Sulla dialettica del marxismo

When Marx speaks of contradictions, he means real contradictions, comparable to Kant’s notion of «real oppositions» [Realgegensätze]. Marx’s analysis of the commodity provides an example that is fundamental for the critique of political economy. On the one hand, the commodity exists as use-value, as concrete wealth; yet on the other hand, and primarily, it has value as abstract wealth, in which concrete wealth is negated. The reason for the coexistence of these contradictory forms of wealth is to be found in the relations of production. Although commodity production presupposes the social division of labour, it is simultaneously unsocial. In other words, the producer of the commodity produces for society, but he does so in order to fill his own pocket. Since the early history of Marxism, there has been a persistent demand to conceptualize Marxism according to Marxism’s own fundamental principles. The essay tries to respond to these questions, developing an understanding of Marxism through the lens of what Marx called his dialectical method.