III there appear to be only 6 uses of
the phrase by Marx in the book, with a further 10 uses by Engels
in the sections that he wrote. Engels certainly treats the phrase
as stating that prices are determined by values.

Insofar as one could give it formal expression I suppose one would
have to say that:

'In exchanges of commodities, the values on each side of the transaction
are equivalent, and hence value is conserved, where value is understood
to be socially necessary labour.'

This would capture both Marx's usage and Bordiga's attempt to express
it as a law.

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