Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 391 I understand Marx too~
"You're here?" Teacher Lian said, half-jokingly, upon seeing Chen Luyang.
"I thought you went to eat steamed buns too and forgot about class."

"Okay...it's good that you're here. Have a seat. I won't ask you today, I'll ask someone else."

Teacher Lian reached out and pulled down her arm, gesturing for Chen Luyang to sit down.

Then a boy was randomly selected:
"That student, please read the words on the blackboard."

Caught off guard by being called on, the boy stood up and quickly glanced at the pronunciation Chen Luyang had taught him yesterday.
He spoke slowly and somewhat nervously:

"Consumer, Ikuli-Brian!"

Teacher Lian raised an eyebrow: "Continue!"

The boy carefully continued reading the words on the blackboard.

When reading "reaches",
The boy was very careful to control his tongue and pronounced a standard "Rui-chizi," even lightly omitting the "zi" at the end.

Although the pronunciation isn't perfect, it's clear.

The teacher's chalk stopped in mid-air, and she glanced at him with a hint of surprise.

"Explain what this means?"

The boy answered, "Consumer equilibrium refers to the state in which, given income, commodity prices, and preferences, consumers maximize their total utility by rationally allocating their expenditures so that the marginal utility of each commodity purchased is equal to its price."

Teacher Lian raised his large, dark eyebrows, which resembled fiery sunset clouds, and said with rare praise, "That's quite right, sit down."

at once!

The boy's breathing quickened at the compliment, and he couldn't help but show excitement on his face.

After sitting down,

The boy even turned around and looked at Chen Luyang with great gratitude.

Chen Luyang raised her eyebrows at him, indicating that his pronunciation was good, especially the "Rice-Chiz".

What does "consumer equilibrium" mean?

Teacher Lian put down the chalk and said, "Consumer equilibrium, simply put, is about how people can get the most benefits with the least amount of money when they are short of money."

He asked the students in the first row who were writing furiously.

What did you eat for dinner?

"Huh? Me?" The student was confused for a moment. "...Teacher, I really did eat a steamed bun."

Upon hearing this, all the students in the classroom burst into laughter.

Even the teachers were at a loss.

"So, do you think it was worth the money?"

"...It's definitely worth it."

"Why don't you eat the braised pork that costs 5 cents more? Don't you crave meat?"

"……greedy."

"But you didn't buy it, right? Because you did the math—even without a pen, your brain was already automatically doing the 'utility divided by price' calculation."

He turned around, drew a circle with chalk on the blackboard over the formula "> MU / P", and said:
"Marginal utility divided by price = Is it worth the money?"

After saying that, Teacher Bian asked another student, "Did you spend any money yesterday?"

The student nodded: "I bought a pair of rubber shoes in Dongpingfang."

"Why not buy double-layered ones at the department store?"

"Too expensive...I can't afford it."

"But when you came back, your feet were still dry, not wet, right?"

"……Correct."

Teacher Lian nodded: "This is called 'utility maximization'. Utility maximization does not mean spending the most, but spending the most appropriately."

"To put it simply, I don't have much money, but I spend it wisely!"

"This concept has been discussed in Western economics for over a hundred years, but in our country, your mother actually taught you about it from a young age."

"Don't buy expensive shoes, buy shoes that fit well"—that saying, in today's context, is exactly what Samuelson meant.

The students in the classroom were intently looking at the formulas on the blackboard, pondering and summarizing Teacher Lian's lesson. Their solemn and serious expressions were full of thought.

Teacher Lian then wrote another sentence on the blackboard: "Spend each dollar where it brings the most satisfaction. What does that mean?"

Teacher Lian subconsciously looked at Chen Luyang, but as soon as she raised her hand, she suddenly changed the angle and pointed to a girl next to her by the window.

"What does this mean?"

Caught off guard by being called on, the girl stood up and tried to answer: "Every dollar spent should bring the greatest satisfaction."

Teacher Lian was amused.

"Okay, you've already previewed it?"

When these students had their first lesson, they stared at the English on the blackboard as if it were gibberish.
This lesson actually went smoothly!

"Chen Luyang tutored us," the girl said gratefully.

"Chen Luyang has become a teacher?" Teacher Lian smiled and glanced at Chen Luyang.

Chen Luyang blushed immediately.

He just privately communicates with his classmates and gives lectures, that's all.

It's very awkward to suddenly dance in front of the actual teacher.

Perhaps because Chen Luyang provided pre-class tutoring, the lesson went quite smoothly, even for the teacher.

In many parts, he only needed to give a slight hint, and the students in the classroom would naturally understand and be able to move directly to the next theory.

Just as today's teaching schedule was about to be completed, Teacher Lian suddenly raised a question.

“We just finished talking about marginal utility and utility maximization... There are quite a few philosophy students in our classroom, so I have a question to ask.”

"Did Marx talk about 'utility' in Capital?"

"Can any student share their thoughts?"

The question excited the philosophy students present.

This is their main battlefield!
“Teacher, Marx’s Capital doesn’t mention ‘utility’,” a philosophy student raised his hand to answer.

"Tell me your reasons," Teacher Lian asked with a smile.

"Capital discusses the use value and exchange value of commodities, and talks about the essence of labor, the exploitation of surplus value, and human alienation."

The philosophy students spoke softly, but with the characteristic orderliness and certainty of philosophy students:
"Utility is a concept in bourgeois economics that measures 'satisfaction'; but Marx was concerned with where value comes from, not where 'comfort' comes from."

"He's not talking about how people choose products, but rather that people under capital have no real right to choose."

After listening, Teacher Lian did not speak immediately, but simply nodded.

"That makes sense. Does anyone else have something to say?"

Teacher Lian's gaze swept over the other students in the classroom.

"What about economics students? Anyone want to share their thoughts?"

"Teacher, I also have an idea."

In the classroom, Chen Luyang raised her hand and stood up.

Perhaps it was because Chen Luyang had such a high reputation in class, or perhaps it was because of the tutoring sessions that Chen Luyang had established a solid position in everyone's hearts.

When Chen Luyang stood up, even the teacher and almost all the students in the classroom looked at him.

"Capital does not use the word 'utility'. But it talks about 'man'—man being deprived of choice in labor and forced to become a machine that only pursues survival."

"What Samuelson is saying is: you can choose the one that makes you most comfortable among multiple products—this is the result of free choice."

"But what Marx said is that when you have no choice at all, you can't even talk about 'utility'."

He wasn't talking about 'whether it's worth it' or 'whether there's a choice'.

"Furthermore, the use value of a commodity only exists when it 'satisfies a certain human need.' But whose need is it satisfying? What is it used for? This is actually the essence of utility." Chen Luyang spoke calmly and logically:
"Samuelson talks about marginal utility, which is about how delicious it is to eat another bun. This is a personal reaction. But Marx said that if no one eats the bun, it has no use value. Marx is talking about the material premise of utility. Without this premise, you can't even talk about 'marginal'."

"The former is economic rationality, the latter is social reality. They are not using the same word, but they are talking about two sides of the same issue."

Chen Luyang paused, then continued:
"So in my view, Samuelson is 'analyzing people in the market'—those who can choose among multiple goods and calculate utility."

"Marx was 'awakening those outside the market'—those who had no choice and were even abandoned by the market."

"One talks about how to do it better, and the other talks about why it can't be done."

Damn...

...When did he read Das Kapital?!

The economics students stared in astonishment at Chen Luyang, who was speaking eloquently, their faces filled with shock!

Although their major courses also include philosophy.

However, the specific courses are only the basic principles of Marxism and an introduction to philosophy.

There was absolutely no study of "Das Kapital".

Teacher Lian stood on the podium, looking at Chen Luyang with considerable admiration, and began to speak:

"Classmates! Look up and look at Chen Luyang."

The next moment, all eyes in the class focused on Chen Luyang, which startled her. She didn't know what Teacher Lian was going to do.

Teacher Lian pointed at Chen Luyang and said, "You are all freshmen, and you are younger than most of you."

"This person is an economics major, and not only can he understand Samuelson's original work, but he can also debate the duality of commodities in Volume 1 of Capital with great enthusiasm!"

"Are you still sitting here?!"

Chen Luyang's face turned bright red instantly.

My dear mother...

Teacher, are you praising me or making me an enemy?

That's not how you praise someone!
Unfortunately, Teacher Lian had just decided to use Chen Luyang as an example to teach these students a lesson:
"Don't always focus on your notes, worrying about which word you spelled correctly or whether you pronounced it correctly."

"Think about how you would explain this to your parents if it happened in your yard or at the dinner table."

"Don't think that just because it's not in your department, you can skip studying it."

"Academic knowledge has no departmental boundaries, and intellectual thought is not limited by major!"

He picked up his enamel mug and took a sip of water, then even the teacher glanced around at him.
"Today's class will not stop here. I'm assigning homework, everyone, including those in the philosophy and economics departments, should do it."

The topic is: From 'Utility Maximization' to 'Surplus Value'.

Teacher Lian watched as the students in the class quickly wrote down the questions on their papers and said:

"This assignment might be a bit of a disadvantage for economics students. But that's okay, I don't have a word count requirement."

“You can agree with Samuelson and say that the market is the optimal allocation; or you can stand with Marx and say that people are alienated by the system.”

"But you have to write it clearly! Why is this world so complicated, so complicated that a person can be both a consumer and an exploited person; both concerned with utility and powerlessness."

"You can start with an everyday choice—eating, buying clothes, seeing a doctor—and see who sets the prices and who bears the costs."

"You can also write about the factories, collectives, and supply and marketing cooperatives in your hometown to see who is footing the bill, who is giving up profits, and who has never been asked whether they are willing."

"It's okay if you can't write it down."

"It's okay if you find you don't understand it after you finish writing it."

"The important thing is that you have to start thinking."

Teacher Lian pointed to his head: "You can write as many words as you want, but the article must contain sentences that you have thought about and come up with yourself."

"I want to see your mind working, not just your hands copying."

After he finished speaking, the classroom bell rang.

Teacher Lian threw the chalk back into the chalk box: "get out of class dismissed!"

……

too difficult……

too difficult!
It's only been a few days since school started, and we haven't even had many classes yet, and they're already comparing Samuelson and Marx!

As soon as the class ended, the students, especially those in the economics department, all looked gloomy and rushed to the library to borrow Das Kapital.

A quiet night...

The dormitory was quiet.

Tao Runze, Pan Yu, Wu Dechen, Zhang Dongliang and others were all reading "Das Kapital", taking notes and making excerpts as they read.

He looked extremely pained.

Chen Luyang's expression was also one of pain.

His pain stemmed not from writing his thesis, but from that damn welcome party.

too difficult……

What kind of show is this?!

Chen Luyang looked at the topic "Reform and Opening Up Disco" listed in the notebook, her eyebrows furrowed, and her face was full of distress.

He didn't want to participate in the cultural performance.

These older brothers and sisters in the department,
If you ask them to do farm work, tend crops, and live a normal life, they are all very good at it.

But singing and dancing are both unacceptable.

After much thought, Chen Luyang came up with an idea: a large-scale group performance, aiming to get everyone in the class to perform a short clapper talk.

In this way, everyone can memorize words quickly, and each person is only responsible for a few sentences, so there is no burden in memorizing them.

Secondly, people watch shows to have fun and enjoy themselves.

With more people, the atmosphere is created.

If the rehearsal is more organized and the participants are in higher spirits, they will be quite eye-catching!

only……

Composing a fast-paced rhythmic recitation is so difficult!

Chen Luyang looked at the few lines of poetry she had already written in her notebook, and felt extremely anxious.

"Little Chen, why are you sighing?" Jiang Feng asked curiously when he heard Chen Luyang sighing.

"The program for the welcome party is still undecided, and I'm really getting anxious about it," Chen Luyang sighed.

"I wanted to put on a big, rhythmic aria for the whole group, but I could only come up with a few lines before I couldn't come up with anything else."

Jiang Feng was previously a key writer in the Provincial Party Committee Policy Research Office, specializing in writing.

Hearing Chen Luyang say that she couldn't come up with any lyrics,
In an instant, a burst of creative passion from my very bones and an urge to write that had been building up for so long burst forth.

"What did you write before? Let me see?"

"Give."

Chen Luyang handed her notebook to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng took it, glanced at it, and read it aloud:
"As the autumn winds of the 1980s rose, we stepped into Peking University."

"A new atmosphere emerges in the era of reform, and knowledge is put into practice."

"Workers and peasants, who once carried burdens on their shoulders, now sit down to study literature,"

"It's not enough to just make calculations; you also need to see the policy window clearly."

"Knowledge is not just something you talk about; it's something you put into practice, like cooking rice and firewood."

"..."

(End of this chapter)