Ouranalysishasshown，thattheformorexpressionofthevalueofacommodityoriginatesinthenatureofvalue，andnotthatvalueanditsmagnitudeoriginateinthemodeoftheirexpressionasexchange—value。
This，however，isthedelusionaswellofthemercantilistsandtheirrecentrevivers，Ferrier，Ganilh，[23]andothers，asalsooftheirantipodes，themodernbagmenofFree—trade，suchasBastiat。Themercantilistslayspecialstressonthequalitativeaspectoftheexpressionofvalue，andconsequentlyontheequivalentformofcommodities，whichattainsitsfullperfectioninmoney。ThemodernhawkersofFree—trade，whomustgetridoftheirarticleatanyprice，ontheotherhand，laymoststressonthequantitativeaspectoftherelativeformofvalue。Forthemthereconsequentlyexistsneithervalue，normagnitudeofvalue，anywhereexceptinitsexpressionbymeansoftheexchangerelationofcommodities，thatis，inthedailylistofpricescurrent。Macleod，whohastakenuponhimselftodressuptheconfusedideasofLombardStreetinthemostlearnedfinery，isasuccessfulcrossbetweenthesuperstitiousmercantilists，andtheenlightenedFree—tradebagmen。
AclosescrutinyoftheexpressionofthevalueofAintermsofB，containedintheequationexpressingthevalue—relationofAtoB，hasshownusthat，withinthatrelation，thebodilyformofAfiguresonlyasause—value，thebodilyformofBonlyastheformoraspectofvalue。
Theoppositionorcontrastexistinginternallyineachcommoditybetweenuse—valueandvalue，is，therefore，madeevidentexternallybytwocommoditiesbeingplacedinsuchrelationtoeachother，thatthecommoditywhosevalueitissoughttoexpress，figuresdirectlyasamereuse—value，whilethecommodityinwhichthatvalueistobeexpressed，figuresdirectlyasmereexchange—value。Hencetheelementaryformofvalueofacommodityistheelementaryforminwhichthecontrastcontainedinthatcommodity，betweenuse—valueandvalue，becomesapparent。
Everyproductoflabouris，inallstatesofsociety，ause—value;butitisonlyatadefinitehistoricalepochinasociety’sdevelopmentthatsuchaproductbecomesacommodity，viz。，attheepochwhenthelabourspentontheproductionofausefularticlebecomesexpressedasoneoftheobjectivequalitiesofthatarticle，i。e。，asitsvalue。Itthereforefollowsthattheelementaryvalue—formisalsotheprimitiveformunderwhichaproductoflabourappearshistoricallyasacommodity，andthatthegradualtransformationofsuchproductsintocommodities，proceedsparipassuwiththedevelopmentofthevalue—form。