Value-form and the mystery of money

Abstract

Value-form is a theory Marx first developed in Capital vol.1 to solve the mystery of money. He seemed convinced that he had finally solved the mystery of money by reducing the money-form to the general value-form. However, his explanation of the transition from the latter to the former with the phrase ‘by social custom’ is not satisfactory. I consider that, as long as a logical derivation of the money-form from the general value-form is unsuccessful, the mystery of money is not yet completely solved. I attempt first to rehabilitate the simple value-form, comparing it with real value expression in price (money-form), emphasizing the distinction between the expression of value and the measure of value, and the asymmetry of the value-form. Thereby, I explain that Marx’s complicated exposition of the value-form stems from his postulate of the labor substance of value in the first chapter of Capital vol.1, which can be proved and developed later in the production process of capital. Rehabilitation of the value-form can expose a fundamental difference between the general value-form and the money-form, and provide a logical derivation of the money-form. To achieve this aim, it is necessary to reformulate the logical structure of the theory of commodity based on the concept ‘the world of commodities’, which comes to appear more frequently as Marx’s theory of value-form advances.