“ A thing can be useful, and the product of human labour, without being a commodity. ”
Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867). copy citation
| Author | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Source | Das Kapital |
| Topic | commodity labour |
| Date | 1867 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling |
| Weblink | https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-... |
Context
“The value of a commodity, therefore, varies directly as the quantity, and inversely as the productiveness, of the labour incorporated in it. *
A thing can be a use value, without having value. This is the case whenever its utility to man is not due to labour. Such are air, virgin soil, natural meadows, &c. A thing can be useful, and the product of human labour, without being a commodity. Whoever directly satisfies his wants with the produce of his own labour, creates, indeed, use values, but not commodities. In order to produce the latter, he must not only produce use values, but use values for others, social use values.”
source
