I read this a while after I'd interrupted my listening to CPUSA school webinar:Marx Ec part 1. I welcomed the presentation, but stopped listening because I was dissatisfied with his definition of Surplus Value. As you know, I think it's important to grasp SV as the difference between the Socially Necessary Labor Time (SNLT) a worker adds and the Socially Necessary Labor Time of other workers in the goods and services she(or he) consumes to reproduce her(or his) labor power. When I try to convey SV to others, I often substituted WALT (World Average Labor Time) for SNLT. and CommonWealth for SV. I think my words are accurate synonyms for what Marx was trying to convey to 19th century workers. I say "goods and services" rather than commodities, because as political reforms socialize basic services like health and education, the labor time required to produce good health and good education cannot be delivered if "put on a business basis", if quality is measured by quantitative increases in return on investment, Peggy On May 28, 2023, at 10:09 AM, Charles Brown (via marxism-thaxis Mailing List) wrote: Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Charles Brown Date: May 28, 2023 at 10:04:45 AM EDT To: marxism-thaxis@lists.riseup.net, a-list@lists.riseup.net Subject: However, applicable in the US in 2023 is Lenin's direction in _What is to be done ?_ to focus the Working Class's _political_ as opposed to _economic_ struggle , his critique of Economism or Trade Unionism pure and simple . In the US historical context political struggle is ultimately electoral with mass protest aimed at influencing elections .  http://take10charles.blogspot.com/2015/03/as-far-as-republicans-capitalist-party.html