COMMUNICATION 69 society's surplus value into profit, interest, and rent may be considered as the heart of the transformation process. It takes place via the competitive process which assigns to each industry for profit, interest payment and rent an amount strictly proportionate to its capital investment.27 Can we comprehend such a transformation within a static model of price relations? Samuelson's attempt to answer the question with the aid of an eraser only shows his inability to interpret Marx correctly. SUHAS CHATTOPADHYAY 1 PA Samuelson, "The 'Transformation* from Marxian 'Values' to competitive 'Prices': A Process of Rejection and Replacement", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 67, Part 1, September 1970, pp 423-5: "Understanding the Marxian Notion of Exploitation: a Summary of the So-called Transformation Problem between Marxian Values and Competitive Prices", Journal of Economic Literatures Vol IX, June 1971, pp 399-431; "The Economics of Marx: An Ecumenical Reply", ibid., Vol X, March 1972, pp 51-7; Samuelsou's "Reply on Marxian Matters", ibid., Vol XI, March 1973, pp 64-8; "Insight and Detour in the Theory of Exploitation: a Reply to Baumol," ibid., Vol XII, March 1974, pp 51-62; "Karl Marx as a Mathematical Economist", in G Horwich and P A Samuelson (Eds.), Trade, Stability and Macroeconomics: Essays in Honor of Lloyd Metzier, New York 1974, pp 2b9-307. 2 J E King, "Professor Samuelson's 'Marx Kntik9,Social Scientist 33, April 1975, pp 1-13, 8 R L Meek, "Karl Marx's Economic Method", Economics and Ideology and Other Essays, Chapman and Hall, 1967, p 107. 4 Karl Marx, "Wage Labour and Capital", Selected Work., Moscow 1969-70, Vol 1, p 168. 5 Ibid., pp 168-70. 6 Capital, Vol I, Progress Publishers, Moscow, p 613. 7 Marx, "Wage Labour and Capita?', Selected Works, Vol I, p i64. 8 Capital, Vol III, Progress Publishers, p 227. » Ibid., Chapters IV, V, XVI, XVII. le Dobb, Meek and Konus contribute to the understanding that the law must be looked upon as no more than a tendency. See Maurice Dobb, Capitalism Yesterday and Today P P H Bombay 1959, p 45 and Political Economy and Capitalism, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1960, p 110; R L Meek, Falling Rate of Profit", Science and Society, Vol XXIV, 1960, Sec. Ill; A A Konus, "On the Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall", Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth, C H Feinstein (Ed.), Cambridge l967,pp 72-3. 11 PA Samuelson, "Wage and Interest: Marxian Economic Model", American Economic Review, Vol XLVII, December 1957, p 884 and also "Marxian Economics as Economics", American Economic Review, Vol LVII, May 1967, p 616. la Quarterly Economic Report of the Indian Institute of Public Opinion, Vol XVI, No I, July 1969. 18 P S Shanmukham and KV Santhanam, "Technological Changes in the Indian Economy, 1953-54 to 1964-65" presented at the Third Input-Output Seminar, Bombay, September 1970. 14 Due to limited scope, the present writer refrains from giving the details of the satisti-cal test of the law on the basis of Indian manufacturing data. However, he contemplates to make, in the near future, a detailed study on the behaviour of the rate of profit. 16 William J Baumol, "The Transformation of Values: What Marx 'Really' Meant (An Interpretation)", Journal of Economic Literature, Vol XII, March 1974, pp 52-53. 16 "Marx's Letter to Kugelmann" dated 11 July 1868, Selected Works, Vol II, pp 418-20, 17 Baumol, op.cit. ,p 53.