Chapter 15

Discussion

chapter 15 - machinery and modern industry

section 1 - the development of machinery: (there is a footnote here about the motive forces of history).
- the tool is the point where the conversion of handicrafts/manufacture into industry begins.
- all machinery consists of 3 parts: motor mechanism, transmitting mechanism and the tool or working mechanism. the tool is generally a version of what was previously used by the workman. the number of tools a machine can set in motion is free of organic impediments.
- as the size of machines increase, they require greater motive power - man, animal, wind and water not powerful or predictable enough - steam finally provided a mobile form of power entirely under human control, not geographically limited and with universal application. we then have co-operation but the operations now performed by machines, though a true machine system is only present when many machines are doing different kinds of work.
- initially, division of labour remains the same as in manufacture. however, now there is no need to consider the practicalities of execution of each process by hand, only to perform every stage and bind into a whole. the more continuous the process the more perfect the collective machine as the faster the subject of labour is passed through them. - some parts may of the process may require manipulation by human hand, but as soon as the role of man is reduced to one of attending only, we have an automatic system of machinery constantly susceptible to improvements.
- the immediate technical basis of industry was still handicraft and manufacture, but that was too limiting - it made machinery too dear, and the growth of artisans couldn't keep up with the growth of industry, as well as the size of the machinery required that grew well out of the scale that the collective worker would be able to perform. - revolutions in one arena of production produces revolutions in connected ones. and the revolutions in the modes of production of industry and agriculture required a revolution in the general conditions of social production i.e. in means of communication and transportation. so needed to build machines by machines.
- the instruments of labour in the form of machinery require the conscious application of science. the organisation of social labour process in manufacture is purely subjective - combination of detail labourers - in industry the system of machinery is purely objective, the labourer a mere appendage to existing material conditions of production. in cooperation and division of labour, the suppression of the isolated worker by the collective worker appeared accidental. with machinery the character of the labour process is a technical necessity dictated by the instrument of labour itself.

section 2 - value transferred by machinery:

- though we have machinery, we still require something made by man to harness natural forces. the increase in productive force brought about by machinery does not mean that more labour hasn't been expended.
- machinery is constant capital so creates no new value, on yields its own value over time. longer the machines life, the greater the difference between the value of machinery and the value transferred to the product. the difference is greater than manual tools as machines are more durable, wear& tear is regulated by scientific laws and the field of production is larger. on a large scale the value transferred tends towards nil.
- value transferred smaller the larger the product. the amount of product depends on velocity of working parts. given the value transfer rate, the amount transferred depends on total value of machines, less labour contains, less transferred, less value given up, more productive it is.
- production of machines by machines lessens value relative to extension and efficacy. vs products of handicrafts and manufacture, products of machinery have absolutely less value due to instruments of labour, but more relative to total value of product.
- difference between the labour a machine costs and the labour it saves (its degree of productiveness) does not depend on the difference between its value and the value of the tool it replaces. as long as the labour spent on the machine is smaller than the value added by the workman with his tool, then labour is saved. so productivity of machinery is measured by the labour power it replaces. though machinery cost as much as the labour power costs, still less than labour it replaces (as this includes surplus value).
- the use of machinery to cheapen product is limited: less labour must be expended in producing machine than is displaced by the employment of that machinery. further limited for capitalist: fixed by difference between value of machinery and value of labour power replaced by it. since value of labour power varies by time and country, sinks and rises above and below real value, the difference may sometimes be very great though real difference remain constant hence not all machines used everywhere.

section 3 - proximate effects of machinery on the workman:

1) allows employing those with bodies more supple but with less strength (women and children), enrolling whole family into workforce, spreading the family wage and breaking male resistance to capital.
2) gives capital new motives to extend the working day - the longer it is, the faster will the value of the machine be absorbed in the product, and the less time there will be for wear and tear due to non-use. since value of machine only its average social value, as new machines or new techniques of making the same machine are introduced, the overall value that the machine transfers falls with the fall in its social value, so needs to be transferred as fast as possible to reduce this effect. doubling the workers exploited would require a doubling of the amount of constant capital in buildings and machines etc., but doubling the length of the working day does not require this. when machinery is first introduced, the individual value of the product falls below its social value yielding exceptional profits which the capitalist tries to maximise by the lengthening of the working day. by opening up previously inaccessible parts of the population to capitalist exploitation and replacing existing workers with them, machinery creates a surplus working population that must bow to capital's wishes. the most powerful instrument for the reduction of labour time becomes the most powerful instrument for placing all the labourers' and his families' time at the disposal of capital.
3) intensification of labour can only reach a certain point without reducing the length of working day. once this length is fixed, gaps in the day need to be filled to produce as much as possible in a given time. this gives a measure of intensity or density of labour - the denser the hour, the more products it yields. efficiency of labour power is in inverse ratio to its duration. increase in intensity can be brought about by increasing the speed of the machinery and giving each worker more machinery to deal with.

section 4 - the factory:

- from p.o.v. of labour process, the use of machinery is the cooperation of many workers attending a system of productive machines compelled by a central power; but used by capital it is the modern factory - a vast automaton composed of mechanical and intellectual organs acting together for a common object subordinate to the moving force.
- division of labour is now between workers employed on machines, attendants, a small number of specialised workers (engineers etc.) and overlookers.
- the motion of the machinery is independent of the workers, so they can be replaced at anytime (e.g. in relays). it is easy to learn so there is no need to bring up a special class of specialised operatives, reducing cost of reproducing workers. rather than being part of a living mechanism as in manufacture, the worker is a mere appendage to a lifeless one.
- a tyrannical code of fines and penalties is thrown up to ensure economy of means of production, often near impossible to keep to so reducing wages. this economy of the means of production becomes a robbery of the means of life from the worker - air, light etc.

section 5 - strife between worker and machine:

- initially machines were a solution to a shortage of labour, later they began to replace workers and we got stuff like the luddites.
- as division of labour specialised the labourer, once machines replace them their labour power is unsaleable so they either die of flood other branches of industry.
- the choice of machinery coming gradually or suddenly is the choice between chronic drawn out misery and widespread acute misery.
- the "temporary" effects of machinery are really permanent as it is always seizing on new aspects of production.
- the estrangement from the instrument of labour becomes an antagonism.
- improvements in machines reduce the number of workers and change the type required.
- machines are also used to get around and break workers' resistance.

section 6 - the theory of compensation regarding workers displaced by machines:

- there is an argument that replacing workers with machines sets free an amount of capital that can employ the same workers. nonsense - first if machine costs same as workers replaced, no capital set free just changed the variable to constant ratio. if it costs less, then since more constant capital is required, even less workers are employed by a given amount of capital. more mechanics are not employed since making machinery must employ less (the cost including both necessary and surplus labour abd constant capital required to produce it).
- since the workers "freed" can no longer by as many commodities, if the situation continues workers producing those commodities will be discharged too, so even more workers out of employment.
- discharged workers can only find employment by new capital, not the old "freed" capital.
- all this stems from the capitalist employment of machinery, not machines themselves, as under capitalism the effects of machines are the opposite to what they should be.
- machinery may bring about an increase in employment in the branches of industry producing the means of production due to the huge increase in scale brought about by the employment of machinery.
- the more machinery seizes control of production, the greater the social division of labour, the greater the amount of products for the capitalist class to consume, so that class grows in number.
- with the opening of world markets, more foreign materials are used in production, so infrastructure must be improved and carrying trades grow.
- entirely new (though at first insignificant) industries spring up.
- more servants, ideological employments (priest etc.), leachers (landlords etc.) and criminals spring up.

section 7 - repulsion and attraction of workers by the factory system:

- more workers may be employed by the extension of business (though proportionally less variable capital, absolutely more as more capital in general) or by annexation of connected trades.
- since constant improvements can be made, the composition of capital is constantly changing, though interrupted by periods of rest during which there is only quantitative expansion.
- once machinery is its own (and its raw materials' suppliers') technical basis the mode of production acquires an elasticity limited only by the supply of raw materials and the disposal of the produce.
- the low cost of machine made products ruins foreign manufacture and handicraft, turning them into suppliers of raw materials.
- as the number of workers required is reduced, emigration is encouraged aiding the colonisation of other countries to become suppliers of raw materials.
- a new international division of labour is thrown up with most of the world supplying raw materials and food to the industrial centres.
- this power to expand in jump and dependence on world markets leads to a cycle of moderate production -> prosperity -> overproduction -> crisis -> stagnation. thus the uncertainty and instability brought by machines becomes the norm.
- the competition between capitalists for a share of the market leads to rivalry to displace labour powers by machines and attempts to lower wages below the value of labour power.
- a growth in the number employed requires a proportionally much more rapid growth in the capital invested. this growth is constantly interrupted by the industrial cycle and technical progress which throws out old workers and takes the place of employing new ones - attracting and repelling workers constantly.

section 8 - revolution effected in manufacture, handicrafts and domestic industry by modern industry:

a) overthrow of cooperation based on handicrafts and division of labour.
b) reaction of factory system on manufacture and domestic industries. the same principles of analysing the process used here as in the factories, so they become outside departments of the factory minus the technical basis which brings improvements to the conditions of work that there is in the factory.
c) modern manufacture.
d) modern domestic industries.
e) passage of modern manufacture and domestic industries into modern mechanical industries. at some point the increase of exploitation reaches natural barriers insurmountable without recourse to machinery. factory acts hastened this leading to a greater concentration of capital as small masters unable to comply. other problems such as fashions, made worse by increased communication and transport, lead to periods of starvation followed by periods of overwork. only reconciled when forced by act of parliament.

section 9 - factory acts, sanitary and educational clauses and general extension in england:

- effects and limits of these. some positive aspects - new methods of education, technical reason for subjugating humans to one task swept away, though under capitalism it is reproduced in an even worse form.
- division of labour is now based on science, constantly changing and improving - the technical basis is revolutionary. every economic progress becomes a social calamity.
- regulation of exploitation in factories was seen as interfering, but when it turned to "home labour" it was seen as an attack on parental authority. it was not misuse of parental authority that created capitalist exploitation, but rather the capitalist mode of exploitation that swept away the material basis of that authority allowing its exercise to degenerate into misuse. under other circumstances the dissolution of the family would lead to humane development.
- though capital initially compensates regulation in one place with more reckless exploitation elsewhere, right to equal exploitation forces regulation everywhere. the factory acts show the necessity imposed on the parliament of the ruling class to adopt in principle extensive measures against excesses of capitalist exploitation and hesitance to implement them.
- regulation leads to combining of numerous small isolated industries into a few large ones, accelerating the concentration of capital.
- it destroys old and transitional forms where the domination of capital is still partly concealed, but generalises opposition to this dominion.
- in individual workshops it enforces order, but by giving an insentive to technical improvements it accelerates the anarchy and catastrophes of capitalist production as a whole, the intensification of labour and competition of machines with the labourer.
- the destruction of small and domestic industries destroys the last resort of the "redundant" population and the last safety valve of the whole social mechanism.
- by maturing the material conditions and combining on a social scale the processes of production, it matures the contradictions and antagonisms of the capitalist form of production and thereby provides along with the elements for the formation of a new society, the forces for exploding the old one.

section 10 - modern industry and agriculture:

- though machinery used in agriculture was less physically injurious, it superseded the worker more intensely and was less strongly resisted due to the dispersion of the population.
- it obliterated the peasant, replacing them by the wage labourer so that the class antagonisms and desire for social change became level with that in the towns.
- it concentrated the working population, and thus the motive power of society, in the towns. all progress in agriculture under capitalism wrecks the long term fertility of the soil in favour of a short term increase.
- capitalist production develops the social combination of the processes of production at the expense of the sources of all wealth, the soil and the labourer.