What is a commodity?
A commodity can be defined as any useful article produced for sale in order to obtain profit. A product of labour can also be described as a useful article which satisfies some human need or want. To point out the distinction between products of labour and commodities is the chief object of this article, Therefore, to begin with, it should be emphasised that while all commodities are products of labour, it does not follow that all products of labour are commodities. A person may. with his own materials and labour, make a chair for his own use. Such an article, although useful, is not a commodity. The sole distinction between what is merely a useful article and something which is produced for sale is a social one.
We see practically everywhere a wide range of merchandise displayed, with tickets to indicate the price for which the owners will sell. It all seems to be so natural and simple and self explanatory. But the origin, growth and development of a commodity make it something more than a chair, etc. If we examine the definition given above we shall find that it implies private ownership and also the desire of the owner to sell and his prospects of obtaining profit. This in turn means people willing to buy. The circumstances are social and many complications arise therefrom.
The commodity character of wealth is of comparatively recent origin. For countless generations men produced wealth without creating a single commodity. In the times preceding private property, the social relations between early men were simple, direct and useful. Their labour was expended in obtaining and transforming nature-given materials into useful articles for their own consumption. They made their own tools and weapons, hunted, fished and cultivated. No useful article, whether produced by men or nature, could be bought or sold. Private ownership of the land and other instruments of production did not exist. The only obstacles which early men encountered were the natural elements. If this is kept in the forefront the nature of commodity wealth should be cleat.
Irrespective of how it is produced all wealth is made to be used. Use value is a material property of any article. It is physically consumed in the satisfying of some, human want and its production, whether by man or nature, is a physical process. This applies to commodities although they are, primarily, produced for sale and profit as distinct from use. In the sphere of utility we are dealing with natural and material properties at all times. For example, shirts, shoes and coals are all physical objects and, are the products of weaving and shirtmaking, tanning and shoemaking. and weaving and tailoring. The quality of the labour is also natural and physical, it is in all cases concrete labour, or the labour of the individual producers. The utility of such articles is determined by the physical quality of the labour and natural materials.
Value as a social phenomenon, although a reality, is non material in character. A commodity does not acquire value merely because human labour is embodied in it. As previously stated products were in the past, and shall again in the future, be created without acquiring value. It is solely due to definite historical conditions that articles for sale are born. Private ownership of the land and other means of production was the means by which a minority of society obtained control of all natural wealth and of the useful labour of the majority of people. It is only within such social conditions that embodied labour acquires value and the product of labour become commodities. Value is a social reality, therefore, but not a material or indispensable part of the article.
An article for sale is solely a value to its owner. To its potential buyer it must be a useful thing, i.e., a social utility. This is the essential basis of value. However, its owner who has produced it for sale is not primarily concerned with its utility. So far as he is concerned use value is secondary and is only of interest to him in so far as it enables a sale to take place. The realising of its value is his chief if not sole concern.
Wherever we find capitalist society there we shall find commodity wealth and the profit motive. This wealth, socially produced by workers, is privately owned by non producers, capitalists. The absurdity of poverty-stricken producers side by side with wealthy non-producers is to be found everywhere. The physical and mechanical side of wealth production is efficient enough to accommodate the needs of the people. It is solely the ownership side, sale and purchase as means of consumption, which causes the trouble The establishment of Socialism will end this state of affairs. The units of wealth created in a socialist society will not be combinations of use value and value. The loss of the commodity status would not in any way diminish the usefulness of the wealth produced. The essentials of life, socially produced and owned, would be available for all according to their needs. Buying and selling and profit would have no place.
J. H.