value contained in them must evidently be realized as soon as they are sold by the producer, and unless some new value attaches to them in the circulation process, the capitalist engaged in that process cannot possibly make any profit. Here was a contradiction greater than any that could result from the supposed law of a common rate of profits, assuming that Marx ever did say that the price of commodities will always oscillate about their value. The "solution" of this "Great Contradiction" is that Marx, as we have repeatedly pointed out, never did say any such thing, and the reading of such a thing into Marx is simply preposterous. A careful reading of the first and second volumes of Capital clearly shows that the price of commodities is governed by their value, but that it need not conform to it, nor even always oscillate about it. Quite to the contrary. Under given conditions, which are necessary at certain stages of the existence of every commodity, its price will remain constantly away from its value. Always, however, subject to the general laws of value, and by reason of the laws of value. The price formed under these conditions is the Price of Production.
It is generally assumed that the category of the Price of Production is an innovation introduced by Marx in the third volume in an effort to solve the contradiction between the law of value and the law of equal return. This is a mistake. While the term "Price of Production" is first used in the third volume (because there only are all the conditions under which it forms discussed for the first time) the principle itself is contained in the earlier volumes, and has absolutely nothing to do with the particular problem presented by the question of the equal rate of profits. When Marx came to treat of that problem he simply applied to it a principle which already was part of his system as expounded by him in the first and second volumes. The only difference between the category of Price and Production as implied in the first and second volumes and as expressed in the third volume is this: The condi-
