In a World Without Value

One function of mainstream economics is to advance the idea that Capitalism is the only true way of organizing an economy. Thus, they attempt to find universal laws of human behavior and advance Capitalism as merely the expression of those laws. Marxism, on the other hand, historizes Capitalism as one possible economic system and shows how its historical development and internal logic could lead to the emergence of a new economic order — Socialism.

Human labor has always existed, “Labor…is a condition of human existence which is independent of all forms of society; it is an eternal natural necessity which mediates the metabolism between man and nature, and therefore human life itself.” But under Capitalism it takes on a new form where individual producers meet in a market to exchange commodities. This is was a novel development that did not exist an ancient or feudal economies. Slave economies, for example, did not produce for exchange but for immediate consumption — they did not produce exchange-value and instead only produced use-value.

Useful objects begin with a use-value. “A thing can be a use-value without being a value. This is the case whenever its utility to man is not mediated through labour. Air, virgin soil, natural meadows, unplanted forests, etc…”

“If man succeeded, without much labor, in transforming carbon into diamonds, their value might fall below that of bricks.” Technological advancement removes labor from the production process and the exchange-value of a diamond converges on its use-value — the price is a reflection of what it good for. As status symbols, manufactured diamonds are worthless, but they still have value in industrial cutting or mining.

There are truly scarce things in this world; for example, beach front property. We now understand that its high price is a simple reflection of its high use-value. Beach front property will still be “expensive” under Socialism.

We can now use this theory to analyze some seemingly contradictory economic behavior. Mercedes recently decreased the number of robots they use in production and re-introduced human labor. They argued that robots could not keep up with the “growing array of options” that modern consumers desire. New cars are not marketed based on the fact that they get you anywhere faster or cheaper (or, God forbid, that they save you from having to commute into work in the first place), but that they have heated steering wheels and cooled cup holders. These things add no use-value and therefore humans had to be brought in to generate value by their production.

But, innovation cycles are getting shorter and shorter. Last year’s phone is this year’s coaster. That is, this year’s amenities are next years standard features. Credit plays an increasing role in contemporary Capitalism here because it allows consumers buy next year’s crap at today’s prices.

The convergence of value and use-value is also one of the foundations of the service economy — having things isn’t worth the work we have to do to get them. We know they don’t really make our lives any better, and frankly, it’s often not even worth the drawer space we know they’ll occupy in six months. We would rather pay for convenience and have someone else do the work we don’t want to do. Services are nothing more than the purchase of someone else’s labor power.

The transition from Capitalism to Socialism will entail an intentional removal of value (read human labor) from commodity production. The proliferation of free goods will remove the compulsion to work. Work will be something we want to do because it is how we fashion the world to our liking.

One argument against Socialism is that putting free goods in the hands of humans will cause us to destroy the environment. Nothing could be further from the truth, and a comprehension of use-values indicates such. When we are producing for use-values, we balance them. We are socially motivated beings. We want security, affection, and, yes, status. Capitalism equates status with possessions. But when commodities no longer hold value we are free to express meaning in more genuinely human ways. Under Socialism, art is whatever we like rather than whatever some eccentric millionaire is willing to pay for.

It is only under Capitalism that owning things you can’t use— twelve cars or hundreds of pairs of shoes — is seen as the height of ‘right living.’ Under Socialism, such behavior would indicate that you need a visit from the state’s mental healthcare provider.