Permanent Revolution

Bill J on Tue 17, July 2007 @ 18:04

Bill J — 2007-07-17 18:04:49

Marx makes some very telling points about prostitution in his discussion of unproductive and productive labour, in every respect confirming Helen's excellent analysis; "This also establishes absolutely what unproductive labour is. It is labour which is not exchanged with capital, but directly with revenue.....Productive and unproductive labour is here throughout conceived from the standpoint of the possessor of money, from the standpoint of the capitalist, not from that of the workman; hence the nonsense written by Ganilh, etc., who have so little understanding of the matter that they raise the question whether the labour or service or function of the prostitute, flunkey, etc., brings in returns." And; On the other hand: an entrepreneur of theatres, concerts, brothels, etc., buys the temporary disposal over the labour-power of the actors, musicians, prostitutes, etc.—in fact in a roundabout way that is only of formal economic interest; in its result the process is the same—he buys this so-called “unproductive labour”, whose “services perish in the very instant of their performance and do not fix or realise themselves “any permanent” (“particular” is also used) “subject or vendible commodity” (apart from themselves). The sale of these to the public provides him with wages and profit. And these services which he has thus bought enable him to buy them again; that is to say, they themselves renew the fund from which they are paid for. The same is true for example of the labour of clerks employed by a lawyer in his office—except for the fact that these services as a rule also embody themselves in very bulky “particular subjects” in the form of immense bundles of documents." And; "Is not the [total] value of the commodities at any time in the market greater as a result of the “unproductive labour” than it would no without this labour? Are there not at every moment of time in the market, alongside wheat and meat, etc., also prostitutes, lawyers, sermons, concerts, theatres, soldiers, politicians, etc.? These lads or wenches do not get the corn and other necessaries or pleasures for nothing. In return they give or pester us with their services, which as such services have a use-value and because of their production costs also an exchange-value." Marx Theories of Surplus Value Part 1 Chapter 4 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1863/theories-surplus-value/ch04.htm

Wladek Flakin on Wed 18, July 2007 @ 11:06

Wladek Flakin — 2007-07-18 11:06:41

This artilce is available in German as well: http://www.linkezeitung.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2994&Itemid=82

Adam on Fri 04, December 2009 @ 21:46

Adam — 2009-12-04 21:46:01

I'd like to site this article in a paper I'm writing. Can someone tell me who wrote it?

Thanks, Adam

Sacha Ismail on Wed 31, March 2010 @ 10:36

Sacha Ismail — 2010-03-31 10:36:56

Hi comrades,

Excellent article. However, the end of it seems to be missing. Any chance of restoring it?

PR webby on Wed 31, March 2010 @ 16:47

PR webby — 2010-03-31 16:47:18

fixed

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Ren on Wed 21, July 2010 @ 16:29

Ren — 2010-07-21 16:29:56

Where is the Julie Birchill quote (ref 19) actually from? The wiki quote has been removed and I can't find the source anywhere on the net as yet. Thanks