Whyisitbought？\"Becauseofthevaluesitissupposedpotentiallytocontain。\"Butifacertainthingissaidtobeacommodity，thereisnolongeranyquestionastothereasonwhyitisbought，thatis，astotheutilitytobederivedfromit，theapplicationtobemadeofit。Itisacommodityasanobjectoftraffic。AllM。Proudhon’sargumentsarelimitedtothis：laborisnotboughtasanimmediateobjectofconsumption。No，itisboughtasaninstrumentofproduction，asamachinewouldbebought。
Asacommodity，laborhasnovalueanddoesnotproduce。M。Proudhonmightjustaswellhavesaidthatthereisnosuchthingasacommodity，sinceeverycommodityisobtainedmerelyforsomeutilitarianpurpose，andneverasacommodityinitself。
Inmeasuringthevalueofcommoditiesbylabor，M。Proudhonvaguelyglimpsestheimpossibilityofexcludinglaborfromthissamemeasure，insofaraslaborhasavalue，aslaborisacommodity。Hehasamisgivingthatitisturningthewageminimumintothenaturalandnormalpriceofimmediatelabor，thatisisacceptingtheexistingstateofsociety。So，togetawayfromthisfatalconsequence，hefacesaboutandassertsthatlaborisnotacommodity，thatitcannothavevalue。Heforgetsthathehimselfhastakenthevalueoflaborasameasure，heforgetsthathiswholesystemrestsonlaborasacommodity，onlaborwhichisbartered，bought，sold，exchangedforproduce，etc。，onlabor，infact，whichisanimmediatesourceofincomefortheworker。Heforgetseverything。
Tosavehissystem，heconsentstosacrificeitsbasis。
Etproptervitamvivendiperderecausas！