Of course, the Marxian definition of value is ridiculous. All the work one cares to add will not turn a mud pie into an apple tart; it remains a mud pie, value zero. By corollary, unskillful work can easily subtract value; an untalented cook can turn wholesome dough and fresh green apples, valuable already, into an inedible mess, value zero. Conversely, a great chef can fashion of those same materials a confection of greater value than a commonplace apple tart, with no more effort than an ordinary cook uses to prepare an ordinary sweet.
These kitchen illustrations demolish the Marxian theory of value–the fallacy from which the entire magnificent fraud of communism derives–and illustrate the truth of the common-sense definition as measured in terms of use.
Mr. Dubois
Instructor of History and Moral Philosophy
A character in Robert A. Heinlein’s book Starship Troopers
Page 90
[Do not think for an instant that Marxism, the most thoroughly tested and failed political philosophy in human history, is dead. It should be but millions of people still yearn for it. It’s a mind numbing addictive drug that gives an initial euphoria and the illusion of well-being but ultimately it destroys initiative, your economic health, and then your life.–Joe]
