第50章

ofIndiancorn，61/4d。;3d。worthofredherring，Id。salt，Id。vinegar，2d。pepperandsweetherbs，inall203/4。;makeasoupfor64men，andatthemediumpriceofbarleyandofIndiancorn……thissoupmaybeprovidedat1/4d。，theportionof20ounces。[41]Withtheadvanceofcapitalisticproduction，theadulterationoffoodrenderedThompson’sidealsuperfluous。[42]Attheendofthe18thandduringthefirsttenyearsofthe19thcentury，theEnglishfarmersandlandlordsenforcedtheabsoluteminimumofwage，bypayingtheagriculturallabourerslessthantheminimumintheformofwages，andtheremainderintheshapeofparochialrelief。AnexampleofthewaggishwayinwhichtheEnglishDogberriesactedintheir"legal"fixingofawagestariff:"ThesquiresofNorfolkhaddined，saysMr。Burke，whentheyfixedtherateofwages;thesquiresofBerksevidentlythoughtthelabourersoughtnottodoso，whentheyfixedtherateofwagesatSpeenhamland，1795……Theretheydecidethat’income（weekly）shouldbe3s。foraman，’whenthegallonorhalf—peckloafof8lbs。11oz。isat1s。，andincreaseregularlytillbreadis1s。5d。;whenitisabovethatsumdecreaseregularlytillitbeat2s。，andthenhisfoodshouldbe1/5thless。"[43]BeforetheCommitteeofInquiryoftheHouseofLords，1814，acertainA。Bennett，alargefarmer，magistrate，poor—lawguardian，andwage—regulator，wasasked:"Hasanyproportionofthevalueofdailylabourbeenmadeuptothelabourersoutofthepoors’rate？"Answer:"Yes，ithas;theweeklyincomeofeveryfamilyismadeuptothegallonloaf（8lbs。11oz。），and3d。perhead！……Thegallonloafperweekiswhatwesupposesufficientforthemaintenanceofeverypersoninthefamilyfortheweek;andthe3d。isforclothes，andiftheparishthinkpropertofindclothes;the3d。isdeducted。ThispracticegoesthroughallthewesternpartofWiltshire，and，Ibelieve，throughoutthecountry。"[44]"Foryears，"exclaimsabourgeoisauthorofthattime，"they（thefarmers）

havedegradedarespectableclassoftheircountrymen，byforcingthemtohaverecoursetotheworkhouse……thefarmer，whileincreasinghisowngains，haspreventedanyaccumulationonthepartofhislabouringdependents。"[45]Thepartplayedinourdaysbythedirectrobberyfromthelabourer’snecessaryconsumption—fundintheformationofsurplus—value，and，therefore，oftheaccumulation—fundofcapital，theso—calleddomesticindustryhasservedtoshow。（Ch。xv。，sect。8，c。）Furtherfactsonthissubjectwillbegivenlater。

Althoughinallbranchesofindustrythatpartoftheconstantcapitalconsistingofinstrumentsoflabourmustbesufficientforacertainnumberoflabourers（determinedbythemagnitudeoftheundertaking），itbynomeansalwaysnecessarilyincreasesinthesameproportionasthequantityoflabouremployed。Inafactory，supposethat100labourersworking8hoursadayyield800working—hours。Ifthecapitalistwishestoraisethissumbyonehalf，hecanemploy50moreworkers;butthenhemustalsoadvancemorecapital，notmerelyforwages，butforinstrumentsoflabour。Buthemightalsoletthe100labourerswork12hoursinsteadof8，andthentheinstrumentsoflabouralreadytohandwouldbeenough。Thesewouldthensimplybemorerapidlyconsumed。Thusadditionallabour，begottenofthegreatertensionoflabour—power，canaugmentsurplus—productandsurplus—value（i。e。，thesubject—matterofaccumulation），withoutcorrespondingaugmentationintheconstantpartofcapital。

Intheextractiveindustries，mines，&c。，therawmaterialsformnopartofthecapitaladvanced。Thesubjectoflabourisinthiscasenotaproductofpreviouslabour，butisfurnishedbyNaturegratis，asinthecaseofmetals，minerals，coal，stone，&c。Inthesecasestheconstantcapitalconsistsalmostexclusivelyofinstrumentsoflabour，whichcanverywellabsorbanincreasedquantityoflabour（dayandnightshiftsoflabourers，e。g。）。Allotherthingsbeingequal，themassandvalueoftheproductwillriseindirectproportiontothelabourexpended。

Asonthefirstdayofproduction，。theoriginalproduce—formers，nowturnedintothecreatorsofthematerialelementsofcapital？manandNature？stillworktogether。Thankstotheelasticityoflabour—power，thedomainofaccumulationhasextendedwithoutanypreviousenlargementofconstantcapital。

Inagriculturethelandundercultivationcannotbeincreasedwithouttheadvanceofmoreseedandmanure。Butthisadvanceoncemade，thepurelymechanicalworkingofthesoilitselfproducesamarvellouseffectontheamountoftheproduct。Agreaterquantityoflabour，donebythesamenumberoflabourersasbefore，thusincreasesthefertility，withoutrequiringanynewadvanceintheinstrumentsoflabour。ItisonceagainthedirectactionofmanonNaturewhichbecomesanimmediatesourceofgreateraccumulation，withouttheinterventionofanynewcapital。

Finally，inwhatiscalledmanufacturingindustry，everyadditionalexpenditureoflabourpre—supposesacorrespondingadditionalexpenditureofrawmaterials，butnotnecessarilyofinstrumentsoflabour。Andasextractiveindustryandagriculturesupplymanufacturingindustrywithitsrawmaterialsandthoseofitsinstrumentsoflabour，theadditionalproducttheformerhavecreatedwithoutadditionaladvanceofcapital，tellsalsoinfavourofthelatter。

Generalresult:byincorporatingwithitselfthetwoprimarycreatorsofwealth，labour—powerandtheland，capitalacquiresapowerofexpansionthatpermitsittoaugmenttheelementsofitsaccumulationbeyondthelimitsapparentlyfixedbyitsownmagnitude，orbythevalueandthemassofthemeansofproduction，alreadyproduced，inwhichithasitsbeing。

Anotherimportantfactorintheaccumulationofcapitalisthedegreeofproductivityofsociallabour。

Withtheproductivepoweroflabourincreasesthemassoftheproducts，inwhichacertainvalue，and，therefore，asurplus—valueofagivenmagnitude，isembodied。Therateofsurplus—valueremainingthesameorevenfalling，solongasitonlyfallsmoreslowly，thantheproductivepoweroflabourrises，themassofthesurplus—productincreases。Thedivisionofthisproductintorevenueandadditionalcapitalremainingthesame，theconsumptionofthecapitalistmay，therefore，increasewithoutanydecreaseinthefundofaccumulation。Therelativemagnitudeoftheaccumulation—fundmayevenincreaseattheexpenseoftheconsumption—fund，whilstthecheapeningofcommoditiesplacesatthedisposalofthecapitalistasmanymeansofenjoymentasformerly，orevenmorethanformerly。Buthand—in—handwiththeincreasingproductivityoflabour，goes，aswehaveseen，thecheapeningofthelabourer，thereforeahigherrateofsurplus—value，evenwhentherealwagesarerising。Thelatterneverriseproportionallytotheproductivepoweroflabour。Thesamevalueinvariablecapitalthereforesetsinmovementmorelabour—power，and，therefore，morelabour。Thesamevalueinconstantcapitalisembodiedinmoremeansofproduction，i。e。，inmoreinstrumentsoflabour，materialsoflabourandauxiliarymaterials;itthereforealsosuppliesmoreelementsfortheproductionbothofuse—valueandofvalue，andwiththesemoreabsorbersoflabour。Thevalueoftheadditionalcapital，therefore，remainingthesameorevendiminishing，acceleratedaccumulationstilltakesplace。Notonlydoesthescaleofreproductionmateriallyextend，buttheproductionofsurplus—valueincreasesmorerapidlythanthevalueoftheadditionalcapital。

Thedevelopmentoftheproductivepoweroflabourreactsalsoontheoriginalcapitalalreadyengagedintheprocessofproduction。Apartofthefunctioningconstantcapitalconsistsofinstrumentsoflabour，suchasmachinery，&c。，whicharenotconsumed，andthereforenotreproduced，orreplacedbynewonesofthesamekind，untilafterlongperiodsoftime。

Buteveryyearapartoftheseinstrumentsoflabour—perishesorreachest’helimitofitsproductivefunction。Itreaches，therefore，inthatyear，thetimeforitsperiodicalreproduction，foritsreplacementbynewonesofthesamekind。Iftheproductivenessoflabourhas，duringtheusingupoftheseinstrumentsoflabour，increased（anditdevelopscontinuallywiththeuninterruptedadvanceofscienceandtechnology），moreefficientand（consideringtheirincreasedefficiency），cheapermachines，tools，apparatus，&c。，replacetheold。Theoldcapitalisreproducedinamoreproductiveform，apartfromtheconstantdetailimprovementsintheinstrumentsoflabouralreadyinuse。Theotherpartoftheconstantcapital，rawmaterialandauxiliarysubstances，isconstantlyreproducedinlessthanayear;thoseproducedbyagriculture，forthemostpartannually。

Everyintroductionofimprovedmethods，therefore，worksalmostsimultaneouslyonthenewcapitalandonthatalreadyinaction。EveryadvanceinChemistrynotonlymultipliesthenumberofusefulmaterialsandtheusefulapplicationsofthosealreadyknown，thusextendingwiththegrowthofcapitalitssphereofinvestment。Itteachesatthesametimehowtothrowthe—excrementsoftheprocessesofproductionandconsumptionbackagainintothecircleoftheprocessofreproduction，andthus，withoutanypreviousoutlayofcapital，createsnewmatterforcapital。Liketheincreasedexploitationofnaturalwealthbythemereincreaseinthetensionoflabour—power，scienceandtechnologygivecapitalapowerofexpansionindependentofthegivenmagnitudeofthecapitalactuallyfunctioning。Theyreactatthesametimeonthatpartoftheoriginalcapitalwhichhasentereduponitsstageofrenewal。This，inpassingintoitsnewshape，incorporatesgratisthesocialadvancemadewhileitsoldshapewasbeingusedup。Ofcourse，thisdevelopmentofproductivepowerisaccompaniedbyapartialdepreciationoffunctioningcapital。Sofarasthisdepreciationmakesitselfacutelyfeltincompetition，theburdenfallsonthelabourer，intheincreasedexploitationofwhomthecapitalistlooksforhisindemnification。

Labourtransmitstoitsproductthevalueofthemeansofproductionconsumedbyit。Ontheotherhand，thevalueandmassofthemeansofproductionsetinmotionbyagivenquantityoflabourincreaseasthelabourbecomesmoreproductive。Thoughthesamequantityoflabouraddsalwaystoitsproductsonlythesame