Marx’s Inheritance And Transcendence Of Adam Smith’s Capital Theory

Adam Smith and Marx’s capital theory are the classical theories emerging in the development of human society,and they have very important significance to promote the formation and development of political economy.Smith has a deep discussion on the relevant issues of capital theory,and his capital theory has a far-reaching influence on later generations.Smith objectively examined the characteristics of capitalism,and his capital theory has a scientific side.Due to the limitation of history and class,as well as the one-sidedness of analysis method,Smith’s capital theory also contains many mistakes.Vulgar bourgeois political economists selectively accept the wrong understanding of Smith’s capital theory and systematize it.Compared with the vulgar bourgeois political economists,Marx established the scientific capital theory by absorbing the scientific insight of Smith’s capital theory on the basis of critical inheritance.It is of great contemporary value to study Marx’s inheritance and transcendence of Smith’s capital theory.In the theoretical sense,it is helpful to further grasp the debate about capital theory in modern political economy,and at the same time help to deepen the understanding of the source of Marx’s capital theory,deepen the understanding of Marxist political economy,and give play to its contemporary explanatory power.In the practical sense,it is helpful to understand the nature and characteristics of capital,and requires us to actively play the function of capital production factors,and to prevent the wild growth of capital,limit the disorderly expansion of capital.This paper studies Marx’s inheritance and transcendence of Smith’s capital theory,mainly involving the essence of capital,the function of capital production and distribution and the accumulation of capital.This paper first studies the essence of capital and analyzes Marx’s inheritance and transcendence from Smith.Secondly,after making clear the essence of capital,we further study Marx’s inheritance and transcendence over Smith in the production and distribution function of capital.The third part studies capital accumulation,from the sources of capital accumulation,process and trend analysis of Marx to Smith’s inheritance and transcendence.Finally,it discusses the contemporary value of Marx’s inheritance and transcendence of Smith’s capital theory from two aspects: theoretical significance and practical significance.This paper concludes that Marx established scientific capital theory on the basis of critically inheriting Smith’s capital theory,and at the same time Marx’s capital theory surpasses Smith’s.Marx emphasized that capital is not a thing,it essentially reflects social relations;Capital is the product of historical development.It shows itself by loan.The production function of capital is the unification of general labor production process and value production process,and the distribution function of capital is the free possession of surplus value by capitalists.The source of capital accumulation is not thrift but exploitation of workers by capitalists;The process of capital accumulation is not a simple production process,but a complex process of capital’s pursuit of value-added.The end of capital accumulation is not the prosperity of the country and the people,but the extreme poverty of the proletariat.