~=-----...... ·-··-·~---·- . ······ ·······-···-······· · WILL COMMUNIST ANARCHISM WORK? anything all by himself, by his own efforts. Now, then, if labour is social it stands to reason that the results of it, the wealth produced, must aiso be social, belong to the collectivity. No person can therefore justly lay cl~im to the ex~lusive ownership of the social wealth. h is to be enJoyed by all ahke. , " But why not give each according to the value of his work ? " you ask. . Because there is no way by which value can be measured. That is the difference betweoo value and price. Value is what a thing is worth while price is what it can be sold or bought for in the market. ' What a thii:ig is worth no one really can tell. Political economists generally claim that the value of a commodity is the amount of labour required to produce it, of "socially necessary labour," as Marx says. But evidently it is not a just standard of measurement. Suppose the carpenter worked three hours to make a kitchen chair, while the surgeon took only half an hour to perform an operation that saved your life. If the amount of labour used determines value, then the chair is worth more than your life. Obvious non9ense, of course. Even if you should count in the years of study and practice the surgeon needed to make him capable of performing the operation, how are you going to decide what " an hour of operating " is worth ? The carpenter and mason also had to be trained before they could do their work properly, but you don't figure in those years of apprenticeship when you contract for some work with them. Besides, there is also to be considered the particular ability and aptitude that every worker, writer, artist or physician must exercise in his labours. That is a purely individual, personal factor. How are you going to estimate its value ? That is why value cannot be determined. The same thing may · be worth a lot to one person while it is worth nothing or very little to another. I may be worth much or little even to the same person, at different times. A diamond, a painting, a book m'ay be worth a great deal to one man and very little to another. A loaf of bread will be worth a great deal to you when you are hungry, and much less when you are not. Therefore the real value of a thing cannot be ascertained; it is an unknown quantity. But the price is easily found out. If there are five loaves of bread to be had and ten persons want to get a loaf each, the price ?f b7ead will rise. If there are ten loaves and only five buyers, then it will fall. Price depends on supply and demand. T~e exchan~e of commodities by means of prices leads to profit fakmg, to_!ak1_ngadvantage and exploitation ; in short, to some torm of capitalism. If you do away with profits, you cannot have B•blloteca G ro !!>1anco 29
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