The Independent Mode of Production

Abstract

The concept "independent mode of production" is examined to determine its theoretical, empirical, and political usefulness in Marxian analysis. The independent production unit is traced from its origin in the village commun ity to its fullest development in the early American social formation. It is argued that production in the independent mode of production is mostly the production of use-values and that the term "simple commodity production" can be used as an abstraction to examine the part of production which is for exchange. Polit ically, it is seen as important to make the distinction between the independent mode of production and the capitalist mode of production, especially in the United States.