Page:Shop Talks on Economics.djvu/14



What is a commodity? What does the wage-worker sell to his employer?

What determines the value of a commodity?

What do you mean by SOCIAL labor-power?

Are matches less valuable now than they were ten years ago? Why?

Have commodities in general decreased in value in the last ten years of improved machine production? Why?

Name commodities that have decreased in value. Has rubber increased in value? Why?

Does it take less labor power to weave cloth, to make cement, to slaughter hogs than it did twenty years ago? Why?

Remember that SCARCITY may cause a commodity to exchange (sell) above or below its value, but it does not make value. Marx says that Value is human labor (in the abstract).

Every class should have at least one set of Marx's Capital for reference in connection with these lessons. The Table of Contents in these three volumes is a splendid guide to students. Price, $2.00 a volume, $6.00 for the set; we prepay expressage.