Chapters 26-33

Discussion

chapter 26 - the secret of primitive accumulation

- capitalist production presupposes the pre-existence of considerable masses of capital in the hands of some, and only labour power in the hands of the producers - this accumulation must have occurred prior to capitalism being established.

- the historical process of primitive accumulation is that of divorcing the producer from the means of production, emancipation from serfdom on the one hand and expropriation of the labourer on the other to create owners of money and "free" labourers.

chapter 27 - expropriation of the agricultural population from the land

- taking england as the prime example, we have peasants and labourers starting with not only a small piece of land, but also the commons. feudal retainers we the first to be thrown on the labour market as proletarians, followed by peasants driven from the land and commons being seized (largely illegally), fuelled by rise in price in wool, so the nobility could make lots of money from sheep. legislation tried to prevent this (so that the country still had good infantry).

- the reformation with the seizing of church lands gave this a huge impulse to the process and removed the religious bulwark of traditional conditions of landed property.

- feudal obligations of landowners to the state were replaced with taxes on the peasantry and modern property rights, huge amounts of state land were seized and eventually the seizing of commons was done by decree as well as force. independent yeomen were replaced with servile tenants and the commons were added to large farms.

- the highland clearances the largest scale of this process, the former heads of clans driving their clansmen off the land to replace them with first sheep, then these with deer.

chapter 28 - legislation against the expropriated

- the masses of newly "freed" proletarians were too numerous to be absorbed by manufacture, and became paupers and vagabonds. violent legislation was then enacted against them, beating them into submissive proletarians, selling their labour submissively and accepting their situation.

- legislation was also brought in to keep wages down, lengthen the working day and prevent workers' organisation, as to begin with the variable part of capital was comparatively large, and so the demand for labour grew faster than labouring population. the anti-organisation laws were only withdrawn after the pressure of the mass of the working class.

chapter 29 - genesis of the capitalist farmer

- the above only explains the creation of the "free" labourer - where did the possessor of money come from? some serfs, such as bailiffs, when freed became farmers provided with seed and implements by the landlord and employing wage labour, dividing profits with the landlord. this situation changed to the farmer paying rent and advancing his own capital.

- leases were long (99 years) so they paid the same even as money depreciated in value and the value of the product of the land grew.

chapter 30 - reaction of the agricultural revolution on industrial capital

- first, the new proletarians were not in the guilds, so could be more freely exploited.

- improvements in agriculture meant that more was being produced by fewer people, so large amounts of means of subsistence were "set free" and turned into the material element of variable capital with the "freed" labourer must buy back with his wage (where previously he would have grown it himself.

- similarly raw material that would have been used by individual peasants and artisans was now more plentiful and became the material element of constant capital - turning from means of independent existence for the weavers to means of command and sucking of unpaid labour.

- all this was the creation of the home market - what was previously sold to the peasant, the farmer now sold to the manufacturer, and what the peasant formerly consumed himself the manufacturer now sold to the country.

- as formerly discussed, manufacture had its base in handicrafts and domestic industry, so these kept re-emerging in one place as they were suppressed in another, until modern industry wiped them out and completed the conquest of the home market.

chapter 31 - genesis of the industrial capitalist

- some small guild masters, independent artisans, even wage labourers became small capitalists.

- however, the middle ages gave us 2 types of developed capital: usury and merchant. these were at first prevented from becoming industrial capital in the country by feudal constitution and in the towns by the guilds, until these were dissolved. so the set up at sea ports and inland points beyond their control.

- colonisation of the americas, asia and africa was the true dawn of the era of capitalist production, as it formed the principal form of primitive accumulation, followed by the commercial wars of the european nations.

- colonies, national debt, modern taxation and protectionism were all methods that employed the power of the state to hasten the transition to the capitalist mode of production.

- loot brought home from the colonies turned into capital. trade ripened and colonies became markets for manufacture, with accelerated accumulation thanks to the monopoly of trade.

- national debt - alienation of the state - the system of public credit, turned money into capital instantly with little risk, enriching middlemen, creating joint-stock companies, stock exchange gambling and the bankocracy. this further gave rise to the system of international credit, concealing the origin of primitive accumulation (one nation could go loot the colonies the lend the money to another with no access to the colonies).

- to pay these debts, the state had to increase taxation, leading to the need for more loans for new expenses. these were raised on the necessary means of subsistence, raising prices and worsening the conditions of the workers and aiding the forcible expropriation of the lower-middle class.

- protectionism destroyed independent labourers and industry in dependent states (such as ireland).

- child labour from stolen children was used extensively in the establishment of manufacture, as was primitive accumulation via the slave trade - wage slavery built on slavery proper.

chapter 32 - historical tendency of capitalist accumulation

- small individual proprietors flourished for a while, but production could only be primitive as no cooperation, and brought new material agencies into play which eventually destroyed it.

- as soon as labourers turned into proletarians and means of production turned into capital, capital turns from the expropriation of the labourer working for himself to the expropriation of other capitalists. with this, a socialised labour process develops, entangling everyone in the world market, developing the international character of the capitalist regime.

- with it, the revolt of the working class grows, organised and united by the capitalist mode of production. the monopoly of capital becomes a fetter on the mode of production.

- capitalist mode of appropriation the result of the capitalist mode of production produces capitalist private property, the negation of individual private property (founded on the labour of the proprietor). but capitalist production begets its own negation - the negation of negation (i'm guessed the original would being used here is everyone's favourite german word, aufheben!). this does not re-establish private property of the producer, but individual property based on the acquisitions of the capitalist era, i.e. cooperation and possession in common of land and means of production. the first transition was necessarily very violent as it was the expropriation of the masses by the few, the second transition must be less so as it is the expropriation of the few by the masses.

chapter 33 - the modern theory of colonisation

- whilst at home the laws of individual laws of private property were applied to its antithesis, capitalist private property, in the colonies the former was actively suppressed to create the latter.

- where protectionism strove to create capitalists, colonisation strove to create wage workers, as money, means of production etc. are not capital without the labourer - capital is a social relation.

- it was found that in the colonies there were not enough wage labourers as land was so cheap imported labourers could soon run off and work for themselves, or even become competitors to their former employers, they did not agree to a social contract of being exploited. in other words, the law of supply and demand of labour was not working as capital liked, so they tried to enforce it by making land prohibitively expensive, so that any labourer managing to buy land would pay for the importing of his replacement.

- all this achieved was diverting emigration, but soon the colonies were saturated, hastened by large land give-aways to capitalists and aristocrats in some places, speculative companies for railways, mines, etc. in others, accompanied by raising of taxes after american civil war.

- all this lead to the discovery that the capitalist mode of production has as its fundamental condition the annihilation of self-earned private property and the expropriation of the labourer.

Chapter 25

Discussion

section 1 - increased demand for labour poewr that accompanies accumulation, the composition of capital remaining the same.

- composition of capital: on the side of value, determined by the division in constant and variable capital; on the side of materials, determined by the division between means of production and living labour power - value composition & technical composition respectively. the value composition insofar as it is determined by technical composition and mirrors the latter's changes is called organic composition (and is what is meant by composition unless otherwise specified).

- different capitals have different compositions in each branch of industry - the average of all in one branch gives the branch composition, that of all the branches, the composition of the total social capital if a country, which is what will be analysed.

- composition of capital remaining the same, growth of capital means more variable capital, therefore more demand for labour & increase of the labourers' subsistence fund in proportion to the growth of capital. the requirements of accumulated capital may exceed the increase of labour powers - demand exceed supply - and wages may rise. the capitalist mode of production reproduces on a constantly increasing scale, and so we get more proletariat and more capitalists. in this case the relation of the labourer to capital is only more extensive, not intensive.

- however, the increase in wages can at best mean a quantitative decrease in unpaid labour, which is never allowed to be such that it threatens the system as a whole. either the price of labour keeps rising, because the rise does not interfere with the progress of accumulation. or accumulation slackens because of the rise, but then the reason for the fall in the rate of accumulation vanishes and the problem fixes itself.

- excess of capital makes exploitable labour powers insufficient, not the reverse. a relative diminution of capital makes the price of exploitable labour powers in excess. both appear caused by the movements of masses of labour powers, but aren't - it is the rate of accumulation which is the independent variable, rate of wages is a dependent variable. really it is a relation between the unpaid an paid labour of the labouring population - if the former rises very fast, more of the latter is required by capitalists, and the proportion of the former falls. once it falls past a certain point less paid labour is required.

section 2 - relative diminution of variable capital simultaneous with progress of accumulation and the accompanying concentration.

- degree of productivity of labour is expressed in the relative extent of the means of production that one labourer during a given time with the same tension of labour power turns into products.

- an increase in constant capital vs. variable part of the composition of capital leads to the value compared to the mass of means of production consumed to diminish, and the difference in the value composition is less than in the mass of means of production and labour into which they are converted. though the relative magnitude of variable capital can fall, the absolute magnitude can rise. all methods for raising the social productive power of labour are methods of increasing the production of surplus value, of producing capital by capital, of accelerated accumulation.

- the total social capital is divided into individual capitals. portions of these break off the original capitals and grow independently. their number grows with accumulation, each sphere of production divided into individual capitals who face each other as competitors.

- accumulation presents itself as on the one hand increased concentration of the means of production and command over labour, and on the other hand as the repulsion of many individual capitals from each other. this is counteracted by the attraction pulling many small capitals into a few large ones - the field of action of the latter being those capitals already existing so is centralisation rather than concentration of accumulation.

- the laws for this won't be discussed here, just hinted at: competition is fought via cheap commodities -> more productive labour, cheaper commodities -> this depends on the scale of production -> big capitals beat smaller ones. as more capital is required to start where the capitalist mode has already developed, small capitals crowd into new areas. competition is in direct proportion to their numbers and inverse proportion to their magnitude. it ends in the ruin of many small capitals, some swallowed by the big ones, some vanish.

- with capitalist production, credit emerges, drawing large and small money together, a specific machine for the centralisation of capitals.

- centralisation is more intense the more the mode of production is developed with accumulation, and becomes a lever of this development as separate processes become socially combined. the increased bulk of capital becomes the material basis for an uninterrupted revolution in the mode of production - old areas swallowed, new ones created, the labour in existing branches made more productive - more capital in means of production, less in labour. eventually even old capital is transformed as the machines are replaced, independent of the absolute growth of social capital, a process helped by centralisation turning number of old capitals into one.

- additional capital attracts fewer and fewer labourers in proportion to its magnitude and the old capital periodically reproduced with change in composition repels more and more of the labourers it formerly employed.

section 3 - progressive production of a relative surplus population or industrial reserve army

- as demand for labour is determined by variable capital, and this falls constantly both in old and new capital, it falls relative to the magnitude of the total capital and at an accelerated rate as this magnitude increases, the variable part increases but in a constantly diminishing proportion.

- the accelerated diminution of variable capital with the increase of total capital, the latter required to absorb more workers and keep those already employed, takes the form of the labouring population always increasing faster than the means of employment (variable capital). capital accumulation produces in direct ratio to its energy and extent a population of greater extent than suffices for the average needs of the self-expansion of capital - surplus population.

- the movement of the whole social capital accumulation causes periodic changes, the various phases distributed over all spheres - a change of magnitude, composition or lack thereof different in each. everywhere and increase of variable capital is always connected to violent fluctuations and transitory production of surplus population either by throwing workers out or not absorbing new ones fast enough.

- the faster the changes, the more is the population made surplus - labourers produce the means by which w\they are made redundant along with the accumulation of capital to an ever increasing extent.

- the surplus population becomes a condition of the existence of the capitalist mode of production - ever ready for exploitation, giving capital a power of sudden expansion that grows with productiveness and accumulation, not just for reasons already given, but also because the technical conditions allow rapid transformation of the surplus product into means of production. old and new branches require great numbers of labourers suddenly without injuring the other branches.

- expansion preliminary to contraction - the latter evokes the former, which is impossible without disposable human material, provided by the process of constantly "setting free" labourers. credit is a symptom, not a cause of this.

- as labour can also be made more intense, an increase in variable capital does not necessarily mean more labourers will be employed. the more extended the scale of production, the stronger is the motive to do so, and this force increases with accumulation of capital. so with the progress of accumulation, more variable capital sets in motion more labour but not more labourers, and variable capital of the same magnitude sets in motion more labour with the same mass of labour power, and finally a greater number of inferior labour powers are used by displacing higher ones.

- so the production of a surplus population is faster than both the technical revolution in the process of production and the relative diminution of the variable part of capital. overwork of the employed swells the ranks of the unemployed, and the competition of the latter forces the former to submit to overwork, which all becomes a source of enrichment for individual capitalists.

- the general movement of wages is exclusively regulated by the expansion and contraction of the industrial reserve army, which corresponds to changes of the industrial cycle, by the varying proportion the working class is divided into active and reserve army.

- relative surplus population becomes the pivot for the law of supply and demand of labour, confining the field of action of this law with limits absolutely convenient to the activity of exploitation and the domination of capital.

- increased demand for labour does not equal increase of capital; increase in supply of labour is not the same as increase of working class. capital works on both sides simultaneously.

section 4 - different forms of the relative surplus population. the general law of capitalist accumulation.

- the surplus population has three forms: floating, latent and stagnant.

- the floating are the workers in centres of industry sometimes attracted, sometimes repelled by capital, child workers discharged when too old - leading to the contradiction that the natural increase of labourers does not satisfy the requirements of accumulation, yet is always in excess because younger labourers are needed, and labourers are chained to one branch of industry by division of labour. the rate that capital uses up labour power also contributes to this population as workers drop out of employment earlier in life.

- as capitalist production in agriculture compensates repulsion of labourers less with attraction than in industry, part of the agricultural population is always on the point of passing into the urban population. this flow into towns presupposes a latent surplus population in the country (i.e. not completely proletarianised).

- the stagnant surplus population is that part of the active labour army with extremely irregular employment, with conditions of work below average, its main form being the domestic industries. this part of the working class takes a proportionally greater part in the increase of that class, with families in inverse proportion to the size of the wages. the category also includes the "dangerous" classes, and paupers such as orphans and those unable to work for various reasons. it grows with the general surplus population.

- greater the growth of capital, the greater is the industrial reserve army, both with the same causes. the greater is the reserve army in proportion to the active labour army, the greater is the mass of consolidated surplus population whose misery is in direct ratio to its torment of labour. the more extensive the layers of the working-class and the industrial reserve army, the greater official pauperism. this is the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation - as all laws, modified by circumstances (ignored for now).

- the law of constantly increasing productiveness of labour allowing more to be done by less labour is in capitalist production inverted to become greater productiveness leads to greater pressure on means of employment and the more precarious the labourers' existence becomes. so in proportion as capital accumulates, the lot of the labourer worsens regardless of pay. the law of surplus population fixes the labourer to capital. there is an accumulation of misery corresponding with the accumulation of capital - an antagonism inherent to capitalist production.

section 5 - illustrations of the general law of capitalist accumulation.

- england, 1846-66: greater centralisation of production leading to more cramped living space - the faster accumulation, the worse living spaces became. "improvement" of towns forcing the poor into worse places.

- the lot of nomadic workers put in makeshift villages by employers, and the diseases this spread. this even happened in the countryside thanks to the poor laws, cramming workers all together far from their work. the population situation being too many most of the year, but not enough for seasonal work.

- ireland: similar to england, but with massive depopulation thanks to famine and emigration. Here it was the agricultural reserve army that lived in towns, rather than industrial in cities as in england.

Chapters 16-24

Discussion

chapter 16

- one can now be a productive labour without individually engaging in the physical act of creation by being part of the collective labourer. however, productive labour is only productive insofar as contributes to production of surplus labour, so to be a productive labourer is a misfortune.
- the two types of surplus value are inter-related - you cannot have relative surplus value without absolute, and once a particular change becomes universal, the relative surplus value vanishes. in practice, the difference presents itself as an extension of labour (absolute) and intensification of labour (relative).
- productiveness of labour depends initially on how much time is left over as spare time after the labour necessary to sustain oneself and ones family - so other things being constant, surplus labour varies with the physical conditions of labour, especially the fertility of the soil. the same labour satisfies in different countries different wants. once capital is the dominant form however, the historically developed social and natural productiveness appear to be the productiveness of capital.

chapter 17

- the value of labour power (LP) is determined by the value of the necessaries of life, the expense of developing the LP, and its natural diversity (differences between men women and children). we're not considering the later two factors for the moment. we also assume: 1) commodities sold at their price; 2) the price of LP is occasionally above but never below its value. then the relative magnitudes of surplus value and price of LP are determined by: 1) the length of the working day - extensive magnitude of labour; 2) normal intensity - intensive magnitude of labour; 3) productiveness of labour. we consider the main combinations of these.
- length of working day & intensity of labour constant, productiveness of labour variable: 1) a day of given length always produces the same value, regardless of variations in productivity (and so mass of product); 2) surplus value and value of labour power vary in opposite directions, the former varying in the same direction as productivity, though they don't vary in the same proportion - this depends on their original magnitudes; 3) an increase or diminution in surplus value is always consequent on and never the cause of the corresponding change in the value of LP. the limit to this change is given by the new value of LP but doesn't have to change as much -so it is possible to have a rise in productivity, a fall in the price of LP but still have the labourer receiving a greater amount of the means of subsistence.
- working day and constant productiveness of labour constant, intensity of labour variable: more products but each has same value as before (unlike previous case) so value produced varies. the price of LP may rise but if it doesn't compensate for the increased wear and tear on the labourer then it can still be a fall in value. if intensity is increased the same everywhere then its effect is not felt except on the international level (where the increase won't be the same).
- productiveness and intensity of labour constant, length of working day variable: 1) working day creates greater or lesser amount of value in proportion to its length; 2) every change in relation between magnitude of surplus value and value of LP arises from change in absolute magnitude of surplus labour and so of surplus value; 3) absolute value of LP can change only in consequence of the reaction exercised by the prolongation of surplus labour on wear and tear of LP, and so is the effect, not the cause of any change in the magnitude of surplus value. a) shortening of working day - value of LP is unchanged, surplus value reduced. b) lengthening of working day - value of LP unchanged but falls relatively, surplus value rises absolutely and relatively. price of LP and surplus value may simultaneously increase in equal or unequal quantities. beyond a certain point the wear and tear of LP is not compensated and the price of LP & degree of exploitation cease to be commensurable.
- simultaneous variations in all 3 factors: lots of possible combinations, all deducible from the above. consider two important cases.
- diminishing productivity of labour & lengthening of working day: absolute magnitude of surplus value may continue unaltered while relative magnitude diminishes; relative magnitude may be unchanged and absolute magnitude increase; or both may increase.
- increasing intense & productiveness of labour with shortening working day: both increases shorten necessary labour time. more productiveness increases, the shorter the day can be, the shorter the day, the more intense the labour can be. productiveness increases with economy of the means of production and useless labour. the capitalist mode of production enforces economy in individual businesses but through competition squanders LP and social means of production and creates superfluous employments.
- the intensity and productivity of labour given, spare time is greater the more labour is even divided. in capitalist society spare time is acquired for one class by converting whole life-time of the masses in labour time.

chapter 18

- varies bourgeois formulae for the rate of surplus value and problems therewith. demystification of the expressions paid and unpaid labour.
- capital is command over unpaid labour. all forms of surplus value are materialisation of unpaid labour,

chapter 19

- labour is the substance of value but has no value, hence price of labour really means the price of LP for a definite length of time.
- when supply and demand balance, get natural price and supply and demand explains nothing.
- daily price of LP is calculated on a certain length of the worker's life, of which a certain part is the working day. this is the price for the whole working day, not just the necessary part, so the transformation of the value and price of LP into the wage form obscures all distinction between necessary and surplus labour, paid and unpaid labour - it all appears to be paid (unlike in slavery where even the paid labour appears unpaid).
- the labourer is paid after the labour has been performed, so money acts as means of payment. the use-value consumed is labour itself, not LP.
- in slavery individual differences in capacity for labour affect the seller - the slave owner. in capitalism, they also affect the seller - the labourer themselves.

chapter 20 - time wages

- the sale of LP for a definite period of time once converted into wages is time wages. laws for price and value of LP become laws of wages. the distinction between exchange value of LP and the sum of the necessaries of life now appear as nominal vs. real wages.
- given amount of labour, wages vary with price of labour. given price of labour, wages vary with amount of labour.
- hourly wages are calculated on a "normal" working day, depriving the ratio for the price of labour of meaning since it was based on a day of fixed length and allows greater exploitation.
- daily value of LP greater the longer it is employed. this is sometimes recognised in the form of better paid overtime, though the compensation is almost always inadequate and often the "normal" time is worse paid to force the acceptance of overtime.
- competition between labourers cause the price of labour to fall and length of working day to increase. competition between capitalists the drives down the price of the product enforcing the low paid hard work that allowed the lowering of the prices in the first place.

chapter 21 - piece wages

- piece wages are a converted form of time wages. the price for each piece is calculated on the product of an average worker in an average day, dividing the daily value of labour by the number of products rather than the hours of the working day as with time wages.
- the quality of the labour is then controlled by the work itself, as it allows easy and exact intensification of work.
- various parasites spring up as mediators between the capitalist and the labourer.
- for the capitalist, individual differences between workers balance out, but for the labourers it gives greater scope to individuality and leads to greater competition between workers.

chapter 22 - regional differences in wages.

- when comparing wages in different countries all factors previously mentioned that affect the value of LP must be taken into account. wages must be reduced to the average and translated into piece wages to measure productivity and intensity.
- within countries, it is the national average labour that counts, but on the international market it is the universal average.
- more intense labour -> more value -> more money. more productive nations count as more intense if competition doesn't force the lowering of their prices to their value.
- money has less value in more developed countries, as commodities have unequal international values, so nominal wages can be higher without real wages being higher. the relative price of labour compared to surplus value and the value of the product is higher in less developed countries.

part 7 - accumulation of capital.

for now we are assuming circulation to be normal, no problems in the market, no problems of effective demand. circulation is to be examined in volume 2. we are also assuming that the surplus is not split up - this will be examined in vol 3. and also assuming a closed system - no colonies, colonial trade etc.

chapter 23

- since society cannot stop producing, the process of production is also one of reproduction - part of the product must re-enter the production process as fresh means of production. so the conditions of production are also those of reproduction. simple reproduction means that no more and no less wealth is produced constantly - no expansion.
- in capitalist production and so reproduction, labour is the only means of self-expansion of capital, of reproducing the value advanced as capital. the surplus value thus produced acquires the form of a revenue flowing out of capital. if it is all used for the personal consumption of the capitalist we have simple reproduction.
- as the worker is paid after labour has been performed, he receives equivalent of what already produced, so he produces not just surplus value but also the fund out of which he is paid. from a class point of view this is a company store type situation. labour creates variable capital, it is no longer simply value advanced by the capitalist, it is a form of circulation going through worker's body.
- this process must have had a beginning - the capitalist must have started with some money. regardless of how he got it, the value of the capital advanced divided by the surplus value annually consumed, gives the number of years or reproduction periods at the end of which the capital originally advanced has been consumed by the capitalist and has disappeared. eventually all capital is accumulated capital.
- the conditions of capitalist production - capitalist with means of production and labourer without - are constantly recreated by the process. the worker produces the capitalist and vice versa.
- the worker consumes productively (at work) and individually (at home), respectively so that the capitalist may live and the worker may live. from a class point of view with production in motion, individual consumption produces the worker, the most indispensable means of production for the capitalist, so all consumption is productive. the labourer becomes but an appendage of capital even outside production. though capitalists want individual consumption reduced to a bare minimum.

chapter 24

- employing surplus value as capital is to accumulate capital, but to do so requires extending production, and so more means of production, which themselves must already be made in order to be bought and put to use. surplus value can only be converted into capital because the surplus product whose value it is consists of the material elements of new capital - means of production and, if work is not increasing intensively or extensively, means of subsistence for more workers.
- ownership of past unpaid labour becomes the sole condition for the appropriation of living unpaid labour on a constantly increasing scale - the laws of property become changed into their opposite, laws for capitalist appropriation.
- it is now only an apparent exchange of equivalents since the capital exchanged for LP is but a portion of the product of others' labour appropriated without equivalent, and this capital must be replaced by its producer plus a surplus. the original capital becomes a vanishing quantity compared to the directly accumulated capital.
- surplus value is used both for the personal consumption of the capitalist (revenue) and as new capital. the ratio of these parts determines the magnitude of accumulation, and this division is a deliberate act of the capitalist.
- as capital personified he forces humanity to produce for productions sake and forces the development of society's productive forces. the development of capitalist production requires a constantly increasing amount of capital to be laid out, and the laws of competition make the laws of capitalist production felt as external coercive laws. it forces extension to preserve.
- the capitalist gets rich not in proportion to his own labour and "abstinence" but in proportion to the squeezing of labour out of others and the enforcing of abstinence from life's enjoyments on the labourer.
- expenditure and accumulation can both grow together, neither restricting the other.
- given the division of surplus value into revenue and capital, the magnitude of accumulation depends on the magnitude of surplus value, so it is determined by the same things as the mass of surplus value.
- the forcible reduction of wages below their value transforms (within certain limits) the labourer's necessary consumption fund in a fund for the accumulation of capital. if the cost of labour were zero, the labourer could not be forced to work, so it is only a mathematical limit that capitalists aim for.
- augmenting the tension of LP allows augmentation of surplus value without the same increase of capital, especially in extractive and agricultural industries. in manufacturing industries, only raw materials must be increases, and they are supplied by the previous two.
- by incorporating land and labour power within itself, capital acquires a power of expansion beyond the limits apparently fixed by its own magnitude.
- the division of surplus value can remain the same but if surplus value increases, consumption can increase without decreasing accumulation, or if products become cheaper, the same revenue can buy more products.
- similarly, the same or even less capital can be embodied in more machinery, so it accelerates accumulation. the scale of reproduction extends materially, and production of surplus value increases faster than the value of additional capital.
- as instruments of labour are reproduced in improved forms, the improvements act on new capital and the existing capital (when replacing old machinery rather than expanding).
- thanks to science, more raw materials are discovered along with new uses for old ones and for the waste products of existing processes - raw material without any need for additional capital. so science also gives capital extra powers of expansion.
- labour in new machines allows the preservation of old value of raw materials and stimulates the production of more of the same - labour keeps up an always increasing capital, value reproduced in a form ever new.
- as capital increases, the difference between that employed (machines etc.) and that consumed (raw materials, wear & tear, etc.) increases (the value of the former increases and so its "gratuitous" service increases).
- give the degree of exploitation of LP, the mass of surplus value is determined by the number of workers simultaneously exploited.
- so capitalists can live better whilst showing more "abstinence".
- the labourer has no right to interfere in the division of social wealth (capital) into means of enjoyment for non-labourers and means of production. only in favourable and exceptional cases does the labourer have the power to enlarge the "labour fund" at the expense of the wealthy's "revenue".

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.

Chapters 12-14

Discussion

chapter 12:

- assume the length of the working day given, then for a given no. of labour powers, the surplus value extracted in that day cannot increase unless the balance between necessary and surplus labour time is altered. not considering the capitalist paying less than the value of labour power, so this can only occur by a lowering of the value of labour power, i.e. the value of the means of subsistence for said labour power. surplus value from lengthening the working day is "absolute surplus value", that from shortening necessary labour time is "relative surplus value".

- this is only possible under our assumptions by an increase in the productiveness of labour, which is only possible by revolutionising the labour process.

- an increase in productivity only affects the value of labour power if the commodity produced is a means of subsistance for labour power, and reduces this value only in the proportion to the extent it plays in that subsistence, e.g. if a commodity which constitutes half of the total value of the means of subsistence halfs its value, then the total value of labour power falls by one quarter.

- reduction in overall value of labour power may not be the aim of an individual capitalist, but that is still what is achieved. though competition isn't going to be analysised here as it is best left until after we understand the inner workings of capital, it is the laws of competition which force the individual capitalist to increase productivity. e.g. 1 hr's labour = 6p, the 6s is produced in an hour. suppose 12 articles are produced in 12hrs under current conditions of labour, the value of the means of production used in each = 6p, then each article = 1s. if some capitalist doubles productivity, producing 24 articles in 12 hrs, then the value of the means of production remaining the same, the value of each article falls to 9p - the same value is created in 12hrs as before, but now spread over more articles. the value of each article is now less than its social value, but real value is not individual but social, so if sold at the same price as before, the surplus value realised in the sale of each article rises by 3p. but now we have twice as many articles so need twice the demand, so it is best to sell the article for below its social but above its individual value. that way the individual capitalist gets extra surplus value regardless of whether the article in question forms part of the means of subsistence or not.

- for the individual capitalist, this extra surplus value vanishes as soon as the new level of productivity becomes the societal norm.

- the value of commodities is in inverse ratio to the productiveness of labour, as the value of labour power depends on these commodities. relative surplus value is directly proportional to this productiveness. hence constant striving for greater productiveness and cheapening of commodities.

chapter 13:

- as already mentioned, capitalism only really begins with the employment of relatively large numbers of labourers by a single capitalist. numerous labourers working together in the same or different connected processes is called co-operation.

- without altering the system of working, the employment of large numbers at once produces several advantages: labour becomes stamped automatically as average labour (differences between labourers in 1 group of twelve working for 1 master will even out more than in pairs of the same labourers employed by 6 different masters - in the latter scenario, some would get more than average value, some less); the means of production required to not increase in proportion to the number employed (e.g. less is required for a workshop for 20 than for five workshops holding four each) lowering ratio of constant to variable capital; many hands make light work - both in terms of mechanical strength and being to an extent omnipresent (one builder can't be working on all four sides of a building at once, several can); for complicated work, individual tasks can be apportioned out; more can be completed in a given time frame, important for e.g. gathering crops before they rot; allows work over an extended space e.g. dams and bridges are tricky to complete on your own. all this means that the combined working day produces, relative to a sum of equal isolated working days, a greater amount of products.

- since the capitalist needs the money for wages at the start of the process (under our assumptions) then the extent of co-operation is dependent on the amount of capital he has available for purchasing labour power - the the extent to which he has control over the means of subsistence of the labourers. this also applies to the amount available for constant capital, since the more labour powers employed, the more means of production are required. in other words, there is a minimum amount of capital required to turn isolated processes in a single social one.

- combined labour requires some kind of directing authority. once this becomes a function of capital, it acquires specific charictaristics. since the aim is to get the greatest possible surplus value, it is therefore to exploit the labour powers as much as possible, so the more labour powers employed, the greater the labourers resist, and the more capital has to combat this by applying counter-pressure. to the labourer co-operation is not his own act but brough about externally by the capitalist, so the connection with others appears ideally in the shape of the preconceived plan of the capitalist and practically as the powerful will of another subjecting their activity to its aim. the 2 fold nature of the process (production of use-values and of surplus-value) leads it to be despotic. the task of supervison is then passed to a specific type of waged labourer.

- since once they have sold their labour power, the labourer is no longer its owner, and the labourer only enters co-operation after the sale when they are but modes of existence of capital, the productive power of the labourer appears as the productive power of capital. their power is only possible under conditions provided by capital, so it appears to be a power of capital.

- previous forms of co-operation were based on common ownership of means of production or relations of domination and servitude. so co-operation is both the starting point of capitalist production and the first change effected on the labour process turning into a social one.

chapter 14

- co-operation based on division of labour as found in manufacture arises in two ways: 1) bringing together in one workshop different handicrafts required to produce one article, so other aspects of the crafts are lost, but those used are improved ; 2) the employment of many performing the same handicraft, and subsequent splitting of the handicraft into its component stages. either way we get a productive mechanism with human parts. the process is still dependent on the skill of the individual worker.

- each labourer doing only one task achieves several things: their whole body becomes tool for the task, perfects it through constant repetition and passes skills down through generations; the tools become specialised, as what was once used for several different stages is now used for only one (creating one of the material conditions of machinery); the gaps in the working day caused by changing of tools and place are reduced. on the down side, doing the same thing over and over and over again is boring and turns your brain into porridge.

- manufacture has two forms, heterogeneous and serial. the first arises from the mechanical fitting together of partial products (though it is a matter of chance whether the labourers are all brought together in one workshop - swiss watch manufacturers saved on workshops by having labourers work at home). the second consists of a series of connected processes formed on the same material, e.g. making needles. this way stages previously successive in time are now simultaneous but side by side in space. only possible by riveting each labourer to a single fractional detail.

- each labourer produces the raw material for the next, and the time for each stage is known by experience. the whole mechanism then becomes based on the assumption that a given result will be achieved in a given time, allowing processes to continue uninterrupted, simultaneously and side by side. the direct dependence of the workers on each other compels them to spend now more time than necessary, so that labour becomes more continuous, uniform, regular, ordered and intense than otherwise. the rule of taking no longer than socially necessary is a technical law of the process of production, rather than a result of competition as it appears in the production of commodities generally.

- since different tasks take different lengths of time, more labourers are required for some operations than for others, so we get a quantitative as well as qualitative division of labour, and the scale of production can only be increased by a proportional increase in all these groups (though some such as supervision don't require a proportional increase). these groups can have internal structures of cooperation (he gives an e.g. of glass manufacture where there are groups of 5 labourers each performing a different subtask at the furnace mouth). manufacture can also develop into combinations of manufacture e.g. producing the raw material or instruments for its main process, or an article for which the main product forms the raw material.

- machinery was used sporadically in the manufacturing period, giving us the science of mechanics, but otherwise the machinery of the period was the collective labourer. by habit the labourer bacame a never failing instrument whose connection to the whole mechanism compelled them to work with the regularity of a machine.

- differences in the complexity of tasks meant more or less training was required, so the values of labour powers were different giving us wage scales. all processes require some simple process anyone can do, hence the "unskilled", where absence of development becomes a specialty as opposed to specialty at the expense of all other development. the "skilled" require less training than the individual artificer, the "unskilled" none at all, in both cases the value of labour power falls and so surplus value increases.

- separation of labour in society into different industries comes about from two directions: physiological differences in the tribe/family with labour apportioned accordingly,

and independent communities with different means of production and so different products coming into contact with each other and exchanging. in the first what was once dependent grows more independent until exchange is the only connection to the whole, in the second what was independent becomes an interdependant branch of the whole by exchange. there is also the separation of town and country, but he's not dealing with it here. the greater the relative density of the population, the greater the division of labour in society.

- a certain degree of division of labour in society is necessary for the development of capitalism and so division of labour in manufacture, but the latter then develops and multiplies the former. industries producing the instruments of labour become more differentiated. if 1 industry previously connected to others is seized by manufacture, those others become more independent; if one stage in a process of production is seized, the other processes break off and become independent. territorial divisions of labour increase, the colonial system and opening of world markets fuel this. how division of labour seizes every sphere of society to sort humanity and develop only one faculty at the expense of all others will not be addressed here.

- but the division of labour in society differs in kind as well as degree from that in manufacture. in the former the products of each division are all commodities, and is brought about by the sale and purchase of products from different branches, with many different independent producers. in the latter the products are not commodities, it is brought about by the sale of the labour powers of many to a single capitalist with the number employed determined by the iron law of proportionality. though inner relations settle the social division of labour into a regular system of spontaneous growth, the demand for particular use-values and the law of value determining how much time society can spare for each commodity, the tendency to equilibrium is only a reaction to the constant upsetting of this equilibrium. in the workshop there is the undisputed authority of the capitalist, in society the only recognised authority is that of competition.

- the bourgeois mind praises control of the division of labour in the workshop and condemns it in society. in a society with capitalist production we have anarchy in the social division of labour and despotism in the workshop.

- the minimum number of labourers required for a process is determined by the existing proportion of the division of labour, but the advantages of further division can only be obtained by adding multiples of all the detail groups. an increase in variable capital requires an increase in constant capital at a faster rate than the increase in number of workers due to the increase in productive power obtained by the further division of labour - the quantity of means of production consumed rises in the same ratio as the productive power. so the minimum amount of capital required nust keep increasing - the transformation of the social means of production and subsistence into capital must keep extending.

- at first the worker sold his labour power as he did not have the means of production himself, but now his labour power refuses its services unless sold to the capitalist as it can only be exercised in the environment provided by him. while the individual labourer loses many facets of intelligence by doing only one task, that which is lost is concentrated in capital (as it has all the other workers' focussed skills). the worker is confronted with the intellectual potencies of the process of production as the property of another and a ruling power. capital represents the collective worker by cutting the individual worker down to a detail worker - a process taken further in industry by making science a productive force separate from labour. manufacture encourages the reduction of thought by the worker during the production process.

- once manufacture finds the best form of division of labour, it holds on to it until the instruments of labour are changed. decomposing handicrafts and forming a qualitative gradation and quantitative proportion in the social process of production. by creating deffinite division of labour in society it develops new productive forces. it is a particular method of getting surplus value - augmenting the self-expansion of capital at the expense of the labourer by crippling labour and creating new conditions for the lordship of capital over labour.

- the fall development of manufacture was held back by the resistance of skilled workers. since handicrafts were the foundation of the mechanism, it had no bframework but the labourers themselves, preventing capital from become the complete master of the whole workers' time. this prevented it truly revolutionising production and at a certain stage in its development this base came into conflict with the requirements of production created by manufacture itself.

- workshops creating the intruments of labour in turn created machines which finally swept away the handicrafts as the regulating principal of social production. this simultaneously removed both the technical reason for the annexation of the labourer to a detail function and the fetters this laid on the dominion of capital.