tions for the formation of this price discussed in the first two volumes were such as made it always below the value of commodities, whereas the conditions for its formation discussed in the third volume make it possible for the price of production to be either below or above the value of the commodity. But whether above or below value, whether formed by reason of the average rate of profit or under the conditions described in the first and second volumes, or both, the price of production is governed by the value of the commodity, and exists by reason thereof and in conformity to its laws. In other words, notwithstanding the fact that prices may, in the capitalist system of production and distribution, be permanently at, or oscillate about, a point different from the value of commodities, the formation of these prices, and, consequently, their movement, is governed by the laws of value.
This ought to be plain to all Marx students. But the trouble with Marx-critics, in the economic branch of his theory, as with those who treat of his historico-philosophic ideas, is, that they cannot distinguish between the individual and social element and cannot see things in their motion. Because the profit of an individual capitalist does not depend merely on the amount of surplus-value produced by his workingmen, they conclude that the theory of surplus-value does not explain the profits which the capitalists get under the capitalist system. And because the price of some commodities may be more or less permanently above or below their value, they assert that the law of value governing the formation and movement of prices in the capitalist system is incorrect. They cannot see that before the capitalist could get his profits at any given general rate, that rate must have been established in society according to some law; and that before the price could be at a certain point, it had to be put there by some social law of value. And they cannot therefore see how the individual and statical cases, while apparently deviating from the general laws in their movement, are actually governed by them.
