The Poverty of Philosophy

no object of value is given back except in exchange for a corresponding paper certificate, the sum of the paper certificates must always be covered by the sum of the objects of value; the calculation works out without the slightest remainder, it tallies down to the second of labor, and no government chief cashier and revenue officer accountant original: "Regierunghauptkassenrentamtskalkulator", no matter how gray he has become in service, can prove the slightest arithmetic error. What more could one want?

In today's capitalist society, every industrial capitalist produces on his own authority, what, how, and how much he wants. But the social need remains an unknown quantity to him, both regarding the quality and type of the required items, as well as their quantity. What cannot be supplied fast enough today may be offered far in excess of need tomorrow. Nevertheless, the need is finally satisfied one way or another, poorly or well, and production ultimately aligns itself on the whole and in the large with the required items. How is this reconciliation of the contradiction effected? Through competition. And how does competition achieve this solution? Simply by devaluing goods that are unusable for the momentary social need, either in kind or quantity, below their Arbeitswerth labor value, and by this detour making it palpable to the producers that they have manufactured items that are either altogether unusable, or items usable in themselves in a useless, superfluous quantity. Two things followed from this:

First, that the continuous deviations of commodity prices from commodity values are the necessary condition under which, and through which alone, commodity value can come into existence. Only through the