Abstract

Marx's value-theoretic account of capitalist exploitation and his historical account of exploitation by merchant and usurer's capital in Capital appear different. The theoretical and the historical accounts, however, belong to different levels of analysis: the first to the Principles of political economy and the second to the Stage theory of capitalist development. The historical, as distinct from the theoretical, significance of the law of value pertains to the nature of exploitation. There are certain problems in Capital with regard to the manner in which Marx derived the law of value, and to the part entitled "The Transformation of Money into Capital." Reformulation of these sections helps resolve the issues surrounding Marx's concept of "capitalist exploitation without the capitalist mode of production.".