Relations of Exchange

Relations forged by men in the process of exchange. They are an important component part of the relations of production. Exchange includes the activities of exchange and the products of labor. What is embodied in the activities of exchange is the division of labor and collaboration of men. What is embodied in the exchange of the products of labor is the economic relation in which men exchange their labors with each other.

The nature of the relations of exchange varies from one social formation to another. Under socialist conditions, the relations of exchange embody the relations by which the laborers are connected on the basis of public property in the means of production and exchange their activities with each other through the sale and purchase of commodities on the market. It chiefly includes: (1) the relations of commodity exchange between the economy under the ownership of the whole people and the collective ownership economy; (2) the relations of commodity exchange between enterprises owned by the whole people; (3) the relations of commodity exchange among enterprises under collective ownership; (4) the relations of commodity exchange in which the state employees purchase commodities from enterprises under the ownership of the whole people. In addition, the relations of exchange between the non-public ownership economy and urban and rural residents are also an important part of the relations of exchange at the current stage.

In Marx, it is the “exchange” itself and its relation to production that is dealt with more than anything else, and a concrete definition of “relations of exchange” is not given.