Abstract

The essay presents and discusses the criticisms that have been formulated to Marx’s labour theory of value during the fifty years following the publication of the first volume of Das Kapital, showing how an essential part of these critiques have addressed Marx’s attempt to depict dynamic laws revealing the limits and potentialities of the capitalist mode of production. Furthermore, the essay argues that the study of this debate is of paramount importance to understand the roots of the main reformulations of Marx’s theory of value that have been proposed throughout the 20th century – such as Algebraic Marxism, neo-Ricardism and value-form theories. Finally, the discussion shows that these criticisms moved to the Marxian theory result from assumptions that overlook the monetary and temporal nature of production.