Simple commodity production (also known as "petty commodity production"; the German original word is einfache Warenproduktion) is a term coined by Frederick Engels to describe productive activities under the conditions of what Marx had called the "simple exchange" of commodities, where independent producers trade their own products. The use of the word "simple" does not refer to the nature of the producers or of their production, but to the relatively simple and straightforward exchange processes involved. Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820 - August 5, 1895) was a German Socialist philosopher and the co-founder of modern Communist theory with Karl Marx. ... The word commodity has a different meaning in business than in Marxian political economy. ...

Origins

Simple exchange of commodities is as old as the history of trade, insofar as it has progressed beyond barter, and occurred for thousands of years before most production became organised in the capitalist way. It begins when producers in a simple division of labour (e.g. farmers and artisans) trade surpluses to their own requirements, with the aim of obtaining other products with an equal value, for their own use. Through the experience of trade, regular exchange values become established for products, which reflect an economy of labour-time. A fruit stand at a market. ... Division of labour is generally speaking the specialisation of co-operative labour in specific, circumscribed tasks and roles, intended to increase efficiency of output. ... Surplus product (German: Mehrprodukt) is a concept created by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. ... In Marxian political economy, exchange value refers to one of three major aspects of a commodity, i. ...

Engels argued explicitly that the Marxian law of value also applied also to simple exchange, this law being modified in the capitalist mode of production when all the inputs and outputs of production (including means of production and labour power) become tradeable commodities. This interpretation is however not accepted by all Marxists, some of whom see capitalist markets as functioning in a completely different way from pre-capitalist markets. Engels aimed to give a consistent explanation of the evolution and development of market economy from simple beginnings to the complexities of modern capitalist markets, but some argue he disregards the transformation of the relations of production involved. The law of value is a concept in Karl Marxs critique of political economy. ... The capitalist mode of production is a concept in Karl Marx’s critique of political economy. ... // General Means of production generally refers to productive assets which are inputs in a production process. ... According to Karl Marx, there is a clear distinction between labor and labor-power in economics. ... Relations of production (German: Produktionsverhaltnisse) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx in his theory of historical materialism and in Das Kapital. ...

Relations of production

Simple commodity production is compatible with many different relations of production, ranging from self-employment where the producer owns his means of production, and family labour, to forms of slavery, peonage, indentured labour, and serfdom. The simple commodity producer could aim just to trade his products for others with an equivalent value, or he could aim to realise a profit. Relations of production (German: Produktionsverhaltnisse) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx in his theory of historical materialism and in Das Kapital. ... A self-employed person works for himself/herself instead of as an employee of another person or organization, drawing income from a trade or business. ... The Buxton Memorial Fountain, designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London. ... The word peon, derived from the Spanish peón, in its root connoting a person who is on foot rather than mounted (see caballero), and the derivation peonage are English words which have a variety of related meanings: In Spanish-speaking countries, especially those in Latin America, where the hacienda... An Indentured servant is an unfree labourer under contract to work (for a specified amount of time) for another person, often without any pay, but in exchange for accommodation, food, other essentials and/or free passage to a new country. ... Costumes of Slaves or Serfs, from the Sixth to the Twelfth Centuries, collected by H. de Vielcastel, from original Documents in the great Libraries of Europe. ...

That is to say, simple commodity production is not specific to any particular mode of production, and might be found in many different modes of production, with various degrees of sophistication. It does not necessarily imply that all inputs or outputs of productive activity are commodities traded in markets. Thus, for example, simple commodity producers could produce some products for their own use on their own land, while trading another part of their products. They might buy or trade some tools and equipment, but also make some themselves. // General In Karl Marxs theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (in German: Produktionsweise, meaning the way of producing) is a specific combination of: productive forces: these include human labor-power, tools, equipment, buildings and technologies, materials, and improved land social relations of production: these include the property... The word commodity is a term with distinct meanings in business and in Marxian political economy. ...

From simple commodity production to capitalist production

The large-scale transformation of simple commodity production into capitalist production based on the wage labour of employees occurred only in the last two centuries of human history. It is preceded by the strong growth of merchant trade, supported by financiers who earn rents, profit and interest from the process. The merchants not only act as intermediary between producers and consumers, but also integrate more and more of production into a market economy. That is, more and more is produced for the purpose of market trade, rather than for own use. The initial result is known as "merchant capitalism", which flourished in Western European cities in the 17th and 18th century. A wage is the amount of money paid for some specified quantity of labour. ... Merchants function as professional traders, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves. ...

However, the transformation from simple commodity production into capitalist production accompanying industrialisation requires profound changes in property relations, because it must be possible to trade freely in means of production and labour power (the factors of production). Only when that trade becomes possible, can the whole of production be reorganised to conform to commercial principles. Industrialisation (or industrialization) or an industrial revolution (in general, with lowercase letters) is a process of social and economic change whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial state. ... // Use of the term The concept of property or ownership has no single or universally accepted definition. ... // General Means of production generally refers to productive assets which are inputs in a production process. ... According to Karl Marx, there is a clear distinction between labor and labor-power in economics. ... Classical economics distinguishes between three factors of production which are used in the production of goods: Land or natural resources - naturally-occurring goods such as soil and minerals. ...

For that purpose, many legal, political, religious and technical restrictions imposed on trade must be overcome. The unification of a "home market" among people in a country who speak the same language typically stimulated nationalist ideologies. But depending on the existing social systems, the transformation might occur in many different ways. Typically, though, it has involved wars, violence and revolutions, since people were unwilling to just give away assets, rights and income that they previously had. Communally owned property, inherited plots of land, the property of religious orders and state property had to be privatised and amalgamated, in order to become tradeable assets in the process of capital accumulation. The ideology of the rising bourgeoisie typically emphasized the benefits of privately owned property for the purpose of wealth creation and industriousness. Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... Look up Revolution on Wiktionary, the free dictionary This article is about revolution in the sense of a drastic change. ... Most generally, the accumulation of capital refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. ... The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century Bourgeoisie (boorzhwäz-ee´) in modern use refers to the wealthy or propertied classes in a capitalist society. ...

Marx refers to this process as the primitive accumulation of capital, a process which continues particularly in developing countries to this day. Typically, previously independent producers on the land are proletarianised and migrate to the urban centres, in search of work from an employer. Primitive accumulation of capital is a concept introduced by Karl Marx in part 8 of the first volume of Das Kapital (in German: ursprungliche Akkumulation, literally original accumulation or primeval accumulation). Its purpose is to help explain how the capitalist mode of production can come into being. ... // General Proletarianization is a concept in Marxism and Marxist sociology. ...

Simple commodity production nevertheless continues to occur on a large scale in the world economy, particularly in peasant production. It also persists within industrialised capitalist economies in the form of self-employment by free producers. Capitalist firms sometimes contract out specialised services to self-employed producers, who can produce them at a lower cost, or provide a superior product. In a detail of Brueghels Land of Cockaigne (1567) a soft-boiled egg has little feet to rush to the luxuriating peasant who catches drops of honey on his tongue, while roast pigs roam wild: the 16th century was a good time for European peasants A peasant, from 15th...

Marxian economics

In Marxian political economy, simple commodity production refers to a hypothetical economy used to interpret some of Karl Marx's insights about the economic laws governing the development of commodity trade: it refers to a market economy in which all producers own the resources (including the ability to work) that they use in production. No-one is a proletarian, selling his or her labor-power to another. Instead, each is self-employed. Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx. ... Political economy was the original term for the study of production, the acts of buying and selling, and their relationships to laws, customs and government. ... Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, UK) was an influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... Street markets such as this one in Rue Mouffetard, Paris are still common in France. ... The proletariat (from Latin proles, offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian. ... According to Karl Marx, there is a clear distinction between labor and labor-power in economics. ...

In this imaginary model, there is a direct correspondence between prices and the values of commodities. The model is imaginary, because no such society has ever existed in history; simple commodity production has always combined with some other modes of production, and as soon as a market economy reaches any size, it begins to utilise wage labor in production, and falls under the sway of the laws of capital accumulation. The labor theory of value (LTV) is a theory in economics and political economy concerning a market-oriented or commodity-producing society: the theory equates the value of an exchangeable good or service (i. ... A wage is the amount of money paid for some specified quantity of labour. ... Most generally, the accumulation of capital refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. ...

References

Frederick Engels, Afterword to Vol. 3 of Das Kapital. Das Kapital (Capital) is a very large treatise of political economy written by Karl Marx in German. ...

Ian Wright, "The Emergence of the law of value in a dynamic simple commodity economy" http://65.254.51.50/~wright/sce.pdf

Ronald Meek, Studies in the Labour Theory of Value. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1975.

Tom Brass and Marcel Van Der Linden (eds.), Free and Unfree Labour: The Debate Continues (International and Comparative Social History, 5). New York: Peter Lang AG, 1997.