The limitlessness of capital

1. The limitlessness of capital The purpose of the capitalist mode of production is to increase surplus value. That is in the «nature of capital». (p. 433) M – C – M‘ Under the pressure of competition, capitalists are engaged in a permanent attempt to increase surplusvalue. How exactly does this occur?

2. The production of surplus value Absolute surplus value: increasing surplus value by extending the working day before 6 hrs. 2 hrs. 8 hour day 10 hour day after 6 hrs. 4 hrs. Relative surplus value: length of the working day remaining the same, increasing surplus value by reducing necessary labour time 6 hrs. 2 hrs. 8 hour day before 4 hrs. 4 hrs. 8 hour day after

3. The production of relative surplus value How is necessary labour time decreased? By increasing productivity in those branches whose products are necessary for the reproduction of labour power. However, this is not the conscious motivation of the capitalist. Is driving motivation is the hunt for … extra surplus value: the difference between the social value of commodities and the value of a commodity produced with greater productivity. Extra surplus value exists as long as the increase in productivity has not been generalized. Driving force: competition

4. Competition While it is not our intention here to consider the way in which the immanent laws of capitalist production manifest themselves in the external movement of the individual capitals, assert themselves as the coercive laws of competition and therefore enter into the consciousness of the individual capitalist as the motives which drive him forward, this much is clear: a scientific analysis of competition is possible only if we can grasp the inner nature of capital, just as the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies are intelligible only to someone who is acquainted with their real motions, which are not perceptible to the senses. (p. 433)

5. Ways of increasing relative surplus value I Cooperation Many workers use means of production and facilities in common, work according to plan with and next to each other. • The means of production are used more economically. • The productivity of the individual is increased. • Workers execute tasks in common that cannot be accomplished individually. Division oflabour Complexlabourprocessesarebroken down intonumerous, simple partial functions, andarethusmadefaster. e.g. Taylorism, assemblylinelabour Both methods cost the capitalist nothing – they are free!

6. Ways of increasing surplus value II Machineryand large scaleindustry e.g. automation, factories In contrast to the other two methods, here the capitalist has to consider if the individual commodity can be produced more cheaply and if surplus value is increased or not as a result. The use of machinery is worth it if more variable capital is saved than the constant capital that has to be newly invested. Investments in machines are dependent on the level of wages.

7. Destructive tendencies of capital Capitalist production, therefore, only develops the techniques and the degree of combination of the social process of production by simultaneously under-mining the original sources of all wealth – the soil and the worker. (p. 638)

8. Formal subsumption Labour that initially does not occur under the command of capital is subordinated to it, without the labour process being fundamentally altered. Production of absolute surplus value … handicraftsmen who previously worked on their own account, or as apprentices of a master, should become wage-labourers under the direct control of a capitalist. (p. 645)

9. Real subsumption The labour process is fundamentally revolutionized by the introduction of new technologies or ways of working, or by the application of science to production. Production of relative surplus value Examples: • Working rhythms dictated by machines • Taylorist organization of the labour process • Higher labour productivity on the basis of independent teams competing with each other within the same company

10. Productive and unproductive labour From the perspective of the labour process: labour produces use values; in this respect it is productive labour. From the perspective of the valorization process: The purpose of production is surplus value; only labour that produces surplus value is productive. To be a productive worker is therefore not a piece of luck, but a misfortune. (p. 644)

11. Examples In capitalism: • If I bake a cake for my roommates, I create use value, but no value. The labour is unproductive. • If I bake the same cake as a wage labourer in a capitalist bakery, value and surplus-value is produced. The labour is productive. • If I bake the same cake as a wage labourer in a private household, I produce use-value for my boss. The labour is unproductive. All (capitalist) productive labour is wage labour, but not all wage labour is productive labour.