A Contribution to the Critique of Political EconomyMarx, Karl
Philosophy
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Marx, Karl
Economics; Marxian economics
[20] “La véritable richesse ... jouissance entière, non seulement des
besoins de la vie, mais même de tous les superflus et de tout, ce qui
peut fair plaisir à la sensualité,” Boisguillebert, “Dissertation sur
la nature de la richesse,” etc., l. c., p. 403. But while Petty was
a frivolous, rapacious and unprincipled adventurer, Boisguillebert,
though an intendant under Louis XIV, championed the interests of the
oppressed classes with a daring that was equal to his keenness of mind.
[21] The French Socialism of the Proudhon type suffers from the same
national hereditary disease.
[22] “Benjamin Franklin, The Works of, etc.,” ed. by I. Sparks, vol.
II., Boston, 1836. “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a
Paper Currency.”
[23] L. c., p. 265.
[24] L. c., p. 267.
[25] L. c., “Remarks and Facts relative to the American Paper Money,”
1764.
[26] See “Papers on American Politics; Remarks and Facts relative to
the American Paper Money,” 1764, l. c.
[27] See e. g. Galiani, “Della Moneta,” in vol. 3 of Scrittori Classici
italiani di Economia politica (Published by Custodi). Parte Moderna,
Milano, 1803. “La fatica, he says, è l’unica che dà valore alla cosa”
(“only effort can give value to any thing”). The designation of labor
as “fatica,” strain, effort, is characteristic of the southerner.
[28] Steuart’s work, “An Inquiry into the Principles of Political
Economy, being an Essay on the Science of Domestic Policy in Free
Nations,” appeared first in London in two quarto volumes in the year
1767, ten years before Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations.” I quote from
the Dublin edition of 1770. (The references to pages are the same for
the standard London edition of 1767, except where otherwise stated.
Translator.)
[29] Steuart, l. c., vol. I., p. 181-183.
[30] Steuart, l. c., vol. I., p. 361-362.
[31] See chapter I., book II., vol. I. “of the reciprocal connections
between Trade and Industry” (Translator).
[32] He declares, therefore, the patriarchal form of agriculture which
is devoted to the direct production of use-values for the owner of the
land, to be an “abuse,” not in Sparta, or Rome, or even in Athens, but
in the industrial countries of the eighteenth century. This “abusive
agriculture” is not “trade,” but a “direct means of subsisting.” Just
as capitalistic agriculture clears the country of superfluous mouths,
so does the capitalistic mode of manufacture clear the factory of
superfluous hands.
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