Summary
Money tokens are coins or bits of materials that act as representatives of money.
Money is value separated from use value, it is abstract social labour, the universal equivalent form of value
A money commodity is money given physical form in the shape of a given commodity, which emerges naturally from the process of commodity production and exchange as a measure of the value of all other commodities
Money tokens first emerge as representatives of a given quantity of this money commodity
Precious metal coins, as they become worn and/or debased, themselves act as tokens for the metal content they purport to contain, but which has been lost.
They circulate at full value, provided the quantity in circulation remains restricted to the money/social labour-time, they represent.
Excess circulation is automatically reduced, as coins are removed from circulation, and melted down.
States debase coins, and increase circulation to inflate away debts, as the other side of reduced value coins is higher prices.
Base metal coins and paper notes have no value in their material content. The value of each token is determined by the quantity of tokens in circulation, relative to the money they represent. Unlike precious metal coins, excess is not automatically reduced, so its manifestation is higher money prices, inflation.
The relative value of each national currency is determined by the quantity of notes in circulation relative to the social labour-time it represents, which is also a function of national productivity
Credit acts as a money token.
Money tokens now directly represent money/abstract social labour-time, rather than a quantity of a money-commodity. This represents a further element of the transition of Capitalism towards Socialism.
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