Haven’t read the book so can’t comment on it specifically. That said, some economic parts of socialist theories have been used to some extent by nazis (hence “National Socialists”), so it’s not unthinkable. This doesn’t diminish the merits of Marxism, especially because Marx’s more political writings were expressly antifascist if analyzed from a more modern lens; besides, we had a lot of scientific development in understanding nationalism, colonialism and imperialism since then (see: Lenin, Fanon).
Obviously it took a lot of effort to get the salt to the place where it would be swapped for gold.
Yes, that is the point. Value is not “bunk”, it is a very real social relationship primarily determined by the amount of labor expanded on producing a commodity and marketing it (in the sense of “bringing to market”). There is also a degree of speculation embedded in the actual price of any commodity, which is problematic, but it doesn’t make the concept of value itself bunk.
All ‘value’ is bunk.
Back in the day, there was a place where you could trade a pound of salt for a pound of gold.
Both were worthless where they were found.
Per Marx, value is a social construct, but it’s not “bunk” because it is directly tied to the labor necessary to produce something.
Now you’re just playing with words.
Obviously it took a lot of effort to get the salt to the place where it would be swapped for gold.
Also, a lot of people like to say that the book ‘Starship Troopers’ is fascist, but the society uses Marx’s definition of value.
Haven’t read the book so can’t comment on it specifically. That said, some economic parts of socialist theories have been used to some extent by nazis (hence “National Socialists”), so it’s not unthinkable. This doesn’t diminish the merits of Marxism, especially because Marx’s more political writings were expressly antifascist if analyzed from a more modern lens; besides, we had a lot of scientific development in understanding nationalism, colonialism and imperialism since then (see: Lenin, Fanon).
Yes, that is the point. Value is not “bunk”, it is a very real social relationship primarily determined by the amount of labor expanded on producing a commodity and marketing it (in the sense of “bringing to market”). There is also a degree of speculation embedded in the actual price of any commodity, which is problematic, but it doesn’t make the concept of value itself bunk.