> Are you saying that all production before capitalism was production for
> use and none of it was production for exchange ? Or are you saying there > was never historically existing barter , that all early exchange was
> mediated by money ?
I am saying that Value, as socially necessary abstract labour time, is not a social relationship that exists in pre-capitalist modes of production.
^^^^^^^ CB: What is the social relationship in pre-capitalist commodity production and exchange ?
Do you say there was commodity production before capitalism ?
If yes, is the exchange of commodities in pre-capitalist modes of production random, not based on any principle ? Are the proportions in which commodities are exchanged for each other in non-capitalist societies based on chance , not law ? Is there no necessary relation in exchange of the commodities in precapitalist society ? In other words, there is no science or archaeology of pre-capitalist commodity production.
Maybe neo-classical , subjective, marginal imaginary utility was the principle upon which commodities were exchanged in some pre-capitalist modes- the number of Angels who can fit on the head of a needle type thinking; and reading tea leaves from China; and dreams like Jospeh had in Egypt.
We note, according to Marx, in pre-capitalist modes of production, commodity production is not the main form of production; it is on the periphery, between societies, in the intersticies. Most production is for use, not exchange.