Thursday 3 January 2008

Adam Smith Was Not a 'Proto-Marxist'

Gavin Kennedy is this time defending Adam Smith against the charge of being a proto-marxist. Kennedy explains that
Because it is fashionable to make the connection between Adam Smith and Karl Marx (or Ricardo), it does not follow that this assertion is true. It is another distortion of Adam Smith's legacy.
The issue is Smith's use of the labour theory of value. Kennedy shows that Smith's view was that in 'rude' society (hunting) the sole basis of exchange value was labour but as society developed labour was no longer the sole basis of exchange value.

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