Book reviews

Hull, Charles, Introduction. In Vol. 1 of Economic Writings, edited by William Petty,

xiiixci, 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899.
Roncaglia, Alessandro. Petty: The Origins of Political Economy. Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 1985.
Roncaglia, Alessandro. The Wealth of Ideas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Viner, Jacob. Essays on the Intellectual History of Economics. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1991.
Alessandro Roncaglia
University of Rome 1, Rome, Italy
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E-mail: alessandro.roncaglia@uniromal.it
2013 Alessandro Roncaglia
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2013.795362

3caak 3. Cy$4>, ?Repk4 Bo Heop44 *e>e( ;apkca (Isaak I. Rubin, Essays

on Marx s theory of money), in 3cmoku, cou uoky:\myp>ab cpe6a
^ko>o<uReckou 6ebme:\>ocmu u ^ko>o<uReckoso no2>a>ub, ;ock&a:
32*aHe:\c46 *o< %ZcTe6 Tko:Z ^ko>o<4k4, 2011, pp. 501625, edited
by 9*<4pa 9. %ac4>a (Ljudmila L. Vasina), with an introductory essay
3. 3. Cy$4> 4 e(o pykoB4c\ ?Repk4 Bo Heop44 *e>e( ;apkca (I. I.
Rubin and his manuscript Essays on Marx s theory of money), pp. 475500,
and a bibliography of the works of I. I. Rubin #4$:4o(paL4b Pa$oH 3. 3.
Py$4>a, pp. 62632. (hardback), ISBN 978-5-7598-0744-5

German translation with some related materials: Isaak Iljic Rubin Marx-

forscher Okonom Verbannter (18861937), Beitr a ge zur Marx-
Engels-Forschung Neue Folge, Sonderband 4, Berlin: Argument, 2012. 215
pp., 12.90 (paperback), ISBN 978-3-88619-699-9

In the Western academic world, the name of Isaac Rubin first became
known with the publication in 1973, in both English and German, of his
Essays on Marx s Theory of Value (Black Rose Books, Montr
eal), Studien zur
Marxschen Werttheorie (Europaische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt a.M.). It was
subsequently published in French in 1978 as Essais sur la th
e orie de la valeur
de Marx (Francois Maspero, Paris), both the German and the French edi-
tions being based on an American translation of the third Russian edition
from 1928. Additionally, his book A History of Economic Thought, an English
translation of the second, revised Russian edition (1929), was published in
1979 with an introduction by Catherine Colliot-Th
elene (Ink Links,
London). This placed his work immediately in the context of debate over
the meaning and significance of Marxs theory of value conducted in the
early 1970s by European and American Marxist economists. The rediscov-
ery of an interpretation of Marxs theory of value, which had fallen into

536
 Book reviews

oblivion about half a century ago, by a Russian economist provided a fresh

impetus to contemporary debates (cf., e.g.1). However, with the collapse
of the former Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist economies,
interest in these issues faded rapidly, and as a consequence interest in
Rubins work declined (consider the contrast between the collection of
articles dating from 1981 and similar collections that appeared in later
years, e.g.2,3).
As a Marxist economist, historian of economic thought and teacher in
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higher education, Rubin worked closely during the 1920s with David
Riazanov, Director of the Marx Engels Institute in Moscow, enduring
repeated imprisonment and exile. Both were persecuted and condemned
to death during the 1930s. Consequently, until recently very little has been
known in and outside Russia about the personal and professional life of
Rubin, and his work during that time on Marxs economic theory and the
history of economic thought. Discussion of his interpretation of Marxs
theory of value which was first developed in the West during the 1970s was
based solely on a translation of his principal work, apart from some related
materials (articles and conference proceedings) also translated into Ger-
man and English during the 1970s. Many of his works have therefore
remained unknown. Probably the most important and most interesting
among them is his hitherto unpublished and apparently uncompleted
manuscript Essays on Marx s Theory of Money, which is a translation of the
authors own title. This title of course echoes his more well-known Essays
on Marx s Theory of Value, suggesting perhaps that, for the author, these
two Essays were complementary (although the latter work is not in fact a
collection of separate essays).
But curiously, except for one reference made in Essays on Marx s Theory
of Money to the other Essays (ibid., 552), there is no explicit mutual refer-
ence in either of these Essays, nor, very probably, in his other published
writings. There is therefore no knowing how these two Essays were to be
related to each other in Rubins thinking, or more concretely, in his plan
of writing. During his lifetime he never made public the existence of this
manuscript and its preparation for publication; hence, no one thought
that he was writing another Essays. Was this because of the very unequal
development of the argument in the two books (Essays on Marx s Theory of
Value was first published in 1923, and went through three editions during
the 1920s); or perhaps because he did not clearly foresee the completion

1 Steedman et al. (eds), The value controversy, 1981.

2 Mohun (ed.), Debates in value theory, 1994.
3 Freeman et al. (eds), The new value controversy and the foundations of economics, 2004.

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of another book following the well-known Essays? There is no certain way

of knowing this.
According to the editors extremely informative and enlightening
introductory essay, Rubin began writing his Essays on money in 1923 after
the publication of the first edition of his Essays on value. This work was
carried out in parallel with the translation of Marxs A Contribution to the
Critique of Political Economy, entrusted to him in 1924 by Riazanov, the new
Russian translation to be published in 1929 in commemoration of the
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70th anniversary of its first publication by Marx. However, Rubin was

obliged to interrupt the work on this second Essays in the middle of the
1920s because of his arrest and subsequent exile. He could only resume
the work after he was released in 1926. The editor bases her inference
regarding this interruption of Rubins work on the different editions of
Hilferdings Finance Capital quoted in the manuscript, that of 1918 being
used in the first part, while the 1923 edition is used in the later part. How-
ever, from 1926 on, critical comments and articles on Rubins Essays on
value began to appear, forcing him to devote time to responding to criti-
cism. After the publication of the third edition in 1928 containing
Rubins reply to critics, debate over his interpretation of Marxs theory of
value became intensified and occupied much of his energy and time, so
much so that he had to abandon his work on the Essays on money. Thus,
this Essays was left as an unfinished manuscript, without its author having
subsequently had the time to resume his work. This is the conclusion
drawn by the editor.
After the execution of the author in 1937, the unpublished manuscript
was preserved by his elder sister, and after her death in 1969 it was
bequeathed to her two sons (Rubins nephews) who then donated it
(together with his uncompleted and presumably last manuscript Ricardo s
Theory on Capital, and some of his photographs) to the archive of the Cen-
tral Committee of the Soviet Communist Party in 1991, just before the col-
lapse of the regime. After the necessary authentication, the manuscript
was accepted by the archive. Work then began on deciphering it, and at
the same time publication in its original language was prepared, but the
period after the collapse of the ex-Socialist regime was hardly the best time
for such work. This work was only completed 20 years after the existence
of the manuscript had become publicly known.
Essays on Marx s Theory of Money is composed of eight parts (called
chapters in the manuscript), each bearing a title, and only the first being
preceded by the Roman numeral: I. The theory of value and theory of
money in Marx; [II.] The necessity of money; [III.] Money as the result of
the contradiction between the use value and exchange value of a commod-
ity; [IV.] The generation of money; [V.] Money and abstract-social labour;

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[VI.] The measure of value. What is the measure of value?; [VII.] The
means of circulation; and [VIII.] Money as hoards. The Roman numerals
in square brackets have been added by the editor. The whole of the manu-
script can be divided into two parts at the end of chapter [V.]. In the first
part, the general theory of money is discussed, and in the second the
particular functions of money. In my view, the most important sections
of the first part are chapters I. and [V].
Chapter I. is a general introduction to this Essays, in which the close and
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inseparable connection between Marxs theory of value and Marxs theory

of money is emphasised. The former can never be complete without the
latter, which is the necessary prolongation of the former and at the same
time is presupposed in turn by the former. It would be legitimate to won-
der if the theory of value and the theory of money are truly two theories,
or whether they should instead be incorporated into one single theory. In
the manuscript, Rubin seems to treat value and money as objects of two
separate theoretical discourses, without providing any special argument
for this position.
Chapter [V.], the last of the first part, discusses how Marx explains the
necessity of money in the commodity economy through his theories of the
forms of value and of the exchange process. Rubin argues for the impor-
tance of the last part of chapter 1 of Capital in its first edition (and also of
Critique), corresponding to sections 3 and 4 of the second and following
editions. There Marx shows how the private labour of commodity pro-
ducers becomes abstracted, and in this way socialised, through the
exchange relations in which commodities are involved, and how these rela-
tions become possible only by the intermediary role of money. It is the the-
ory of the generation of money in the theory of value that clarifies how
abstract labour as the substance of value can come into existence. In this
sense, the latter part of chapter 1 of Capital serves to supplement, or even
retroactively review, the definition of abstract labour given in the first part
(namely abstract labour as physiological labour), and so to bring its provi-
sional character into question. In my view, it is Rubins great merit in this
manuscript to have emphasised this aspect of the theoretical construction
of the first chapter of Capital.
Marxs theory of the generation of money consists of the theory of
the forms of value and that of the process of exchange. The conclusion of
the former theory is the general equivalent form of value. In the theory
of the forms of value, the commodity is treated analytically i.e. one-
sidedly each time either as value or as use value, and not as their unity.
In such a framework, any commodity can occupy the (exclusive) place of a
general equivalent and hence no one commodity can become this general
equivalent; the situation is depicted in form IV in chapter 1 of the first

539
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edition of Capital, and then omitted in later versions. In Essays on Marx s

Theory of Value Rubin refers to this text of Marx in a number of passages,
but in his Essays on money there are no traces indicating reference to or
uses of the text of the first edition, which leads to the ambiguity of Rubins
account of Marxs treatment of the generation of money. This is probably
because Marx made no later changes to the chapter on money after the
first edition of Capital, unlike the chapter(s) on the commodity.
In the later part of Essays on Marx s Theory of Money, each chapter ([VI.]
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[VIII.]) discusses a particular function of money in the same order as in

the chapter on money in Capital and in Critique (1859). On the whole,
these chapters are not devoted to a simple presentation of what is written
by Marx in corresponding places, but rather Rubin polemicises against
Marxist and non-Marxist contemporary writers, putting forward his own
original, interesting (and at times problematical) interpretations. Only
chapter [VI.] has one subheading inserted partway, which may indicate
the unfinished state of the chapter. Last chapter [VIII.] is the third in the
second part of the manuscript, but its title Money as hoards does not cor-
respond to that of the third section, Money, chapter 3 (Money or com-
modity circulation) of Capital, which suggests that the final chapter
discusses only the subject of the first item of the third section in Marxs
original text. For some unexplained reasons, Rubin did not include in his
discussion in the manuscript the following two items: money as means of
payment and money as money of the world, each involving complicating
relationships (credit and international economy). The manuscript has nei-
ther an introduction nor concluding remarks. From internal evidence of
this kind, it might be concluded that the manuscript is indeed incomplete.
Following the text of the Essays there is a very detailed bibliography of
the works of Rubin compiled by the editor, comprising in total 92
items of Rubins writings, including those published between 1913 and
1919 (36 items) relating to various domains other than the economic the-
ory and the history of economic thought. The reviewer has confirmed
seven omissions from the list (all from 1928 to 1931). However, this is with-
out any doubt the most complete bibliography of Rubins works ever
published.
A German version of Essays on Marx s Theory of Money was published in
July 2012, a little more than half a year after the original Russian version.
This publication reproduces all three documents (the text of Essays, the
introductory essay of the editor and the bibliography) in German transla-
tion, together with six essays on the works and biography of Rubin by four
Russian and two German specialists. In this part are included German
translations of Rubins correspondence with the Marx Engels Institute dur-
ing 19231925, and the record of his speech at his trial held in 1937. To

540
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these materials are added an index of the persons mentioned in the book,
some photographs of Rubin, and reproductions of covers from his books
are inserted in various parts of the text. The pictures of Rubin (with his
wife) are probably those that the family had preserved, which were then
donated in 1991 by his nephews to the former Party archive, together with
the manuscript of Essays. They reveal for the first time the figures of its
author at various times in his life. Particularly impressive is the one taken
in 1931 after the arrest (p. 182), which seems to show traces of the torture
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to which he was subjected for one-and-a-half months; as a result, he had to

make a false confession denouncing Riazanov, his patron and colleague
for 10 years, for a fabricated political crime.
The biographical accounts contained in the appended papers chiefly
draw upon Vasinas introductory essay and add little to it, no doubt owing
to the fact that it is based upon extensive documentation from many pri-
mary source materials conserved in various archives in Russia (many of
them related to state or local security organs of the former Soviet Union
the KGB, GRU as well as the former Communist Party), revealing many
hitherto unknown facts about Rubins personal and professional life, and
the contemporary social and political context. I. Boldyrevs short paper
On Rubins interpretation of Marxs theory of money (pp.14552, written
in English) presents succinctly the essential points of the Essays, placing
them in a broad historical perspective of economic and social thought.
The last of the appended essays by J. Rokitjanskij Zwischen zwei Verhaf-
tungen. Eine unbekannte Periode im Leben und Werk von Isaak I. Rubin
(pp.183203, German translation of the original Russian paper) contains
the record of Rubins speech at the trial held on 23 November 1937 (pp.
197203). In response to the questioning, Rubin speaks of his organisa-
tional and ideological relations with the Mensheviks since the early 1920s,
having been affiliated with them during the First World War and only part-
ing officially from them around 1922. He repeatedly insists in his speech
that he had no relation with Mensheviks during the previous 15 years, but
at the same time recognises the difficulties he experienced during that
time with regard to human relations with former party companions, and
in his approach to political affairs. His speech conveys the impression of
an odd melange of the true and the false, with no way of telling one from
the other. He was executed a few days later.
Rubins new Essays will certainly stimulate renewed reading of Marxs
Capital for the present-day reader, able to freely read them detached
from the political constraints under which they were written. However, it
would be desirable at least for an English translation to be made, so that
it might be easily accessible for many of its potential readers around the
world.

541
 Book reviews

References
Steedman, I. et al., eds. The Value Controversy. London: New Left Books, 1981.
Mohun, S., ed. Debates in Value Theory. New York, NY: St. Martins Press, 1994.
Freeman, A. et al., eds. The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004.
Susumu Takenaga
Daitobunka University, Japan
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E-mail: takenaga@qa2.so-net.ne.jp
2013 Susumu Takenaga
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2013.795364

542