The theory of value and the world market in Marx: unequal development and international domination

Abstract

We argue that the transfer of surplus value corresponds to the essence of inter-capitalist relations in the world market and we look for pathways to understand it in Marx’s analysis of competition in Capital. We believe that the transfer of surplus value is accomplished in an international relationship of domination/subordination among countries that are inserted in different ways in the world market. As all the general tendencies of capital, this international relation of domination/subordination tends to reproduce on an enlarged scale, which is in a large measure responsible for the unequal development of the capitalist mode of production in the world market, i.e. for the unequal substantiation of its general trends synthesized in the law of value. Finally, we outline some points that must be developed for understanding international flows of surplus value and its consequences.