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values they are merely different quantities, and consequently do not contain an atom of use
value.
To We see then that that which determines the magnitude of the value of
any article is the amount of labour socially necessary, or the labour time
socially necessary for its production.
As the world is celebrating 150 years of publication of Marxs Capital, Volume I, I have opted for the
same for this write up. I have identified passages from Section I from page no. ----to page no. ----- in
which Marx articulated his views about labour and value. Initially, I struggled to understand what has
been espoused in it but after a couple of readings I felt how simple the logic in it to develop a proper
perspective about understanding the world around. The reading made me to realize that how wrong
I am in some of my earlier understanding and what actually the reality is.
I was completely confused between the Use Value and Exchange Value even after my second reading
of Section I, Volume I of the Capital. Without Use Value how anything will have an Exchange Value? If
use is what is giving value for exchange, then how both of them are different? I was in puzzle as long
as I thought it is the use values of different products that are getting exchanged. I got clarity on this
matter when I realized that it is not the product one must focus on but the labour- the equalizing
value involved in it.
As Marx said, As use values commodities are ... different qualities (p.3). Since each of these
commodities satisfies our different needs, one need is not comparable to other. The Use value of
one is not comparable to the Use value of another. Each product has its own unique value.
Here Marx draws the contrast at first by pointing qualitative differences of
Use value which is an outcome of human production rooted in social
activity. But as an exchange values these commodities are merely
different quantities, and consequently do not contain an atom of use
value (p.3). In simple terms, products can never be exchangeable as use
values.
For example, when one feels hungry, theyll prefer having a piece of
bread by their side rather than a piece of gold. But when we put both
these things in the market for exchange to a third thing, say a trouser, a
piece of gold would get number of trousers whereas a piece of bread
cannot get even a single trouser. Despite having equal use value, gold is
having more exchange value a value that manifests itself as something
totally independent of their use value (p.4). It is not a geometrical, a
chemical, or any other natural property of commodities. Such properties
claim our attention only in so far as they affect the utility of those
commodities, make them use values. But the exchange of commodities is
evidently an act characterized by a total abstraction from use value (p.3)
Here Marx poses a question to us: How, then, is the magnitude of this
value to be measured? Plainly, by the quantity of the value-creating
substance, the labour, contained in the article. The quantity of labour,
however, is measured by its duration, and labour time in its turn finds its
standard in weeks, days, and hours (p.4).
And secondly, these companies are in a position to fix the price. I used to
think some arbitrariness in fixing the pricing of their products by the
companies who have branding value. For instance, the Iphone 7 which
was priced at 80,000 rupees in India when it was launched is now
available for less than 40,000 rupees after their new IPhone 8 was
launched. The use value of the Iphone 7 is same when it was launched or
now. Then why there was a change in the price? Why the company
charged more then? One of my uncles who is working in Intel once told
me that they are 10 years ahead in R&D but going incrementally without
deploying full potentiality to create value every year. Even though they
have a capacity to produce 5 or 6 GHz processor now, they release
processors in the market with moderate and gradual increase in their
speed than deploying available potentiality to generate more market for
their products.