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The question of what constitutes an industry is related to what constitutes 
a commodity or a clas of commodities.  Marx examined this question in 
Capital.  Here is what I wrote in my Marx book: 
 
 
"We need only ask ourselves what it is that commodities have in common.  
They are the products of labor that are offered for sale in the market.  In 
other words, commodities are products "which are sold as commodities . . . 
since without the sale they cannot be regarded as products" (Marx 1977, p. 
952; see also p. 166).  Then what is a product? 
 
    Marx examined this question in terms of the umbrella industry of the United States
(1977, p. 476-77n).  Prior to the Civil War, umbrella manufacturers were merely assemblers
of the components of umbrellas.  Consequently, individual components such as umbrella
handles were commodities. If the companies that produced these handles also assembled the
umbrellas, then handles would no longer be commodities.
 
    This distinction, between components that were and that were not commodities, was
raised in the United States Congress because of the turnover tax that was instituted
during the Civil War.  Marx concurred with the eventual judgment of the Congress: "A thing
is produced 'when it is made' and it is made when it is ready for sale" (Ibid.).  Engels
made a similar point in a note he inserted into Capital:
 
 In order to become a commodity, the product must be transferred to the other person, for
whom it serves as a use value, through the medium of exchange [Marx 1977, p. 131].
 
 
Michael Perelman 
 
 
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