ABSTRACT
POLITICAL economists for several generations have been carrying on interminable discussions on the Theory of Value, which at least serve to show the futility of attempts to explore the labyrinthine tangle of the movements of prices under Capitalism. I t is true that, in the course of these investigations and discussions, light of scientific and practical value has been thrown on the nature of capitalist production and distribution, but the maze remains as much a mystery and inconvenience as ever. The economists have industriously tried to discover order in the confusion, and after eliminating all sorts of disturbing influences, have elaborated elusory " Laws," which after all are of little practical value. They have much to say about the " Normal," about " Equilibrium," and so on. But these are only fictions existing in their imagination. In the capitalist system it is the abnormal that is normal, to borrow Bernard Shaw's witticism, and equilibrium simply does not exist. Constant fluctuation of prices leading now to the unemployment and ruin of producers, now to the impoverishment of consumers, is the normal situation ; and economists complacently try to discover the " laws " of this fluctuation, instead of devising an economic system that would be free from the factors that disturb " equilibrium." Collectivism would provide the cure, is in fact the only form of property-holding and wealth production in an advanced and complicated industrial system with mass-production that can secure stable production, equitable distribution, and steady prices.
