The productive powers of labour and the redundant transformation to prices of production: A Marx-immanent critique and reconstruction

AbstractThe famous Marxian ‘transformation problem’ originated from a research manuscript written by Marx in 1864/65, from which Engels assembledCapitaliii(1894). Unequal capital compositions, equal rates of surplus-value and equal rates of profit among different sectors are posited, and reconciled using the problematic concept of ‘prices of production’. Yet the assumption of equal rates of surplus-value is at odds with the subsequent text ofCapitali(1867), where Marx presents various determinants of the rate of surplus-value, and connects productive powers of labour diverging between sectors with divergentvalue-generating potenciesof labour. Given the other determinants, diverging rates of surplus-value then result. Marx disregarded these productive power differentials when he originally formulated his transformation. In a reconstruction, building onCapitali, this omission is rectified. It makes prices of production and hence the dual account systems redundant. The transformation problem then evaporates.</jats:p

The Mondragon Worker Cooperatives’ Employment Record 1983–2019

In 2019, the Mondragon worker cooperatives, which number around 100, employed over 81 000 workers. Based primarily on information from the Mondragon annual reports, this article traces Mondragon’s employment record from 1983–2019. In this period its Spanish employment growth outran that of Spain by a factor of 3.4, and that of the aggregated oecd countries by a factor of 6.3. On top of the Spanish employment, Mondragon cooperatives’ subsidiaries employed about 4300 workers abroad (7% of the total) in 2001, and about 14 500 (18% of the total) in 2019. The article expands on the reasons for this last type of employment. The article also explains why the proportion of cooperative owner-members in the total employment varies over time. Depending on the sector, in 2019 this proportion is 32–45%, and measured as a proportion of the employment in cooperatives 32–74%—the difference being engendered by non-cooperative subsidiaries. Many cooperatives regard these proportions as second-best practices in the search for a modus between competitive pressures and the maintenance of employment within cooperatives