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Two replies to my post got bogged down in impertinent preliminaries so I'll sum up and
restate my musings. Could there have been an influence of Chastellux's 1772 essay on the
anonymous 1821 pamphlet credited by Marx and Engels with such advanced insight into the
concept of surplus value as surplus labour? Are the textual homologies enough to suggest
-- if not actually to substantiate -- such a relationship?
 
Whether or not Wills' scholarship was tip-top, there can be no denying that Jefferson and
Chastellux corresponded and visited. Whether or not Smith or Ricardo ever intended to say
what they reportedly did not say, Marx and Engels did both acknowledge the importance of
the 1821 pamphlet for Marx's concept of surplus value. And whether or not Chastellux's
happiness ultimately had any bearing on Jefferson's happiness or his disposable time any
bearing on the disposable time of the anonymous post-Ricardian pamphleteer; it seems to me
the hint of a possibility of consanguinity between Grundrisse and Declaration is
intriguing.
 
Tom Walker 
 
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