A Proof to a Hypothesis: Unit Commodity Value Is Directly Proportional to Productivity of Labour

Abstract

The two mainstream viewpoints think that a unit commodity value is inversely proportional to the productivity of labour, which is named “inversely-proportional-theory.” The first one defines the value as the labour time, and defines the magnitude of the value of a unit commodity as the labour time embodied in a unit commodity, then defines the productivity of labour as the production of use value in unit labour time, thus the magnitude of the value of a unit commodity is inversely proportional to the productivity of labour; the second one defines the unit value as the quantity of human labour in the abstract embodied in a unit commodity, then defines the productivity of labour as the production of use value by unit human labour in the abstract, therefore the magnitude of the value of a unit commodity and the productivity of labour are inversely proportional to each other. In the first one, the unit value and the productivity of labour are both put into the concrete labour space; while in the second one, the production in the concrete labour space and that in the abstract labour space are confused. Thus, both of them cannot form a transition between the abstract labour space and the concrete labour space. If the two kinds of space are distinguished, we will find the magnitude of the value of a unit commodity is directly proportional to the productivity of labour, which is called “directly-proportional-theory.”