第44章

Buteveninsuchcase，thefallinthevalueoflabour—powerwouldcauseacorrespondingriseofsurplus—value，andthustheabyssbetweenthelabourer’spositionandthatofthecapitalistwouldkeepwidening。[3]

Ricardowasthefirstwhoaccuratelyformulatedthethreelawswehaveabovestated。Buthefallsintothefollowingerrors:（1）helooksuponthespecialconditionsunderwhichtheselawsholdgoodasthegeneralandsoleconditionsofcapitalistproduction。Heknowsnochange，eitherinthelengthoftheworking—day，orintheintensityoflabour;consequentlywithhimtherecanbeonlyonevariablefactor，viz。，theproductivenessoflabour;（2），andthiserrorvitiateshisanalysismuchmorethan（1），hehasnot，anymorethanhavetheothereconomists，investigatedsurplus—valueassuch，i。e。，independentlyofitsparticularforms，suchasprofit，rent，&c。Hethereforeconfoundstogetherthelawsoftherateofsurplus—valueandthelawsoftherateofprofit。Therateofprofitis，aswehavealreadysaid，theratioofthesurplus—valuetothetotalcapitaladvanced;therateofsurplus—valueistheratioofthesurplus—valuetothevariablepartofthatcapital。AssumethatacapitalCof£500ismadeupofrawmaterial，instrumentsoflabour，&c。（c）totheamountof£400;

andofwages（v）totheamountof£100;andfurther，thatthesurplus—value（s）=£100。Thenwehaverateofsurplus—values/v=£100/£100

=100%。Buttherateofprofits/c=£100/£500=20%。Itis，besides，obviousthattherateofprofitmaydependoncircumstancesthatinnowayaffecttherateofsurplus—value。IshallshowinBookIII。that，withagivenrateofsurplus—value，wemayhaveanynumberofratesofprofit，andthatvariousratesofsurplus—valuemay，undergivenconditions，expressthemselvesinasinglerateofprofit。

SECTION2WORKING—DAYCONSTANT。PRODUCTIVENESSOFLABOURCONSTANT。INTENSITYOFLABOUR

VARIABLE

Increasedintensityoflabourmeansincreasedexpenditureoflabourinagiventime。Henceaworking—dayofmoreintenselabourisembodiedinmoreproductsthanisoneoflessintenselabour，thelengthofeachdaybeingthesame。Increasedproductivenessoflabouralso，itistrue，willsupplymoreproductsinagivenworking—day。Butinthislattercase，thevalueofeachsingleproductfalls，foritcostslesslabourthanbefore;

intheformercase，thatvalueremainsunchanged，foreacharticlecoststhesamelabourasbefore。Herewehaveanincreaseinthenumberofproducts，unaccompaniedbyafallintheirindividualprices:astheirnumberincreases，sodoesthesumoftheirprices。Butinthecaseofincreasedproductiveness，agivenvalueisspreadoveragreatermassofproducts。Hencethelengthoftheworking—daybeingconstant，aday’slabourofincreasedintensitywillbeincorporatedinanincreasedvalue，and，thevalueofmoneyremainingunchanged，inmoremoney。Thevaluecreatedvarieswiththeextenttowhichtheintensityoflabourdeviatesfromitsnormalintensityinthesociety。

Agivenworking—day，therefore，nolongercreatesaconstant，butavariablevalue;inadayof12hoursofordinaryintensity，thevaluecreatedis，say6shillings，butwithincreasedintensity，thevaluecreatedmaybe7，8，ormoreshillings。Itisclearthat，ifthevaluecreatedbyaday’slabourincreasesfrom，say，6to8shillingsthenthetwopartsintowhichthisvalueisdivided，viz。，priceoflabour—powerandsurplus—value，maybothofthemincreasesimultaneously，andeitherequallyorunequally。

Theymaybothsimultaneouslyincreasefrom3shillingsto4。Here，theriseinthepriceoflabour—powerdoesnotnecessarilyimplythatthepricehasrisenabovethevalueoflabour—power。Onthecontrary，theriseinpricemaybeaccompaniedbyafallinvalue。Thisoccurswhenevertheriseinthepriceoflabour—powerdoesnotcompensateforitsincreasedwearandtear。

Weknowthat，withtransitoryexceptions，achangeintheproductivenessoflabourdoesnotcauseanychangeinthevalueoflabour—power，norconsequentlyinthemagnitudeofsurplus—value，unlesstheproductsoftheindustriesaffectedarearticleshabituallyconsumedbythelabourers。Inthepresentcasethisconditionnolongerapplies。Forwhenthevariationiseitherinthedurationorintheintensityoflabour，thereisalwaysacorrespondingchangeinthemagnitudeofthevaluecreated，independentlyofthenatureofthearticleinwhichthatvalueisembodied。

Iftheintensityoflabourweretoincreasesimultaneouslyandequallyineverybranchofindustry，thenthenewandhigherdegreeofintensitywouldbecomethenormaldegreeforthesociety，andwouldthereforeceasetobetakenaccountof。Butstill，eventhen，theintensityoflabourwouldbedifferentindifferentcountries，andwouldmodifytheinternationalapplicationofthelawofvalue。Themoreintenseworking—dayofonenationwouldberepresentedbyagreatersumofmoneythanwouldthelessintensedayofanothernation。[4]

SECTION3PRODUCTIVENESSANDINTENSITYOFLABOURCONSTANT。LENGTHOFTHEWORKING—DAY

VARIABLE

Theworking—daymayvaryintwoways。Itmaybemadeeitherlongerorshorter。Fromourpresentdata，andwithinthelimitsoftheassumptionsmadeon[previously]weobtainthefollowinglaws:

（1。）Theworking—daycreatesagreaterorlessamountofvalueinproportiontoitslength？thus，avariableandnotaconstantquantityofvalue。

（2。）Everychangeintherelationbetweenthemagnitudesofsurplusvalueandofthevalueoflabour—powerarisesfromachangeintheabsolutemagnitudeofthesurplus—labour，andconsequentlyofthesurplus—value。

（3。）Theabsolutevalueoflabour—powercanchangeonlyinconsequenceofthereactionexercisedbytheprolongationofsurplus—labouruponthewearandtearoflabour—power。Everychangeinthisabsolutevalueisthereforetheeffect，butneverthecause，ofachangeinthemagnitudeofsurplus—value。

Webeginwiththecaseinwhichtheworking—dayisshortened。

（1。）Ashorteningoftheworking—dayundertheconditionsgivenabove，leavesthevalueoflabour—power，andwithit，thenecessarylabour—time，unaltered。Itreducesthesurplus—labourandsurplus—value。Alongwiththeabsolutemagnitudeofthelatter，itsrelativemagnitudealsofalls，i。e。，itsmagnituderelativelytothevalueoflabour—powerwhosemagnituderemainsunaltered。Onlybyloweringthepriceoflabour—powerbelowitsvaluecouldthecapitalistsavehimselfharmless。

Alltheusualargumentsagainsttheshorteningoftheworking—day，assumethatittakesplaceundertheconditionswehaveheresupposedtoexist;

butinrealitytheverycontraryisthecase:achangeintheproductivenessandintensityoflaboureitherprecedes，orimmediatelyfollows，ashorteningoftheworking—day。[5]

（2。）Lengtheningoftheworking—day。Letthenecessarylabour—timebe6hours，orthevalueoflabour—power3shillings;alsoletthesurplus—labourbe6hoursorthesurplus—value3shillings。Thewholeworking—daythenamountsto12hoursandisembodiedinavalueof6shillings。If，now，theworking—daybelengthenedby2hoursandthepriceoflabour—powerremainunaltered，thesurplus—valueincreasesbothabsolutelyandrelatively。

Althoughthereisnoabsolutechangeinthevalueoflabour—power，itsuffersarelativefall。Undertheconditionsassumedin1。therecouldnotbeachangeofrelativemagnitudeinthevalueoflabour—powerwithoutachangeinitsabsolutemagnitude。Here，onthecontrary，thechangeofrelativemagnitudeinthevalueoflabour—poweristheresultofthechangeofabsolutemagnitudeinsurplus—value。

Sincethevalueinwhichaday’slabourisembodied，increaseswiththelengthofthatday，itisevidentthatthesurplus—valueandthepriceoflabour—powermaysimultaneouslyincrease，eitherbyequalorunequalquantities。Thissimultaneousincreaseisthereforepossibleintwocases，one，theactuallengtheningoftheworking—day，theother，anincreaseintheintensityoflabourunaccompaniedbysuchlengthening。

Whentheworking—dayisprolonged，thepriceoflabour—powermayfallbelowitsvalue，althoughthatpricebenominallyunchangedorevenrise。

Thevalueofaday’slabour—poweris，aswillberemembered，estimatedfromitsnormalaverageduration，orfromthenormaldurationoflifeamongthelabourers，andfromcorrespondingnormaltransformationsoforganisedbodilymatterintomotion，[6]inconformitywiththenatureofman。Uptoacertainpoint，theincreasedwearandtearoflabour—power，inseparablefromalengthenedworking—day，maybecompensatedbyhigherwages。Butbeyondthispointthewearandtearincreasesingeometricalprogression，andeveryconditionsuitableforthenormalreproductionandfunctioningoflabour—powerissuppressed。

Thepriceoflabour—powerandthedegreeofitsexploitationceasetobecommensurablequantities。

SECTION4SIMULTANEOUSVARIATIONSINTHEDURATION，PRODUCTIVENESS，ANDINTENSITY

OFLABOUR

Itisobviousthatalargenumberofcombinationsareherepossible。

Anytwoofthefactorsmayvaryandthethirdremainconstant，orallthreemayvaryatonce。Theymayvaryeitherinthesameorindifferentdegrees，inthesameorinoppositedirections，withtheresultthatthevariationscounteractoneanother，eitherwhollyorinpart。NeverthelesstheanalysisofeverypossiblecaseiseasyinviewoftheresultsgiveninI。，II。，andIII。Theeffectofeverypossiblecombinationmaybefoundbytreatingeachfactorinturnasvariable，andtheothertwoconstantforthetimebeing。Weshall，therefore，notice，andthatbriefly，buttwoimportantcases。

A。Diminishingproductivenessoflabourwithasimultaneouslengtheningoftheworking—day。Inspeakingofdiminishingproductivenessoflabour，wehererefertodiminutioninthoseindustrieswhoseproductsdeterminethevalueoflabour—power;

suchadiminution，forexample，asresultsfromdecreasingfertilityofthesoil，andfromthecorrespondingdearnessofitsproducts。Taketheworking—dayat12hoursandthevaluecreatedbyitat6shillings，ofwhichonehalfreplacesthevalueofthelabour—power，theotherformsthesurplus—value。Suppose，inconsequenceoftheincreaseddearnessoftheproductsofthesoil，