Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
'At the Book Fair of Leipsic, booksellers from all over Germany arrive,
each with four or five publications of his own in some 40 or 50 dozen
copies; these are exchanged for others and every seller takes home 200
dozen books, just as he has brought 200 dozen, with the sole difference,
that he brought four different works and takes home 200. This is the
demand and the production which, according to M. Ricardo's disciple, are
correlative and convertible; one buys the other, one pays for the other,
one is the consequence of the other. But as far as we are concerned, for
the bookseller and for the general public, demand and consumption have
not even begun. For all that it has changed hands at Leipsic, a bad book
will still be just as unsold (a bad mistake of Sismondi's, this!), it
will still clutter up the merchants' shops, either because nobody wants
it, or because everyone has a copy already. The books exchanged at
Leipsic will only sell if the booksellers can find individuals who not
only want them but are also prepared to make sacrifices in order to
withdraw them from circulation. They alone constitute an effective
demand.'[182]
Although this example is rather crude, it shows clearly that Sismondi
was not side-tracked by his opponent's trick, that he knows after all
what he is talking about.
MacCulloch then attempts to turn the examination from abstract commodity
exchange to concrete social conditions: 'Supposing, for the sake
of illustration, that a cultivator advanced food and clothing
for 100 labourers, who raised for him _food_ for 200; while a
master-manufacturer also advanced food and clothing for 100, who
fabricated for him _clothing_ for 200. Then the farmer, besides
replacing the food of his own labourers, would have food for 100 to
dispose of; while the manufacturer, after replacing the clothing of his
own labourers, would have clothing for 100 to bring to market. In this
case, the two articles would be exchanged against each other, the supply
of food constituting the demand for the clothing, and that of the
clothing the demand for the food.'[183]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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