In this work, Samara Marxist Eleonora Nikishina addresses one of the most important issues of political economy - the dialectics of the relations of production, exchange and distribution. It takes the reader back to the long-standing dispute between Marx and Proudhon about the “correct” exchange, which supposedly will eliminate the contradictions of capitalism without affecting the principle of private property. The discussion of the 19th century leads the author to socio-political conclusions that were quite topical for that period (1991). However, these conclusions are largely relevant today.