Marx on Commodity-money and the Development of Capital

This paper evaluates Marx's contribution to a theory of money and assesses its implications for an understanding of contemporary capitalism. It is argued that Marx viewed commodity-money as the essence of money, and that central to this essence was the antagonism between capital and labour. The article takes issue with Neo-Marxist interpretations of Marx which emphasize the symbolic nature of money and the rational calculative aspects of capitalism in place of the connection between commodity-money, symbolic forms of money and the class struggle. Finally, it provides an outline of how one might draw on Marx's work to further an understanding of the modern economy, where symbolic forms of money have displaced commodity-based money in the circulation and reproduction of capital.