mobiles. And commodities tend to exchange for the sum of gold containing a quantity of labor equal to the quantity of labor contained in them.
That is, if ten dollars in gold contains forty hours of necessary labor, that gold will exchange for (or will buy) as many pairs of shoes as forty hours of social labor will produce.
Generally speaking, a commodity containing ten hours of necessary labor will tend to exchange for gold, or any other commodity containing ten hours of necessary labor.
This is true whom price and value are equal. But supply and demand cause commodities to exchange (or sell) above or below their value, temporarily.
A temporary shortage in coal–when the supply does not equal the demand–may enable the dealers to exchange coal above its value for a short time. An over supply of automobiles may cause the manufacturers to offer to sell (or exchange) autos below their value, for a time.
Prices are often a little above or below the value of commodities, but they are always inclining toward the value of commodities.
(Please remember that we are not here speaking of monopoly prices. We shall consider them in a later lesson.)
"If supply and demand equilibrate each other, the market prices of commodities will correspond with their natural prices, that is to say with their values, as determined by the respective quantities of labor required for their production...If, instead of considering only the daily fluctuations, you analyze the movement of market prices for longer periods...you will find that the fluctuations of market prices, their deviations from values, their ups and downs, paralyze and compensate each other; to that, apart from the effect of monopolies and some other modifications I must now pass by, all descriptions of commodities are, on the average, sold at their respective values or natural prices.
"If, speaking broadly, and embracing somewhat longer periods, all descriptions of commodities sell at their respective values, it is nonsense to suppose that profit, not in individual cases, but the constant and usual profits of different trades, spring from the prices of commodities, or selling them at a price over and above their value...
"To explain the general nature of profits, you must start from the theorem that, on an average, commodities are sold at their real values, and that profits are derived from selling them at their values that is, in proportion to the quantity of labor realized (or contained) in them.
"If you cannot explain profit upon this supposition, you cannot explain it at all." (From value, Price and Profit, pages 68, 69 and 70.)
Why does skilled labor-power sell (or exchange) at a higher price (for more gold) than unskilled labor? Does the fact that it requires more LABOR to produce a skilled laborer, that it takes more years of feeding, clothing and shelter to PREPARE a skilled workman, have anything to do with the VALUE of their labor-power?
Mining experts tell us that it takes much less labor-power to produce the commodity–gold, than it did a few years ago. Have you noticed that your gold (or money) exchanges for fewer commodities nowadays than it did ten years ago?
Wheat is produced for a world market. Do you think wheat has decreased much in value in the past ten years as compared to the decrease in value (or social labor necessary) of steel?
We believe it takes very nearly as much labor-power to produce a bushel of wheat (on the AVERAGE) as it did in 1900; hence its value must have remained nearly the same.
Why then will a hundred bushels of wheat today exchange for MORE gold dollars than it did in 1900?
If the VALUE of both commodities had remained the same and no monopolist controlled the world's wheat or gold supply, they would exchange upon the same basis as formerly. That is, the same amount of gold would exchange for (or buy) the same amount of wheat.
Does the decreased value of GOLD result in the farmer getting a higher price (or more gold) in exchange for his wheat crop?
(Do not forget that, as Marx says, if we cannot explain profits upon the basis that all commodities