Marxist-Leninist Political Economy: Commodity Production, Market Mechanisms, and Surplus Value

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions and foundational principles of Marxist-Leninist Political Economy, including commodity production, labor theory of value, market mechanics, and surplus value.

Conditions for the Emergence of Commodity Production

The social division of labor and the economic separation/independence of production subjects.

Value of a Commodity

The social labor of the commodity producer crystallized and embodied within the commodity.

Abstract Labor

Human labor in the abstract, detached from its specific concrete form, which creates the value of a commodity.

Measure of the Magnitude of Commodity Value

Socially necessary labor time.

Socially Necessary Labor Time

The labor time required to manufacture a commodity under normal social production conditions with an average level of technology, average labor productivity, and average labor intensity.

Factor that Decreases the Value of a Single Commodity Unit

Increasing labor productivity.

Use Value of a Commodity

The utility or usefulness of a good that satisfies a specific human want or need for the buyer.

Basis of Commodity Exchange

The equal amount of socially necessary labor time embodied in the exchanged goods.

Price of a Commodity

The monetary expression of the value of a commodity.

Impact of Increasing Labor Intensity on Unit Value

The magnitude of value embodied in a single unit of the commodity remains unchanged.

Content of the Law of Value

The production and exchange of commodities must be strictly based on the value of the commodities.

Commodity

A product of labor possessing utility that is produced specifically for exchange.

Fundamental Factor Determining Commodity Price

The value of the commodity.

Most Fundamental Function of Money

Measure of value.

Economic Scope of the Law of Value

A commodity economy.

Concrete Labor

Purposeful labor in a specific, qualitative form that creates the use value of a commodity.

Market (Broad Sense)

The sum total of all economic relationships involved in the exchange, purchase, and sale of commodities across society.

Defining Characteristic of the Market Mechanism

A mechanism that forms prices freely.

Primary Economic Laws of the Market

The law of value, the law of supply and demand, the law of monetary circulation, and the law of competition.

Primary Market Subjects

Producers, consumers, market intermediaries, and the State.

Functions of the Law of Value

Promoting technical innovation and labor productivity, regulating production and commodity circulation, and differentiating commodity producers.

Conditions for Labor Power to Become a Commodity

The worker is personally free and is completely deprived of the means of production.

Surplus Value

The portion of newly created value that exceeds the value of labor power.

Commonality Between Increasing Labor Productivity and Increasing Labor Intensity

Both lead to an increase in the physical volume of commodities produced per unit of time.

Source of Surplus Value

The unpaid surplus labor of hired wage workers.

Constant Capital

The portion of capital that exists in the form of means of production.