Marx’s Theory of Value in Chapter 1 of Capital

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxix

   PDF

2. Marx’s Theory of the Commodity in Chapter 1 of Capital

   • Fred Moseley

   Pages 1-49

3. Critique of Heinrich’s Value-Form Interpretation of Chapter 1 of Capital

   • Fred Moseley

   Pages 51-128

4. Ergänzungen Und Veränderungen (Additions and Changes): The Value-Form Arises from the Value-Concept

   • Fred Moseley

   Pages 129-151

5. General Conclusions

   • Fred Moseley

   Pages 153-161

6. Back Matter

   Pages 163-167

   PDF

Chapter 1 is the most important chapter in Capital, as well as the most difficult and the most controversial. An influential interpretation of Chapter 1 in recent decades has been the so-called “value-form interpretation” of Marx’s theory in general and Chapter 1 in particular. The most important proponent of the value-form interpretation today, both in Germany and in the English-speaking world, is Michael Heinrich, and Heinrich’s work has emphasized the first chapter. Heinrich’s latest book in English is a detailed commentary of the first seven chapters of Volume 1 of Capital. The publication of an English translation of Heinrich’s book is an important event in Marxian scholarship and it is important to critically engage with this important book in order to advance our understanding of this critical foundational chapter. This book emphasizes the quantitative issue of whether the magnitude of value and socially necessary labour-timeare determined in production or also depend on exchange and demand, which has been the main issue in the controversy over the value-form interpretation.

• Marx
• Capital
• Heinrich
• Value
• Theory of Value
• Value-form intermpretation
• Demand
• political economy
• form of value
• magnitute of value
• labor time

“Marx’s Theory of Value in Chapter 1 of Capital is a relatively short book, commissioned as part of the ‘Marx, Engels and Marxisms’ series with a word limit of 60,000. … his new book is a very welcome intervention in a renewed debate over Marx’s value theory … .” (Peter Green, Marx & Philosophy Reviews of Books, marxandphilosophy.org.uk, August 23, 2023) “Professor Moseley’s deep knowledge of Marx’s texts is on full display in this work.  His case for value being fully constituted in production prior to exchange is unsurpassed in detail and force. The thesis will remain controversial. But critics and defenders should agree on at least one point: this book is an immensely important contribution to the debate that deserves a wide audience.”

—Tony Smith, Professor Emeritus in Philosophy, Iowa State University, USA 

“Fred Moseley´s book is a timely and indispensable contribution to the vitality of the current resurgence of Marx studies. Through a meticulous and rigorous philologically-informed commentary on chapter one of Capital, Moseley persuasively calls into question Michael Heinrich´s influential value-form reading. More importantly, he makes a strong case for a production-centered, yet non-naturalistic, understanding of value as a historically-specific social form,with emphasis on the quantitative issue of the magnitude of value.”

—Guido Starosta, Professor of History of Economic Thought, National University of Quilmes, Argentina 

“Fred Moseley’s book offers a rigorous defense of Marx’s labor theory of value against Heinrich’s value-form interpretation. Through meticulous study of Marxian texts he shows that, for Marx, exchange follows and is determined by production rather than vice versa as Heinrich’s value-form interpretation maintains. This logic is a necessary prerequisite for Marx’s theory of exploitation and the concomitant task of overthrowing capitalism.”

—Stavros Mavroudeas, Professor of Political Economy, Panteion University, Greece

• Department of Economics, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, USA

  Fred Moseley

Fred Moseley is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Mount Holyoke College, USA, and author of Money and Totality (2016).

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