Collected Works of V. I. Lenin - Vol. 3 - From Marx to Mao

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISM IN RUSSIA
solution” (Das Kapital, II, 469). 19 Messrs. V. V. and N.—on
imagined that they were giving a profound appraisal of
the contradictions of capitalism by pointing to the difficulties
of realising surplus-value. Actually, however, they
were giving an extremely superficial appraisal of the
contradictions of capitalism, for if one speaks of the “difficulties”
of realisation, of the crises, etc., arising therefrom,
one must admit that these “difficulties” are not only possible
but are necessary as regards all parts of the capitalist
product, and not as regards surplus-value alone. Difficulties
of this kind, due to disproportion in the distribution of the
various branches of production, constantly arise, not only
in realising surplus-value, but also in realising variable
and constant capital; in realising not only the product
consisting of articles of consumption, but also that consisting
of means of production. Without “difficulties” of this
kind and crises, there cannot, in general, be any capitalist
production, production by isolated producers for a world
market unknown to them.
V. THE VIEWS OF ADAM SMITH ON THE PRODUCTION
AND CIRCULATION OF THE AGGREGATE SOCIAL PRODUCT
IN CAPITALIST SOCIETY AND MARX’S CRITICISM
OF THESE VIEWS
In order properly to understand the theory of realisation
we must start with Adam Smith, who laid the foundation
of the erroneous theory on this subject that held undivided
sway in political economy until Marx. Adam Smith divided
the price of a commodity into only two parts: variable capital
(wages, in his terminology) and surplus-value (he
does not combine “profit” and “rent,” so that actually he
counted three parts in all.)* Similarly, he divided the sum-
* Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the
Wealth of Nations, 4th ed., 1801, Vol. I, p. 75, Book I: “Of the Causes
of Improvement in the productive Powers of Labor, and of the Order
according to which its Produce is naturally distributed among the
different Ranks of the People,” Chapter VI, “Of the component Parts
of the Price of Commodities,” Bibikov’s Russian translation (St.
Petersburg, 1866), Vol. I, p. 171.
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