第27章

Thelabourofthe12hours’working—dayisrepresentedbytheremaining93/5articles。Sincethepriceofthelabour—powerisfiveshillings，6articlesrepresentthenecessarylabour—time，and33/5

articlesthesurplus—labour。Theratioofthenecessarylabourtothesurplus—labour，whichunderaveragesocialconditionswas5:1，isnowonly5:3。Thesameresultmaybearrivedatinthefollowingway。Thevalueoftheproductoftheworking—dayof12hoursistwentyshillings。Ofthissum，twelveshillingsbelongtothevalueofthemeansofproduction，avaluethatmerelyre—appears。Thereremaineightshillings，whicharetheexpressioninmoney，ofthevaluenewlycreatedduringtheworking—day。Thissumisgreaterthanthesuminwhichaveragesociallabourofthesamekindisexpressed:twelvehoursofthelatterlabourareexpressedbysixshillingsonly。Theexceptionallyproductivelabouroperatesasintensifiedlabour;

itcreatesinequalperiodsoftimegreatervaluesthanaveragesociallabourofthesamekind。（SeeCh。I。Sect2。p。44。）Butourcapitaliststillcontinuestopayasbeforeonlyfiveshillingsasthevalueofaday’slabour—power。Hence，insteadof10hours，thelabourerneednowworkonly7½hours，inordertoreproducethisvalue。Hissurplus—labouris，therefore，increasedby2½hours，andthesurplus—valueheproducesgrowsfromone，intothreeshillings。Hence，thecapitalistwhoappliestheimprovedmethodofproduction，appropriatestosurplus—labouragreaterportionoftheworking—day，thantheothercapitalistsinthesametrade。Hedoesindividually，whatthewholebodyofcapitalistsengagedinproducingrelativesurplus—value，docollectively。

Ontheotherhand，however，thisextrasurplus—valuevanishes，sosoonasthenewmethodofproductionhasbecomegeneral，andhasconsequentlycausedthedifferencebetweentheindividualvalueofthecheapenedcommodityanditssocialvaluetovanish。Thelawofthedeterminationofvaluebylabour—time，alawwhichbringsunderitsswaytheindividualcapitalistwhoappliesthenewmethodofproduction，bycompellinghimtosellhisgoodsundertheirsocialvalue，thissamelaw，actingasacoercivelawofcompetition，forceshiscompetitorstoadoptthenewmethod。[5]Thegeneralrateofsurplus—valueis，therefore，ultimatelyaffectedbythewholeprocess，onlywhentheincreaseintheproductivenessoflabour，hasseizeduponthosebranchesofproductionthatareconnectedwith，andhascheapenedthosecommoditiesthatformpartof，thenecessarymeansofsubsistence，andarethereforeelementsofthevalueoflabour—power。

Thevalueofcommoditiesisininverseratiototheproductivenessoflabour。Andso，too，isthevalueoflabour—power，becauseitdependsonthevaluesofcommodities。Relativesurplus—valueis，onthecontrary，directlyproportionaltothatproductiveness。Itriseswithrisingandfallswithfallingproductiveness。Thevalueofmoneybeingassumedtobeconstant，anaveragesocialworking—dayof12hoursalwaysproducesthesamenewvalue，sixshillings，nomatterhowthissummaybeapportionedbetweensurplus—valueandwages。Butif，inconsequenceofincreasedproductiveness，thevalueofthenecessariesoflifefall，andthevalueofaday’slabour—powerbetherebyreducedfromfiveshillingstothree，thesurplus—valueincreasesfromoneshillingtothree。Tenhourswerenecessaryforthereproductionofthevalueofthelabour—power;nowonlysixarerequired。Fourhourshavebeensetfree，andcanbeannexedtothedomainofsurplus—labour。

Hencethereisimmanentincapitalaninclinationandconstanttendency，toheightentheproductivenessoflabour，inordertocheapencommodities，andbysuchcheapeningtocheapenthelabourerhimself。[6]

Thevalueofacommodityis，initself，ofnointeresttothecapitalist。Whataloneinterestshim，isthesurplus—valuethatdwellsinit，andisrealisablebysale。Realisationofthesurplus—valuenecessarilycarrieswithittherefundingofthevaluethatwasadvanced。Now，sincerelativesurplus—valueincreasesindirectproportiontothedevelopmentoftheproductivenessoflabour，while，ontheotherhand，thevalueofcommoditiesdiminishesinthesameproportion;sinceoneandthesameprocesscheapenscommodities，andaugmentsthesurplus—valuecontainedinthem;

wehaveherethesolutionoftheriddle:whydoesthecapitalist，whosesoleconcernistheproductionofexchange—value，continuallystrivetodepresstheexchange—valueofcommodities？AriddlewithwhichQuesnay，oneofthefoundersofPoliticalEconomy，tormentedhisopponents，andtowhichtheycouldgivehimnoanswer。"Youacknowledge，"

hesays，"thatthemoreexpensesandthecostoflabourcan，inthemanufactureofindustrialproducts，bereducedwithoutinjurytoproduction，themoreadvantageousissuchreduction，becauseitdiminishesthepriceofthefinishedarticle。Andyet，youbelievethattheproductionofwealth，whicharisesfromthelabouroftheworkpeople，consistsintheaugmentationoftheexchange—valueoftheirproducts。"[7]

Theshorteningoftheworking—dayis，therefore，bynomeanswhatisaimedat，incapitalistproduction，whenlabouriseconomisedbyincreasingitsproductiveness。[8]Itisonlytheshorteningofthelabour—time，necessaryfortheproductionofadefinitequantityofcommodities，thatisaimedat。Thefactthattheworkman，whentheproductivenessofhislabourhasbeenincreased，produces，say10timesasmanycommoditiesasbefore，andthusspendsone—tenthasmuchlabour—timeoneach，bynomeanspreventshimfromcontinuingtowork12hoursasbefore，norfromproducinginthose12hours1，200articlesinsteadof120。Nay，more，hisworking—daymaybeprolongedatthesametime，soastomakehimproduce，say1，400articlesin14hours。Inthetreatises，therefore，ofeconomistsofthestampofMacCulloch，Ure，Senior，andtuttiquanti，wemayreadupononepage，thatthelabourerowesadebtofgratitudetocapitalfordevelopinghisproductiveness，becausethenecessarylabour—timeistherebyshortened，andonthenextpage，thathemustprovehisgratitudebyworkinginfuturefor15hoursinsteadof10。Theobjectofalldevelopmentoftheproductivenessoflabour，withinthelimitsofcapitalistproduction，istoshortenthatpartoftheworking—day，duringwhichtheworkmanmustlabourforhisownbenefit，andbythatveryshortening，tolengthentheotherpartoftheday，duringwhichheisatlibertytoworkgratisforthecapitalist。Howfarthisresultisalsoattainable，withoutcheapeningcommodities，willappearfromanexaminationoftheparticularmodesofproducingrelativesurplus—value，towhichexaminationwenowproceed。

Footnotes[1]Thevalueofhisaveragedailywagesisdeterminedbywhatthelabourerrequires"soastolive，labour，andgenerate。"（Wm。Petty:"PoliticalAnatomyofIreland，"1672，p。64。）"ThepriceofLabourisalwaysconstitutedofthepriceofnecessaries……whenever……thelabouringman’swageswillnot，suitablytohislowrankandstation，asalabouringman，supportsuchafamilyasisoftenthelotofmanyofthemtohave，"hedoesnotreceiveproperwages。（J。Vanderlint，l。c。，p。15。）"Lesimpleouvrier，quin’aquesesbrasetsonindustries，n’arienqu’autantqu’ilparvientàvendreàd’autressapeine……Entoutgenredetravailildoitarriver，etilarriveeneffet，quelesalairedel’ouvrierseborneàcequiluiestnécessairepourluiprocurersasubsistance。"

（Turgot，"Réflexions，&c。，"Oeuvres，éd。Dairet。I，p。10。）"Thepriceofthenecessariesoflifeis，infact，thecostofproducinglabour。"（Malthus，"Inquiryinto，&c。，Rent，"London，1815，p。48，note。）

[2]"Quandosiperfezionanolearti，chenonèaltrochelascopertadinuovevie，ondesipossacompiereunamanufatturaconmenogenteo（cheèlostesso）inminortempodiprima。"（Galiani，l。c。，p。159。）

"L’économiesurlesfraisdeproductionnepeudoncêtreautrechosequel’économiesurlaquantitédetravailemployé

pourproduire。"（Sismondi，"Etudes，"t。I。p。22。）

[3]"Letussuppose……theproducts……ofthemanufactureraredoubledbyimprovementinmachinery……hewillbeabletoclothehisworkmenbymeansofasmallerproportionoftheentirereturn……andthushisprofitwillberaised。Butinnootherwaywillitbeinfluenced。"（Ramsay，l。c。，pp。168，169。）

[4]"Aman’sprofitdoesnotdependuponhiscommandoftheproduceofothermen’slabour，butuponhiscommandoflabouritself。Ifhecansellhisgoodsatahigherprice，whilehisworkmen’swagesremainunaltered，heisclearlybenefited……Asmallerproportionofwhatheproducesissufficienttoputthatlabourintomotion，andalargerproportionconsequentlyremainsforhimself。"（"OutlinesofPol。Econ。"London，1832，pp。49，50。）

[5]"Ifmyneighbourbydoingmuchwithlittlelabour，cansellcheap，Imustcontrivetosellascheapashe。Sothateveryart，trade，orengine，doingworkwithlabouroffewerhands，andconsequentlycheaper，begetsinothersakindofnecessityandemulation，eitherofusingthesameart，trade，orengine，orofinventingsomethinglikeit，thateverymanmaybeuponthesquare，thatnomanmaybeabletoundersellhisneighbour。"（"TheAdvantagesoftheEastIndiaTradetoEngland"，London，1720，p。67。）

[6]"Inwhateverproportiontheexpensesofalabourerarediminished，inthesameproportionwillhiswagesbediminished，iftherestraintsuponindustryareatthesametimetakenoff。"（"ConsiderationsConcerningTakingofftheBountyonCornExported，"&c。，London，1753，p。7。）"Theinterestoftraderequires，thatcornandallprovisionsshouldbeascheapaspossible;

forwhatevermakesthemdear，mustmakelabourdearalso……inallcountries，whereindustryisnotrestrained，thepriceofprovisionsmustaffectthepriceoflabour。Thiswillalwaysbediminishedwhenthenecessariesoflifegrowcheaper。"（I。c。，p。3。）"Wagesaredecreasedinthesameproportionasthepowersofproductionincrease。Machinery，itistrue，cheapensthenecessariesoflife，butitalsocheapensthelabourer。"（"APrizeEssayontheComparativeMeritsofCompetitionandCo—operation。"London，1834，p。27。）

[7]"Ilsconviennentqueplusonpeut，sanspréjudice，épargnerdefraisoudetravauxdispendieuxdanslafabricationdesouvragesdesartisans，pluscetteépargneestprofitableparladiminutiondesprixdecesouvrages。Cependantilscroientquelaproductionderichessequirésultedestravauxdesartisansconsistedansl’augmentationdelavaleurvénaledeleursouvrages。"（Quesnay:"DialoguessurleCommerceetlesTravauxdesArtisans。"pp。188，189。）

[8]"Cesspéculateurssiéconomesdutravaildesouvriersqu’ilfaudraitqu’ilspayassent。"（J。N。Bidaut:"DuMonopolequis’établitdanslesartsindustrielsetlecommerce。"Paris，1828，p。13。）"Theemployerwillbealwaysonthestretchtoeconomisetimeandlabour。"（DugaldStewart:

Worksed。bySirW。Hamilton，Edinburgh，v。，viii。，1855。"LecturesonPolit。Econ。，"p。318。）"Their（thecapitalists’）interestisthattheproductivepowersofthelabourerstheyemployshouldbethegreatestpossible。

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