第45章

labour。Twelvehours’labourareexchangedagainst10，6，&tc。，hours’

labour。Thisequalizationofunequalquantitiesnotmerelydoesawaywiththedeterminationofvalue。Suchaself—destructivecontradictioncannotbeinanywayevenenunciatedorformulatedasalaw。[3]

Itisofnoavailtodeducetheexchangeofmorelabouragainstless，fromtheirdifferenceofform，theonebeingrealized，theotherliving。[4]Thisisthemoreabsurdasthevalueofacommodityisdeterminednotbythequantityoflabouractuallyrealizedinit，butbythequantityoflivinglabournecessaryforitsproduction。Acommodityrepresents，say，6working—hours。Ifaninventionismadebywhichitcanbeproducedin3hours，thevalue，evenofthecommodityalreadyproduced，fallsbyhalf。

Itrepresentsnow3hoursofsociallabourinsteadofthe6formerlynecessary。

Itisthequantityoflabourrequiredforitsproduction，nottherealizedformofthatlabour，bywhichtheamountofthevalueofacommodityisdetermined。

Thatwhichcomesdirectlyfacetofacewiththepossessorofmoneyonthemarket，isinfactnotlabour，butthelabourer。Whatthelattersellsishislabour—power。Assoonashislabouractuallybegins，ithasalreadyceasedtobelongtohim;itcanthereforenolongerbesoldbyhim。Labouristhesubstance，andtheimmanentmeasureofvalue，buthasitselfnovalue。[5]

Intheexpression"valueoflabour，"theideaofvalueisnotonlycompletelyobliterated，butactuallyreversed。Itisanexpressionasimaginaryasthevalueoftheearth。Theseimaginaryexpressions，arise，however，fromtherelationsofproductionthemselves。Theyarecategoriesforthephenomenalformsofessentialrelations。ThatintheirappearancethingsoftenrepresentthemselvesininvertedformisprettywellknownineveryscienceexceptPoliticalEconomy。[6]

ClassicalPoliticalEconomyborrowedfromevery—daylifethecategory"priceoflabour"withoutfurthercriticism，andthensimplyaskedthequestion，howisthispricedetermined？Itsoonrecognizedthatthechangeintherelationsofdemandandsupplyexplainedinregardtothepriceoflabour，asofallothercommodities，nothingexceptitschangesi。e。，theoscillationsofthemarket—priceaboveorbelowacertainmean。Ifdemandandsupplybalance，theoscillationofpricesceases，allotherconditionsremainingthesame。Butthendemandandsupplyalsoceasetoexplainanything。Thepriceoflabour，atthemomentwhendemandandsupplyareinequilibrium，isitsnaturalprice，determinedindependentlyoftherelationofdemandandsupply。Andhowthispriceisdeterminedisjustthequestion。Oralargerperiodofoscillationsinthemarket—priceistaken，e。g。，ayear，andtheyarefoundtocancelonetheother，leavingameanaveragequantity，arelativelyconstantmagnitude。Thishadnaturallytobedeterminedotherwisethanbyitsowncompensatingvariations。Thispricewhichalwaysfinallypredominatesovertheaccidentalmarket—pricesoflabourandregulatesthem，this"necessaryprice"（Physiocrats）or"naturalprice"oflabour（AdamSmith）can，aswithallothercommodities，benothingelsethanitsvalueexpressedinmoney。InthiswayPoliticalEconomyexpectedtopenetrateathwarttheaccidentalpricesoflabour，tothevalueoflabour。

Aswithothercommodities，thisvaluewasdeterminedbythecostofproduction。

Butwhatisthecostofproduction—ofthelabourer，i。e。，thecostofproducingorreproducingthelabourerhimself？ThisquestionunconsciouslysubstituteditselfinPoliticalEconomyfortheoriginalone;forthesearchafterthecostofproductionoflabourassuchturnedinacircleandneverleftthespot。Whateconomiststhereforecallvalueoflabour，isinfactthevalueoflabour—power，asitexistsinthepersonalityofthelabourer，whichisasdifferentfromitsfunction，labour，asamachineisfromtheworkitperforms。Occupiedwiththedifferencebetweenthemarket—priceoflabouranditsso—calledvalue，withtherelationofthisvaluetotherateofprofit，andtothevaluesofthecommoditiesproducedbymeansoflabour，&tc。，theyneverdiscoveredthatthecourseoftheanalysishadlednotonlyfromthemarket—pricesoflabourtoitspresumedvalue，buthadledtotheresolutionofthisvalueoflabouritselfintothevalueoflabour—power。Classicaleconomyneverarrivedataconsciousnessoftheresultsofitsownanalysis;itaccepteduncriticallythecategories"valueoflabour，""naturalpriceoflabour，"&tc。，。asfinalandasadequateexpressionsforthevalue—relationunderconsideration，andwasthusled，aswillbeseenlater，intoinextricableconfusionandcontradiction，whileitofferedtothevulgareconomistsasecurebasisofoperationsfortheirshallowness，whichonprincipleworshipsappearancesonly。

Letusnextseehowvalue（andprice）oflabour—power，presentthemselvesinthistransformedconditionaswages。

Weknowthatthedailyvalueoflabour—poweriscalculateduponacertainlengthofthelabourer’slife，towhich，again，correspondsacertainlengthofworking—day。Assumethehabitualworking—dayas12hours，thedailyvalueoflabour—poweras3s。，theexpressioninmoneyofavaluethatembodies6hoursoflabour。Ifthelabourerreceives3s。，thenhereceivesthevalueofhislabour—powerfunctioningthrough12hours。If，now，thisvalueofaday’slabour—powerisexpressedasthevalueofaday’slabouritself，wehavetheformula:Twelvehours’labourhasavalueof3s。Thevalueoflabour—powerthusdeterminesthevalueoflabour，or，expressedinmoney，itsnecessaryprice。If，ontheotherhand，thepriceoflabour—powerdiffersfromitsvalue，inlikemannerthepriceoflabourdiffersfromitsso—calledvalue。

Asthevalueoflabourisonlyanirrationalexpressionforthevalueoflabour—power，itfollows，ofcourse，thatthevalueoflabourmustalwaysbelessthanthevalueitproduces，forthecapitalistalwaysmakeslabour—powerworklongerthanisnecessaryforthereproductionofitsownvalue。Intheaboveexample，thevalueofthelabour—powerthatfunctionsthrough12hoursis3s。，avalueforthereproductionofwhich6hoursarerequired。

Thevaluewhichthelabour—powerproducesis，ontheotherhand，6s。，becauseit，infact，functionsduring12hours，andthevalueitproducesdepends，notonitsownvalue，butonthelengthoftimeitisinaction。Thus，wehavearesultabsurdatfirstsightthatlabourwhichcreatesavalueof6s。possessesavalueof3s。[7]

Wesee，further:Thevalueof3s。bywhichapartonlyoftheworking—day—i。e。，6hours’labour—ispaidfor，appearsasthevalueorpriceofthewholeworking—dayof12hours，whichthusincludes6hoursunpaidfor。Thewage—formthusextinguisheseverytraceofthedivisionoftheworking—dayintonecessarylabourandsurplus—labour，intopaidandunpaidlabour。Alllabourappearsaspaidlabour。Inthecorvée，thelabouroftheworkerforhimself，andhiscompulsorylabourforhislord，differinspaceandtimeintheclearestpossibleway。Inslave1abour，eventhatpartoftheworking—dayinwhichtheslaveisonlyreplacingthevalueofhisownmeansofexistence，inwhich，therefore，infact，heworksforhimselfalone，appearsaslabourforhismaster。Alltheslave’slabourappearsasunpaidlabour。[8]Inwagelabour，onthecontrary，evensurplus—labour，orunpaidlabour，appearsaspaid。Theretheproperty—relationconcealsthelabouroftheslaveforhimself;herethemoney—relationconcealstheunrequitedlabourofthewagelabourer。

Hence，wemayunderstandthedecisiveimportanceofthetransformationofvalueandpriceoflabour—powerintotheformofwages，orintothevalueandpriceoflabouritself。Thisphenomenalform，whichmakestheactualrelationinvisible，and，indeed，showsthedirectoppositeofthatrelation，formsthebasisofallthejuridicalnotionsofbothlabourerandcapitalist，ofallthemystificationsofthecapitalisticmodeofproduction，ofallitsillusionsastoliberty，ofalltheapologeticshiftsofthevulgareconomists。

Ifhistorytookalongtimetogetatthebottomofthemysteryofwages，nothing，ontheotherhand，ismoreeasytounderstandthanthenecessity，theraisond’etre，ofthisphenomenon。

Theexchangebetweencapitalandlabouratfirstpresentsitselftothemindinthesameguiseasthebuyingandsellingofallothercommodities。

Thebuyergivesacertainsumofmoney，theselleranarticleofanaturedifferentfrommoney。Thejurist’sconsciousnessrecognizesinthis，atmost，amaterialdifference，expressedinthejuridicallyequivalentformula:

"Doutdes，doutfacias，facioutdes，facioutfacias。"[9]

Furthermore，exchange—valueanduse—value，beingintrinsicallyincommensurablemagnitudes，theexpressions"valueoflabour，""priceoflabour，"donotseemmoreirrationalthantheexpressions"valueofcotton，""priceofcotton。"Moreover，thelabourerispaidafterhehasgivenhislabour。

Initsfunctionofmeansofpayment，moneyrealizessubsequentlythevalueorpriceofthearticlesupplied—i。e。，inthisparticularcase，thevalueorpriceofthelaboursupplied。Finally，theuse—valuesuppliedbythelabourertothecapitalistisnot，infact，hislabour—power，butitsfunction，somedefiniteusefullabour，theworkoftailoring，shoemaking，spinning，&tc。Thatthissamelabouris，ontheotherhand，theuniversalvalue—creatingelement，andthuspossessesapropertybywhichitdiffersfromallothercommodities，isbeyondthecognizanceoftheordinarymind。

Letusputourselvesintheplaceofthelabourerwhoreceivesfor12

hours’labour，saythevalueproducedby6hours’labour，say3s。Forhim，infact，his12hours’labouristhemeansofbuyingthe3s。Thevalueofhislabour—powermayvary，withthevalueofhisusualmeansofsubsistence，from3to4shillings，orfrom3to2shillings;or，ifthevalueofhislabour—powerremainsconstant，itspricemay，inconsequenceofchangingrelationsofdemandandsupply，riseto4s。orfallto2s。Healwaysgives12hoursoflabour。Everychangeintheamountoftheequivalentthathereceivesappearstohim，therefore，necessarilyasachangeinthevalueorpriceofhis12hours’work。ThiscircumstancemisledAdamSmith，whotreatedtheworking—dayasaconstantquantity，[10]totheassertionthatthevalueoflabourisconstant，althoughthevalueofthemeansofsubsistencemayvary，andthesameworking—day，therefore，mayrepresentitselfinmoreorlessmoneyforthelabourer。

Letusconsider，ontheotherhand，thecapitalist。Hewishestoreceiveasmuchlabouraspossibleforaslittlemoneyaspossible。Practic