p. 214-216: Division of labour and machines have the same effects. Namely, they both simplify labour and reduce the demand for labour. Workers making the machines are equally unskilled and therefore no exception to the rule.
Note: This might be a correction observation at the time of writing. Considering the move from craftsmen to standardized labour. In the long run, this doesn’t hold true. At a minimum, we need to recognize the growing number of specialized workers. A maximalist view would hold that workers will move from generalist craftsmen to standardized factory workers to specialized technicians.
p. 304: use-value vs exchange-value
Note: The exchange-value is set through market activities and should be the same everywhere. While the use-value can be different for each individual. There is no mystery to be solved. The difference between use- and exchange-value explains why a win-win-situation is possible when 2 actors exchange goods. What is a mystery to Marx is the Holy Grail to contemporary mainstream economics.
p. 306: socially necessary labour-time = production under normal conditions by average workers.
Note: How would a company with such average conditions remain in business when competing against an above-average company? On p. 212 Marx discusses the role of competition but doesn’t apply this mechanism here. Marx seems to look for an explanation of how prices are set by calculating labour-time. Making it “socially necessary” is a band-aid to make it work and avoid absurd situations.
p. 308/9: “useful labour”
Note: How to decide whether labour is useful? Markets can be a mechanism to organize this decision-making process. But which mechanisms should be used according to Marx?
p. 316: Prices and standardized labour.
Note: Are prices set based on the amount of standardized labour? Or is competition pushing prices down until they reach the production costs where this production cost (if you look long enough) exists exclusively of labour costs?
The Marx-Engels Reader, Robert C. Tucker
Philosiful 