Marx is dead

Interesting piece on why Marxism doesn't work. [Link]

Part of this was because of Marx's understanding of value, which is the pinnacle, or perhaps the foundation on which ALL his misunderstandings rest. It is also the most widely, insinuatingly pervasive of the Marxist concepts in our society.

To Marx value was raw material plus work. The means of producing that work (machinery, etc) were just sort of there. And he made no allowance for invention. (Which is why though Marxist revolutions often recruit intellectuals they're the sort of intellectuals who never had an original idea in their life.) Of course in our day and age, invention and original thought are at least as important as machinery in creating product. Also, the raw material fallacy means all the countries who have nothing else to sell feel "exploited" because we're taking their "value" away. Imbuing raw material itself with value means that it's sort of like stealing national treasure. This has given rise to an entire colonialist-exploitation-theory of history which has held more people in misery in developing countries than the most brazen robber baron could manage. And no one, NOT ONE seems to realize that their raw materials mean absolutely nothing if not used. If someone doesn't have an idea to use it. If the finished product is not good for something. In other words, if you're not producing something that someone else finds useful. (I.e. enough to pay for.) If the relationship isn't MUTUALLY beneficial.

I don't have time to go into all the crazy things that idea has caused, because the work=value thing fascinates me even more.

This is an idea SO loony only an exceedingly well educated person could believe it. We've all heard of the famous "if I take a month to polish a dog turd, can I charge by the hour of my labor?" And to that you'll say "But it's only a dog turd. Dog turds have no market value."

Ah, you'd be wrong, my fine, feathered friend. There are industries that use those. But let's suppose for the sake of the argument this is your pet pooch's poop that you just throw away normally. No value. But if I devote a month to polishing it... Let's say I get paid at $7 an hour. That's cheap, as I normally make more than that, but let's suppose I ONLY make that. So...

Seven times eight times twenty, I should be able to charge $560 (update: my older son pointed out I gave you an even better discount, as my mind recoiled from the true value of my labor in polishing the dog turd, which should be: $1120) for my polished dog turd. And cheap at the price, mind, since I'm not charging the residual value of the raw materials and I'm giving you a discount on my labor. Come on! What are you waiting for?

This also discounts things such as human knowledge. Humans get better at tasks they do most often. This is the idea behind training. So, let's suppose what we're making is clay cups. I will undoubtedly take longer to make a clay cup than a master craftsman. I also - hey, I know myself - will end up with a lumpy product full of thumb marks. But I took longer. Therefore it's worth more, right? (Suddenly I understand how certain artsy shops charge for things.)

Now you're laughing and telling me no one believes that. Ah, but you're wrong. First of all people believed that - absolutely believed that, until they were in the place where they set production quotas and all the shoes available for sale were size twenty six and for the left foot.