> As I see, the main function of the labor theory of value was polemical -
> to
> support the claim that capitalists do not contribute any economic value,
> only the labor does, which in turn provided logical grounds for calling for
> 'expropriation of expropriators."
>
THis can't be true of the early economists who found the labor theory of value plausible. As I said, it's plausible as an account of how we make value judgments which are inherently comparative and based on an estimate of relative costs. But there are technical difficulties, so there is no actually theory of price.
>
> Outside that polemical framework, the ltov seems quite useless as it does
> not explain anything - from prices to the organization of the economy.
I don't think there is any explanatory theory for all that. There is no science of society. We must apply our ideals derived from speculative reason to it and reform it according to the demands of social justice. There is no social science; there is good institutional description, history and journalism. And we should draw on that to propose the best reforms.
LR
> It
> is quite possible to have a production process carried out mostly by
> machines i.e. capital investment with minimal involvement of "living labor"
> and the product still being priced at the value that the "market can bear."
> Furthermore, the involvement - or lack of it - in that production process
> has no bearing on the form of ownership of the process or its product
> 9which
> is determined by instituional arrangements.)
>
> Wojtek
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Lakshmi Rhone <lakshmirhone at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Hi
> > I don't get this talk of revolution and the relation to the labor theory
> of
> > value. Sure, I get it that it is a theory of how I value goods, i.e. I on
> > my
> > own or I, following the herd, tend to give goods relative value in terms
> of
> > how much labor I guess went into producing them. I agree that's something
> I
> > do consider. For example, I haggled with my plumber the other day because
> I
> > thought he was charging me for too many hours. But I also know that
> because
> > Chinese labor is so cheap I don't have to pay for how much labor actually
> > went into producing those goods, and I don't offer to pay a price that
> > would
> > reflect full labor value! But even on the assumption that there is some
> > truth to a labor theory of valuation, I don't see what this has to do
> with
> > transforming the economy, peacefully or not.
> > First time poster, and I don't understand the leftist economic point of
> > view, though I am very concerned about social justice.
> > LR
> > ___________________________________
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> >
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>