第4章

Alltheelements——c，vands——containedintheyarnaredivisibleintothesamecomponentparts，andsoiseveryindividualpoundofyarn，worth1s。，or12d。

c=0。744lbs。ofyarn=8。928d。

v=0。100lbs。ofyarn=1。200d。

s=0。156lbs。ofyarn=1。872d——

c+v+s=1lb。ofyarn=12d。

Ifweaddtheresultsoftheabovethreepartialsalesweobtainthesameresultonsellingtheentire10，000lbs。atonesweep。

Wehaveofconstantcapital:

atthefirstsale:5，535。360lbs。ofyarn=£；276。768

atthesecondsale:744。000lbs。ofyarn=£；37。200

atthethirdsale:1，160。640lbs。ofyarn=£；58。032——

Total……7，440lbs。ofyarn=£；372

Ofvariablecapital:

atthefirstsale:744。000lbs。ofyarn=£；37。200

atthesecondsale:100。000lbs。ofyarn=£；5。000

atthethirdsale:156。000lbs。ofyarn=£；7。800——

Total……1，000lbs。ofyarn=£；50

Ofsurplus-value:

atthefirstsale:1，160。640lbs。ofyarn=£；58。032

atthesecondsale:156。000lbs。ofyarn=£；7。800

atthethirdsale:243。360lbs。ofyarn=£；12。168——

Total……1，560lbs。ofyarn=£；78

GrandTotal:

Constantcapital……7，440lbs。ofyarn=£；372

Variablecapital……1，000lbs。ofyarn=£；

57

Surplus-value……1，560lbs。ofyarn=£；78——

Total……10，000lbs。ofyarn=£；500

C’——M’initselfstandsmerelyforthesaleof10，000lbs。ofyarn。

These10，000lbs。ofyarn，likeallotheryarn，areacommodity。Thepurchaserisinterestedinthepriceof1s。perlb。，orof£；500for10，000

lbs。Ifduringthenegotiationshegoesintothevalue-compositionoftheyarn，hedoessosimplywiththeinsidiousintentionofprovingthatitcouldbesoldatlessthan1s。perpoundandwouldstillbeagoodbargainfortheseller。Butthequantitypurchasedbyhimdependsonhisrequirements。

Ifheisforexampletheownerofaweaving-mill，itdependsonthecompositionofhisowncapitalfunctioninginthisenterprise，notonthecompositionofthespinner’sofwhomhebuys。TheproportionsinwhichC’hastoreplaceontheonehandthecapitalusedupinitsproduction(orthevariouscomponentpartsofthiscapital)，andontheothertoserveassurplus-producteitherforthespendingofthesurplus-valueorfortheaccumulationofcapital，existonlyinthecircuitofcapitalwhichhasasitscommodity-formthe10，000lbs。ofyarn。Theseproportionshavenothingtodowiththesaleassuch。InthepresentcaseitisassumedbesidesthatC’issoldatitsvalue，sothatitisonlyaquestionofitstransformationfromthecommodity-formintothemoney-form。ItisofcourseofdecisiveimportancewithregardtoC’，thefunctionalforminthecircuitofthisindividualcapitaloutofwhichtheproductivecapitalistobereplaced，towhatextent，ifatall，thereisadiscrepancybetweenpriceandvalueinthesale。Butthisdoesnotconcernushereintheexaminationofmeredistinctionsofform。

InFormI，orM……M’，theprocessofproductionintervenesmidwaybetweenthetwocomplementaryandmutuallyoppositephasesofthecirculationofcapital。ItispastbeforetheconcludingphaseC’——M’begins。Moneyisadvancedascapital，isfirsttransformedintotheelementsofproductionandfromtheseintothecommodity-product，andthiscommodity-productinitsturnischangedbackintomoney。Itisafullandcompletebusinesscyclethatresultsinmoney，somethingeveryonecanuseforeverything。

AnewstartisthereforeonlyapossibilityM……P……M’maybeeitherbethelastcircuitthatconcludesthefunctioningofsomeindividualcapitalbeingwithdrawnfrombusiness，orthefirstcircuitofsomenewcapitalenteringuponitsfunction。ThegeneralmovementishereM……M’，frommoneytomoremoney。

InFormII，P……C’——M’——C……P(P’)，theentirecirculationprocessfollowsafterthefirstPandprecedesthesecondP；butittakesplaceintheoppositeorderfromthatofFormI。ThefirstPistheproductivecapital，anditsfunctionistheproductiveprocess，theprerequisiteofthesucceedingcirculationprocess。TheconcludingPontheotherhandisnottheproductiveprocess；itisonlytherenewedexistenceoftheindustrialcapitalinitsformofproductivecapital。Anditissuchasaresultofthetransformation，duringthelastphaseofcirculation，ofthecapital-valueintoLplusMP，intothesubjectiveandobjectivefactorswhichbycombiningconstitutetheformofexistenceoftheproductivecapital。

Thecapital，whetherPorP，isattheendoncemorepresentinaforminwhichitmustfunctionanewasproductivecapital，mustagainperformtheproductiveprocess。ThegeneralformofthemovementP……Pistheformofreproductionand，unlikeM……M’，doesnotindicatetheself-expansionofvalueastheobjectoftheprocess。ThisformmakesitthereforesomucheasierforclassicalPoliticalEconomytoignorethedefinitecapitalisticformoftheprocessofproductionandtodepictproductionassuchasthepurposeofthisprocess；namelythatasmuchaspossiblemustbeproducedandascheaplyaspossible，andthattheproductmustbeexchangedforthegreatestvarietyofotherproducts，partlyfortherenewalofproduction(M——C)，partlyforconsumption(m——c)。Itisthenpossibletooverlookthepeculiaritiesofmoneyandmoney-capital，forMandmappearheremerelyastransientmediaofcirculation。Theentireprocessseemssimpleandnatural，i。e。，possessesthenaturalnessofashallowrationalism。Inthesamewayprofitisoccasionallyforgottenincommodity-capitalandthelatterfiguresmerelyasacommoditywhentheproductioncircuitasawholeisunderdiscussion。Butassoonastheconstituentsofvaluearedebated，commodity-capitalfiguresascommodity-capital。Accumulation，ofcourse，isseeninthesamelightasproduction。

InFormIII，C’——M’——C……P……C’，thetwophasesofthecirculationprocessopenthecircuit，anddosointhesameorderwhichobtainsinFormII，P……P；nextfollowsP，withitsfunction，theproductiveprocess，thesameasinFormI；thecircuitcloseswiththeresultoftheprocessofproduction，C’。JustasinFormIIthecircuitcloseswithP，themerelyrenewedexistenceofproductivecapital，sohereitcloseswithC’，therenewedexistenceofcommodity-capital。JustasinFormIIcapital，initsconcludingformP，muststarttheprocessoveragainasaprocessofproduction，sohereuponthereappearanceofindustrialcapitalintheformofcommodity-capitalthecircuitmustre-openwiththecirculationphaseC’——M’。BothformsofthecircuitareincompletebecausetheydonotclosewithM’，thecapital-valueretransformedintomoneyandself-expanded。

Bothmustthereforebecontinuedandconsequentlyincludethereproduction。

ThetotalcircuitinFormIIIisC’……C’。

Thethirdformisdistinguishedfromthefirsttwobythefactthatitisonlyinthiscircuitthattheself-expandedcapital-value——

andnottheoriginalone，thecapital-valuethatmuststillproducesurplus-value——appearsasthestartingpointofitsself-expansion。Casacapital-relationisherethestartingpointandassuchrelationhasadetermininginfluenceontheentirecircuitbecauseitincludesthecircuitofthecapital-valueaswellasthatofthesurplus-valueinitsfirstphase，andbecausethesurplus-valuemustatleastintheaverage，ifnotineverysinglecircuit，beexpendedpartlyasrevenue，gothroughthecirculationc——m——c，andmustperformthefunctionofanelementofcapitalaccumulation。

IntheformC’……C’theconsumptionoftheentirecommodity-productisassumedastheconditionofthenormalcourseofthecircuitofcapitalitself。Theindividualconsumptionofthelabourerandtheindividualconsumptionoftheunaccumulatedpartofthesurplus-productcomprisetheentireindividualconsumption。Henceconsumptioninitstotality——individualaswellasproductive——entersintocircuitC’asaconditionofit。Productiveconsumption(whichessentiallyincludestheindividualconsumptionofthelabourer，sincelabour-powerisacontinuousproduct，withcertainlimits，ofthelabourer’sindividualconsumption)iscarriedonbyeveryindividualcapital。

Individualconsumption，exceptinsofarasitisrequiredfortheexistenceoftheindividualcapitalist，ishereassumedtobeonlyasocialact，butbynomeansanactoftheindividualcapitalist。

InFormsIandIItheaggregatemovementappearsasamovementofadvancedcapital-value。InFormIIItheself-expandedcapital，intheshapeofthetotalcommodity-product，formsthestarting-pointandhastheformofmovingcapital，commodity-capital。Notuntilitstransformationintomoneyhasbeenaccomplisheddoesthemovementbranchoutintomovementsofcapitalandofrevenue。Thedistributionofthetotalsocialproduct，aswellasthespecialdistributionoftheproductforeachindividualcommodity-capital，intoanindividualconsumption-fundontheonehandandintoreproductionfundontheotherisincludedinthisforminthecircuitofcapital。

InM……M’possibleenlargementofthecircuitisincluded，dependingonthevolumeofmenteringintotherenewedcircuit。

InP……PthenewcircuitmaybestartedbyPwiththesameorperhapsevenasmallervalueandyetmayrepresentareproductiononanextendedscale，forinstancewhencertainelementsofcommoditiesbecomecheaperonaccountofincreasedproductivityoflabour。Viceversa，aproductivecapitalwhichhasincreasedinvaluemay，inacontrarycase，representreproductiononamateriallycontractedscaleasforinstancewhenelementsofproductionhavebecomedearer。ThesameistrueofC’……C’。

InC’……C’capitalintheformofcommoditiesisthepremiseofproduction。Itre-appearsasapremisewithinthiscircuitinthesecondC。IfthisChasnotyetbeenproducedorreproducedthecircuitisobstructed。

ThisCmustbereproduced，forthegreaterpartofasC’ofsomeotherindustrialcapital。InthiscircuitC’existsasthepointofdeparture，oftransition，andoftheconclusionofthemovement；henceitisalwaysthere。Itisapermanentconditionoftheprocessofreproduction。

C’……C’isdistinguishedfromFormsIandIIbystillanotherfeature。Allthreecircuitshavethisincommon，thatcapitalbeginsitscircularcourseinthesameforminwhichitconcludesit，andthusfindsitselfintheinitialforminwhichitopensthecircuitanew。TheinitialformM，PorC’isalwaystheoneinwhichcapital-value(inIIIaugmentedbyitssurplus-value)isadvanced，inotherwordsitsoriginalforminregardtothecircuit。TheconcludingformM’，PorC’isalwaysachangedformofafunctionalformwhichprecededinthecircuitandisnottheoriginalform。

ThusM’inIisachangedformofC’，thefinalPinIIisachangedformofM(andthistransformationisaccomplishedinIandIIbyasimpleactofcommoditycirculation，byaformalchangeofpositionofcommodityandmoney)；inIII，C’isachangedformoftheproductivecapitalP。Buthere，inIII，thetransformation，inthefirstplace，doesnotmerelyconcernthefunctionalformofcapitalbutalsothemagnitudeofitsvalue；inthesecondplace，however，thetransformationisnottheresultofamerelyformalchangeinpositionpertainingtothecirculationprocess，butofarealtransformationexperiencedbytheuse-formandvalueofthecommodityconstituentsoftheproductivecapitalintheprocessofproduction。

TheformoftheinitialextremeM，PorC’isthepremiseofthecorrespondingcircuitI，IIorIII。Theformreturninginthefinalextremeispremisedandconsequentlybroughtaboutbytheseriesofmetamorphosesofthecircuititself。C’，astheterminalpointinthecircuitofanindividualindustrialcapital，presupposesonlythenon-circulationformPofthesameindustrialcapitalofwhichitistheproduct。M’，astheterminalpointofI，astheconvertedformofC’(C’——M’)，presupposesthatMisinthehandsofthebuyer，existsoutsideofthecircuitM……M’，andisdrawnintoitandmadeitsownterminalformbythesaleofC’。ThustheterminalPinIIpresupposesthatLandMP(C)existoutsideandareincorporatedinitasitsterminalformbymeansofM——C。Butapartfromthelastextreme，thecircuitofindividualmoney-capitaldoesnotpresupposetheexistenceofmoney-capitalingeneral，nordoesthecircuitofindividualproductivecapitalpresupposetheexistenceofproductivecapital。InI，Mmaybethefirstmoney-capital；inII，Pmaybethefirstproductivecapitalappearingonthehistoricalscene。ButinIII，|C——|M——

C

C’|——M|

|c——|m——cCispresupposedtwiceoutsidethecircuit。ThefirsttimeinthecircuitC’——M’——C

Onthebasisthatthecapitalistmodeofproductionistheprevailingmode，allcommoditiesinthehandsofthesellermust，besides，becommodity-capital。

Andtheycontinuetobesointhehandsofthemerchantorbecomesuchiftheywerenotsuchbefore。Ortheyhavetobecommodities——suchasimportedarticles——whichreplaceoriginalcommodity-capitalandhencebestowuponitmerelyanotherformofexistence。

AsformsofexistenceofPthecommodity-elementsLandMP，ofwhichtheproductivecapitalPconsists，donotpossessthesameformasinthevariouscommoditymarketswheretheyarefetched。Theyarenowunited，andsocombinedtheycanperformthefunctionsofproductivecapital。

ThatCappearsasthepremiseofConlyinthisFormIII，withinthecircuititself，isduetocapitalincommodity-formbeingitsstartingpoint。ThecircuitisopenedbythetransformationofC’(insofarasitfunctionsascapital-value，regardlessofwhetherithasbeenincreasedbytheadditionofsurplus-valueornot)intothosecommoditieswhichareitselementsofproduction。Butthistransformationcomprisestheentireprocessofcirculation，C——M——C(equaltoLplusMP)，andisitsresult。

Cherestandsatbothextremes，butthesecondextreme，whichreceivesitsformCbymeansofM——Cfromoutside，thecommodity-market，isnotthelastextremeofthecircuitbutonlyofitsfirsttwostagescomprisingtheprocessofcirculation。ItsresultisP，whichthenperformsitsfunction，theprocessofproduction。Itisonlyastheresultofthisprocess，hencenotasthatofthecirculationprocess，thatC’appearsastheterminalpointofthecircuitandinthesameformasthestarting-point，C’。OntheotherhandinM……M’andP……P，thefinalextremesM’andParethedirectresultsoftheprocessofcirculation。HerethereforeitispresupposedonlyattheendthatonetimeM’andtheothertimePexistinthehandsofothers。Insofarasthecircuitismadebetweentheextremes，neitherMintheonecasenorPintheother——theexistenceofMasthemoneyofanotherpersonandofPastheproductionprocessofanothercapital——appearsasthepremiseofthesecircuits。C’……C’onthecontrarypresupposestheexistenceofC(equaltoLplusMP)ascommoditiesofothersinthehandsofothers——commoditiesdrawnintothecircuitbytheintroductoryprocessofcirculationandtransformedintoproductivecapital，asaresultofwhosefunctioningC’oncemorebecomestheconcludingformofthecircuit。

ButjustbecausethecircuitC’……C’presupposeswithinitsspheretheexistenceofotherindustrialcapitalintheformofC(equaltoL+MP)——andMPcomprisesdiverseothercapitals，inourcaseforinstancemachinery，coal，oil，etc——itclamourstobeconsiderednotonlyasthegeneralformofthecircuit，i。e。，notonlyasasocialforminwhicheverysingleindustrialcapital(exceptwhenfirstinvested)canbestudied，hencenotmerelyasaformofmovementcommontoallindividualindustrialcapitals，butsimultaneouslyalsoasaformofmovementofthesumoftheindividualcapitals，consequentlyoftheaggregatecapitalofthecapitalistclass，amovementinwhichthatofeachindividualindustrialcapitalappearsasonlyapartialmovementwhichintermingleswiththeothermovementsandisnecessitatedbythem。Forinstanceifweregardtheaggregateofcommoditiesannuallyproducedinacertaincountryandanalysethemovementbywhichapartofitreplacestheproductivecapitalinallindividualbusinesses，whileanotherpartentersintotheindividualconsumptionofthevariousclasses，thenweconsiderC’……C’asaformofmovementofsocialcapitalaswellasofthesurplus-value，orsurplus-product，generatedbyit。Thefactthatthesocialcapitalisequaltothesumoftheindividualcapitals(includingthejoint-stockcapitalorthestatecapital，sofarasgovernmentsemployproductivewage-labourinmines，railways，etc。，performthefunctionofindustrialcapitalists)，andthattheaggregatemovementofsocialcapitalisequaltothealgebraicsumofthemovementsoftheindividualcapitals，doesnotinanywayprecludethepossibilitythatthismovementasthemovementofasingleindividualcapital，maypresentotherphenomenathanthesamemovementdoeswhenconsideredfromthepointofviewofapartoftheaggregatemovementofsocialcapital，henceinitsinterconnectionswiththemovementsofitsotherparts，andthatthemovementsimultaneouslysolvesproblemsthesolutionofwhichmustbeassumedwhenstudyingthecircuitofaseparate，individualcapitalinsteadofbeingtheresultofsuchstudy。

C’……C’isthesolecircuitinwhichtheoriginallyadvancedcapital-valueconsistsonlyapartoftheextremethatopensthemovementandinwhichthemovementfromitsinceptionthusrevealsitselfasthetotalmovementoftheindustrialcapital——asthemovementofthatpartoftheproductwhichreplacestheproductivecapitalaswellasofthatpartwhichformssurplus-productandwhichontheaverageisspentinpartasrevenueandemployedinpartasanelementofaccumulation。Includedinthiscircuitistheexpenditureofsurplus-valueasrevenueandtothatextentindividualconsumptionislikewiseincluded。Thelatterisfurthermoreincludedforthereasonthatthestarting-pointC，commodity，existsintheformofsomeutility；buteveryarticleproducedbycapitalistmethodsiscommodity-capital，nomatterwhetheritsuse-formdestinesitforproductiveorforindividualconsumption，orforboth。M……M’indicatesonlythevalueside，theself-expansionoftheadvancedcapital-value，asthepurposeoftheentireprocess；P……P(P’)indicatestheprocessofproductionofcapitalasaprocessofreproductionwithaproductivecapitalofthesameorofincreasingmagnitude(accumulation)。Revealingitselfalreadyinitsinitialextremeasaformofcapitalistcommodityproduction，C’……C’comprisesproductiveandindividualconsumptionfromthestart；

productiveconsumptionandtheself-expansionofvaluethereinincludedappearonlyasabranchofitsmovement。

Finally，sinceC’mayexistinause-formwhichcannotenteranymoreintoanyprocessofproduction，itisindicatedattheoutsetthatC’’svariousconstituentsofvalueexpressedbypartsoftheproductmustoccupyadifferentposition，accordingtowhetherC’……C’isregardedastheformofthemovementofthetotalsocialcapitalorastheindependentmovementofanindividualindustrialcapital。Allthesepeculiaritiesofthecircuitleadusbeyonditsownconfinesasanisolatedcircuitofsomemerelyindividualcapital。

IntheformulaC’……C’，themovementofthecommodity-capital，thatistosay，ofthetotalproductcreatedcapitalistically，appearsnotonlyasthepremiseoftheindependentcircuitoftheindividualcapitalbutalsoasrequiredbyit。Iftheformulaanditspeculiaritiesaregrasped，itisnolongersufficienttoconfineoneselftoindicatingthatthemetamorphosesC’——M’andM——Careontheonehandfunctionallydefinedsectionsinthemetamorphosesofcapital，ontheotherarelinksinthegeneralcirculationofcommodities。Itbecomesnecessarytoelucidatetheintertwiningofthemetamorphosesofoneindividualcapitalwiththoseofotherindividualcapitalsandwiththatpartofthetotalproductwhichisintendedforindividualconsumption。Onanalysingthecircuitofanindividualindustrialcapital，wethereforebaseourstudiesmainlyonthefirsttwoforms。

ThecircuitC’……C’appearsasaformofasingleindividualcapital，forinstanceinagriculture，wherecalculationsaremadefromcroptocrop。InFormulaII，thesowingisthestarting-point，inFormulaIIItheharvest，or，tospeakwiththephysiocrats，FormulaIIstartsoutwiththeavance，andFormulaIIIwiththereprisesf。Themovementofcapital-valueappearsinIIIfromtheoutsetonlyasapartofthemovementofthegeneralmassofproducts，whileinIandIIthemovementofC’constitutesonlyaphaseofthemovementofsomeisolatedcapital。

InFormulaIIIcommoditiesinthemarketarethecontinuouspremiseoftheprocessofproductionandreproduction。Hence，ifattentionisfixedexclusivelyonthisformulaallelementsoftheprocessofproductionseemtooriginateincommoditycirculationandtoconsistonlyofcommodities。

Thisone-sidedconceptionoverlooksthoseelementsoftheprocessofproductionwhichareindependentofthecommodity-elements。

SinceinC’……C’thestarting-pointisthetotalproduct(totalvalue)，itturnsoutthat(ifforeigntradeisdisregarded)reproductiononanextendedscale，productivityremainingotherwiseconstant，cantakeplaceonlywhenthepartofthesurplus-producttobecapitalisedalreadycontainsthematerialelementsoftheadditionalproductivecapital；thattherefore，sofarastheproductionofoneyearservesasthepremiseofthefollowingyear’sproductionorsofarasthiscantakeplacesimultaneouslywiththeprocessofsimplereproductionwithinoneyear，surplus——productisatonceproducedinaformwhichenablesittoperformthefunctionsofadditionalcapital。Increasedproductivitycanincreaseonlythesubstanceofcapitalbutnotitsvalue；buttherewithitcreatesadditionalmaterialfortheself-expansionofthatvalue。

C’……C’isthegroundworkforQuesnay’sTableaué；conomique，anditshowsgreatandtruediscretiononhispartthatincontrasttoM……M’(theisolatedlyandrigidlyretainedformofthemercantilesystem)

heselectedthisformandnotP……P。

1885:CapitalII——Chapter4

partI

THEMETAMORPHOSESOFCAPITALANDTHEIRCIRCUITS

CHAPTERIV

THETHREEFORMULASOFTHECIRCUITThethreeformulasmaybesetdowninthefollowingmanner，usingTcfor”totalcirculationprocess”:

I。M——C……P……C’——M’

II。P……Tc……P

III。Tc……P(C’)

Ifwecombineallthreeforms，allpremisesoftheprocessappearasitsresult，asapremiseproducedbyititself。Everyelementappearsasapointofdeparture，oftransit，andofreturn。Thetotalprocesspresentsitselfastheunityoftheprocessesofproductionandcirculation。Theprocessofproductionbecomesthemediatoroftheprocessofcirculationandviceversa。

Allthreecircuitshavethefollowingincommon:Theself-expansionofvaluesthedeterminingpurpose，asthecompellingmotive。InIthisisexpressedinitsform。FormulaIIbeginswithP，theveryprocessofcreatingsurplus-value。InIIIthecircuitbeginswiththeself-expandedvalue，evenifthemovementisrepeatedonthesamescale。

AsC——MmeansM——Cforthebuyer，andM——CmeansC——Mfortheseller，thecirculationofcapitalpresentsonlytheordinarymetamorphosisofcommodities，andthelawsevolvedwithregardtoit(BuchI，Kap。III，2)[Englishedition:Ch。III，2——Ed。]onthemassofmoneyincirculationarevalidhere。However，ifwedonotclingtothisformalaspectbutratherconsidertheactualconnectionbetweenthemetamorphosesofthevariousindividualcapitals，inotherwords，ifwestudytheconnectionbetweenthecircuitsofindividualcapitalsaspartialmovementsoftheprocessofreproductionofthetotalsocialcapital，thenthemerechangeofformofmoneyandcommoditiescannotexplaintheconnection。

Inaconstantlyrevolvingcircleeverypointissimultaneouslyapointofdepartureandapointofreturn。Ifweinterrupttherotation，noteverypointofdepartureisapointofreturn。Thuswehaveseenthatnotonlydoeseveryindividualcircuitpresuppose(implicite)theothers，butalsothattherepetitionofthecircuitinoneformcomprisestheperformanceofthecircuitintheotherforms。Theentiredifferencethusappearstobeamerelyformalone，orasamerelysubjectivedistinctionexistingsolelyfortheobserver。

Sinceeveryoneofthesecircuitsisconsideredaspecialformofthismovementinwhichvariousindividualindustrialcapitalsareengaged，thisdifferenceexistsonlyasanindividualone。Butinrealityeveryindividualindustrialcapitalispresentsimultaneouslyinallthreecircuits。

Thesethreecircuits，theformsofreproductionassumedbythethreeformsofcapital，aremadecontinuouslysidebyside。Forinstance，onepartofthecapital-value，whichnowperformsthefunctionofcommodity-capital，istransformedintomoney-capital，butatthesametimeanotherpartleavestheprocessofproductionandentersthecirculationasanewcommodity-capital。

ThecircuitformC’……C’isthuscontinuouslydescribed；andsoaretheothertwoforms。Thereproductionofcapitalineachoneofitsformsandstagesisjustascontinuousasthemetamorphosisoftheseformsandthesuccessivepassagethroughthethreestages。Theentirecircuitisthusaunityofitsthreeforms。

Weassumedinouranalysisthatcapital-valueinitsentiremagnitudeactsasmoney-capital，productive-capitalorcommodity-capital。Forinstance，wehadthose£；422firstentirelyasmoney-capital，thenwetransformedthemwhollyintoproductivecapital，andfinallyintocommodity-capital，intoyarnofthevalueof£；500(containing£；78worthofsurplus-value)。

Herethevariousstagesarejustsomanyinterruptions。Solongas，e。g。，those£；422retaintheirmoney-form，thatistosay，untilthepurchasesM——C(LplusMP)aremade，theentirecapitalexistsandfunctionsonlyasmoney-capital。Assoonasitistransformedintoproductivecapital，itperformsneitherthefunctionofmoney-capitalnorofcommodity-capital。

Itsentireprocessofcirculationisinterrupted，assoonasitfunctionsinoneofitstwocirculationstages，eitherasMorasC’。Consequently，thecircuitP……Pwouldrepresentnotonlyaperiodicalrenewaloftheproductivecapitalbutalsotheinterruptionofitsfunction，theprocessofproduction，uptothetimewhentheprocessofcirculationiscompleted。

Insteadofproceedingcontinuously，productionwouldtakeplaceinjerksandwouldberenewedonlyinperiodsofaccidentalduration，accordingtowhetherthetwostagesoftheprocessofcirculationaregotthroughwithquicklyorslowly。ThiswouldapplyforinstancetoaChineseartisanwhoworksonlyforprivatecustomersandwhoseprocessofproductionceasesuntilhereceivesaneworder。

Thisisindeedtrueofeverysinglepartofcapitalthatisinmotion，andallpartsofcapitalgothroughthismotioninsuccession。

Supposethatthe10，000lbs。ofyarnaretheweeklyproductofsomespinner。

These10，000lbs。ofyarnleavethesphereofproductionentirelyandenterthesphereofcirculation；thecapital-valuecontainedinitmustallbeconvertedintomoney-capital，andsolongasthisvaluecontinuesintheformofmoney-capitalitcannotenteranewintotheprocessofproduction。

Itmustfirstgointocirculationandbereconvertedintotheelementsofproductivecapital，LplusMP。Thecircuit-describingprocessofcapitalmeansconstantinterruption，theleavingofonestageandtheenteringintothenext，thediscardingofoneformandtheassumingofanother。

Eachoneofthesestagesnotonlypresupposesthenextbutalsoexcludesit。

Butcontinuityisthecharacteristicmarkofcapitalistproduction，necessitatedyitstechnicalbasis，althoughnotalwaysabsolutelyattainable。

Letusseethenwhathappensinreality。While，e。g。，the10，000lbs。ofyarnappearinthemarketascommodity-capitalandaretransformedintomoney(regardlessofwhetheritisapayingorpurchasingmediumoronlymoneyofaccount)，newcotton，coal，etc。，taketheplaceoftheyarnintheprocessofproduction，havethereforealreadybeenreconvertedfromthemoney-formandcommodity-formintothatofproductivecapital，andbegintofunctionassuch。Atthesametimethatthese10，000lbs。ofyarnarebeingreconvertedintomoney，thepreceding10，000lbs。ofyarnaregoingthroughthesecondstageoftheircirculationandarebeingreconvertedfrommoneyintotheelementsofproductivecapital。Allpartsofcapitalsuccessivelydescribecircuits，aresimultaneouslyatitsdifferentstages。

Theindustrialcapital，continuouslyprogressingalongitsorbit，thusexistssimultaneouslyatallitsstagesandinthediversefunctionalformscorrespondingtothesestages。Thatpartofindustrialcapitalwhichisconvertedforthefirsttimefromcommodity-capitalintomoneybeginsthecircuitC’……C’，whileindustrialcapitalasamovingwholehasalreadypassedthroughthatcircuit。Onehandadvancesmoney，theotherreceivesit。TheinaugurationofthecircuitM……M’atoneplacecoincideswiththereturnofthemoneyatanotherplace。Thesameistrueofproductivecapital。

Theactualcircuitofindustrialcapitalinitscontinuityisthereforenotalonetheunityoftheprocessesofcirculationandproductionbutalsotheunityofallitsthreecircuits。Butitcanbesuchaunityonlyifallthedifferentpartsofcapitalcangothroughthesuccessivestagesofthecircuit，canpassfromonephase，fromonefunctionalformtoanother，sothattheindustrialcapital，beingthewholeofalltheseparts，existssimultaneouslyinitsvariousphasesandfunctionsandthusdescribesallthreecircuitsatthesametime。Thesuccession(dasNacheinander)，thatistosay，bythedivisionofcapital。Inaramifiedfactorysystemtheproductisconstantlyinthevariousstagesofitsprocessofformationandconstantlypassesfromonephaseofproductiontoanother。Astheindividualindustrialcapitalhasadefinitesizewhichdependsonthemeansofthecapitalistandwhichhasadefiniteminimummagnitudeforeverybranchofindustry，itfollowsthatitsdivisionmustproceedaccordingtodefiniteproportions。Themagnitudeoftheavailablecapitaldeterminesthedimensionsoftheprocessofproduction，andthisagaindeterminesthedimensionsofthecommodity-capitalandmoney-capitalinsofarastheyperformtheirfunctionsparallelwiththeprocessofproduction。Howeverco-existence，bywhichcontinuityofproductionisdetermined，isonlyduetothemovementofthosepartsofcapitalinwhichtheysuccessivelypassthroughtheirdifferentstages。Co-existenceisitselfmerelytheresultofsuccession。

IfforinstanceC’——M’asfarasonepartisconcerned，ifthecommoditycannotbesold，thenthecircuitofthispartisinterruptedandnoreplacementbyitsmeansofreproductiontakesplace；thesucceedingparts，whichemergefromtheprocessofproductionintheshapeofC’，findthechangeoftheirfunctionsblockedbytheirpredecessors。Ifthislastsforsometime，productionisrestrictedandtheentireprocessbroughttoahalt。Everystagnationinsuccessioncarriesdisorderintoco-existence，everystagnationinonestagecausesmoreorlessstagnationintheentirecircuitofnotonlythestagnantpartofcapitalbutalsoofthetotalindividualcapital。

Thenextforminwhichtheprocesspresentsitselfisthatofasuccessionofphases，sothatthetransitionofcapitalintoanewphaseismadenecessarybyitsdeparturefromanother。Everyseparatecircuithasthereforeoneofthefunctionalformsofcapitalforitspointofdepartureandpointofreturn。Ontheotherhandtheaggregateprocessisinfacttheunityofthethreecircuits，whicharethedifferentformsinwhichthecontinuityoftheprocessexpressesitself。Theaggregatecircuitpresentsitselftoeveryfunctionalformofcapitalasitsspecificcircuitandeveryoneofthesecircuitsisaconditionofthecontinuityofthetotalprocess。Thecycleofeachfunctionalformisdependentupontheothers。

Itisanecessaryprerequisiteoftheaggregateprocessofproduction，especiallyforthesocialcapital，thatitisatthesametimeaprocessofreproductionandhenceacircuitofeachoneofitselements。Variousfractionalpartsofcapitalpasssuccessivelythroughthevariousstagesandfunctionalforms。Thankstothiseveryfunctionalformpassessimultaneouslywiththeothersthroughitsowncircuit，althoughalwaysadifferentpartofcapitalfindsitsexpressioninit。Onepartofcapital，continuallychanging，continuallyreproduced，existsasacommodity-capitalwhichisconvertedintomoney；anotherasmoney-capitalwhichisconvertedintoproductivecapital；andathirdasproductivecapitalwhichistransformedintocommodity-capital。Thecontinuousexistenceofallthreeformsisbroughtaboutbythecircuittheaggregatecapitaldescribesinpassingthroughpreciselythesethreephases。

Capitalasawhole，then，existssimultaneously，spatiallysidebyside，initsdifferentphases。Buteverypartpassesconstantlyandsuccessivelyfromonephase，fromonefunctionalform，intothenextandthusfunctionsinalloftheminturn。Itsformsarehencefluidandtheirsimultaneousnessisbroughtaboutbytheirsuccession。Everyformfollowsanotherandprecedesit，sothatthereturnofonecapitalparttoacertainformisnecessitatedbythereturnoftheotherparttosomeotherform。

Everypartdescribescontinuouslyitsowncycle，butitisalwaysanotherpartofcapitalwhichexistsinthisform，andthesespecialcyclesformonlysimultaneousandsuccessiveelementsoftheaggregateprocess。

Thecontinuity——insteadoftheabove-describedinterruption——oftheaggregateprocessisachievedonlyintheunityofthethreecircuits。Theaggregatesocialcapitalalwayshasthiscontinuityanditsprocessalwaysexhibitstheunityofthethreecircuits。

Thecontinuityofthereproductionisattimesmoreorlessinterruptedsofarasindividualcapitalsareconcerned。Inthefirstplacethemassesofvaluearefrequentlydistributedatvariousperiodsinunequalportionsoverthevariousstagesandfunctionalforms。Inthesecondplacetheseportionsmaybedifferentlydistributed，accordingtothecharacterofthecommoditytobeproduced，henceaccordingtotheparticularsphereofproductioninwhichthecapitalisinvested。Inthethirdplacethecontinuitymaybemoreorlessbrokeninthosebranchesofproductionwhicharedependentontheseasons，eitheronaccountofnaturalconditions(agriculture，herringcatch，etc。)oronaccountofconventionalcircumstances，asforinstanceinso-calledseasonalwork。Theprocessgoesonmostregularlyanduniformlyinthefactoriesandmines。Butthisdifferenceinthevariousbranchesofproductiondoesnotcauseanydifferenceinthegeneralformsofthecircularprocess。

Capitalasself-expandingvalueembracesnotonlyclassrelations，asocietyofadefinitecharacterrestingontheexistenceoflabourintheformofwage-labour。Itisamovement，acircuit-describingprocessgoingthroughvariousstages，whichitselfcomprisesthreedifferentformsofcircuit-describingprocess。Thereforeitcanbeunderstoodonlyasamotion，notasathingatrest。Thosewhoregardthegainingbyvalueofindependentexistenceasamereabstractionforgetthatthemovementofindustrialcapitalisthisabstractioninactu。Valueherepassesthroughvariousforms，variousmovementsinwhichitmaintainsitselfandatthesametimeexpands，augments。Aswearehereconcernedprimarilywiththemereformofthismovement，weshallnottakeintoconsiderationtherevolutionswhichcapital-valuemayundergoduringitscircuit。Butitisclearthatinspiteofalltherevolutionsofvalue，capitalistproductionexistsandcanendureonlysolongascapital-valueismadetocreatesurplus-value，thatis，solongasitdescribesitscircuitasavaluethathasgainedindependence，solongthereforeastherevolutionsinvalueareovercomeandequilibratedinsomeway。Themovementsofcapitalappearastheactionofsomeindividualindustrialcapitalistwhoperformsthefunctionsofabuyerofcommoditiesandlabour，asellerofcommodities，andanownerofproductivecapital，whothereforepromotesthecircuitbythisactivity。

Ifsocialcapitalexperiencesarevolutioninvalue，itmayhappenthatthecapitaloftheindividualcapitalistsuccumbstoitandfails，becauseitcannotadaptitselftotheconditionsofthismovementofvalues。Themoreacuteandfrequentsuchrevolutionsinvaluebecome，themoredoestheautomaticmovementofthenowindependentvalueoperatewiththeelementalforceofanaturalprocess，againsttheforesightandcalculationoftheindividualcapitalist，themoredoesthecourseofnormalproductionbecomesubservienttoabnormalspeculation，andthegreateristhedangerthatthreatenstheexistenceoftheindividualcapitals。Theseperiodicalrevolutionsinvaluethereforecorroboratewhattheyaresupposedtorefute，namely，thatvalueascapitalacquiresindependentexistence，whichitmaintainsandaccentuatesthroughitsmovement。

Thissuccessionofthemetamorphosesofcapitalinprocessincludescontinuouscomparisonofthechangeinthemagnitudeofvalueofthecapitalbroughtaboutinthecircuitwiththeoriginalvalue。Ifvalue’sacquisitionofindependenceofthevalue-creatingpower，labour-power，isinauguratedbytheactM——L(purchaseoflabour-power)andiseffectedduringtheprocessofproductionasexploitationoflabour-power，thisacquisitionofindependenceonthepartofvaluedoesnotre-appearinthatcircuit，inwhichmoney，commodities，andelementsofproductionaremerelyalternatingformsofcapital-valueinprocess，andtheformermagnitudeofvalueiscomparedwithcapital’spresentchangedmagnitudeofvalue。”Value，”arguesBaileyagainsttheacquisitionofindependencebyvalue，anindependencewhichischaracteristicofthecapitalistmodeofproductionandwhichhetreatsasanillusionofcertaineconomists；”valueisarelationbetweencontemporarycommodities，becausesuchonlyadmitofbeingexchangedforeachother。”[SeeBailey，Samuel，ACriticalDissertationontheNature，Measures，andCausesofValue；ChieflyinReferencetotheWritingsofMr。RicardoandHisFollowersBytheAuthorofEssaysontheFormationandPublicationofOpinions，London，1825，p。72——Ed。]

Thishesaysagainstthecomparisonofcommodity-valuesofdifferentepochs，acomparisonwhichamountsonlytocomparingtheexpenditureoflabourrequiredinvariousperiodsfortheproductionofthesamesortofcommodities，oncethevalueofmoneyhasbeenfixedforeveryperiod。Thiscomesfromhisgeneralmisunderstanding，forhethinksthatexchange-valueisequaltovalue，thattheformifvalueisvalueitself；consequentlycommodity-valuecannolongerbecompared，iftheydonotfunctionactivelyasexchange-valuesandthuscannotactuallybeexchangedforoneanother。Hehasnottheleastinklingofthefactthatvaluefunctionsascapital-valueorcapitalonlyinsofarasitremainsidenticalwithitselfandiscomparedwithitselfinthedifferentphasesofitscircuit，whicharenotatall”contemporary”

butsucceedoneanother。

Inordertostudytheformulaofthecircuitinitspurityitisnotsufficienttopostulatethatcommoditiesaresoldattheirvalue；

itmustalsobeassumedthatthistakesplacewithotherthingsbeingequal。

TakeforinstancetheformP……P，disregardingalltechnicalrevolutionswithintheprocessofproductionbywhichtheproductivecapitalofacertaincapitalistmightbedepreciated；disregardingfurthermoreallreactionswhichachangeintheelementsofvalueoftheproductivecapitalmighthaveonthevalueoftheexistingcommodity-capital，whichmightappreciateordepreciateifastockofitisonhand。Supposethe10，000lbs。ofyarn，C’，havebeensoldattheirvalueof£；500；8，440lbs。equalto£；422，replacethecapital-valuecontainedinC’。Butifthevalueofcotton，coal，etc。，hasincreased(wedonotconsidermerefluctuationsinprice)，these£；422maynotsufficeforthefullreplacementoftheelementsofproductivecapital；additionalmoney-capitalisrequired，money-capitalistiedup。Theoppositetakesplacewhenthosepricesfall。Money-capitalissetfree。Theprocesstakesawhollynormalcourseonlywhenthevalue-relationsremainconstant；itscourseispracticallynormalsolongasthedisturbancesduringtherepetitionsofthecircuitbalanceoneanother。Butthegreaterthesedisturbancesthegreaterthemoney-capitalwhichtheindustrialcapitalistmustpossesstotideovertheperiodofreadjustment；andasthescaleofeachindividualprocessofproductionandwithittheminimumsizeofthecapitaltobeadvancedincreasesintheprocessofcapitalistproduction，wehavehereanothercircumstancetobeaddedtothoseotherswhichtransformthefunctionoftheindustrialcapitalistmoreandmoreintoamonopolyofbigmoney-capitalists，whomayoperatesinglyorinassociation。

WeremarkincidentallythatifachangeinthevalueoftheelementsofproductionoccursadifferenceappearsbetweentheformM……M’ononesideandofP……PandC’……C’ontheother。

InM……M’，theformulaofnewly-investedcapital，whichfirstappearsasmoney-capital，afallinthevalueofthemeansofproduction，suchasrawmaterial，auxiliarymaterial，etc。，willpermitofasmallerexpenditureofmoney-capitalthanbeforethisfallforthepurposeofstartingabusinessofadefinitesize，becausethescaleoftheprocessofproduction(productivepowerdevelopmentremainingthesame)dependsonthemassandvolumeofthemeansofproductionwhichagivenquantityoflabour-powercancopewith；butitdoesnotdependonthevalueofthesemeansofproductionnoronthatofthelabour-power(thelattervalueaffectsonlythemagnitudeofself-expansion)。Takethereversecase。Ifthereisariseinthevalueoftheelementsofproductionofthecommoditieswhichconstitutetheelementsoftheproductivecapital，thenmoremoney-capitalisneededfortheestablishmentofabusinessofdefiniteproportions。Inbothcasesitisonlytheamountofthemoney-capitalrequiredfornewinvestmentthatisaffected。Intheformercasemoney-capitalbecomessurplus，inthelatteritistiedup，providedtheaccessionofnewindividualindustrialcapitalproceedsintheusualwayinagivenbranchofproduction。

ThecircuitsP……PandC’……C’presentthemselvesasM……

M’onlytotheextentthatthemovementofPandC’isatthesametimeaccumulation，hencetotheextentthatadditionalm，money，isconvertedintomoney-capital；here，too，wedonottakeintoconsiderationthereactionofsuchchangesinvalueonthoseconstituentpartsofcapitalwhichareengagedintheprocessofproduction。Itisnottheoriginalexpenditurewhichisdirectlyaffectedhere，butanindustrialcapitalengagedinitsprocessofreproductionandnotinitsfirstcircuit；i。e。，C’……C

Ortheprocessofreproductioniscarriedonamoreextensivescalethanordinarilywouldhavebeenthecase，providedthetechnicalproportionsadmitit。Or，finally，alargerstockofrawmaterials，etc。，islaidin。

Theoppositeoccursifthevalueoftheelementsofreplacementofacommodity-capitalincreases。Inthatcasereproductionnolongertakesplaceonitsnormalscale(e。g。，theworking-daygetsshorter)；oradditionalmoney-capitalmustbeemployedinordertomaintaintheoldvolumeofwork(money-capitalistiedup)；orthemoney-fundforaccumulation，whenoneexists，isemployedentirelyorpartiallyfortheoperationoftheprocessofreproductiononitsoldscaleinsteadoffortheenlargementofthisprocess。Thisisalsotyingupmoney-capital，exceptthatheretheadditionalmoney-capitaldoesnotcomefromtheoutside，fromthemoney-market，butfromthemeansoftheindustrialcapitalisthimself。

However，theremaybemodifyingcircumstancesinP……PandC’……C’。Ifourspinning-millproprietorforexamplehasalargestockofcotton(alargeproportionofhisproductivecapitalintheformofastockofcotton)，apartofhisproductivecapitalisdepreciatedbyafallinthepricesofcotton；butifonthecontrarythesepricesrise，thispartofhisproductivecapitalappreciates。Ontheotherhand，ifhehastieduphugequantitiesintheformofcommodity-capital，forinstanceofcottonyarn，apartofhiscommodity-capital，henceofhiscircuitdescribingcapitalingeneral，isdepreciatedbyafallofcotton，orappreciatedbyariseinitsprices。FinallytaketheprocessC’——M——C

IfC’——M，therealisationofthecommodity-capital，hastakenplacebeforeachangeinthevalueoftheelementsofC，thencapitalisaffectedonlyinthewayindicatedinthefirstcase，namelyinthesecondactofcirculation，M——C

Money-capitalmayalsobesetfreeortieduponaccountofdifferencesinthedurationoftheprocessofcirculation，hencealsointhespeedofcirculation。Butthisbelongsinthediscussiononturnover。Atthispointweareonlyinterestedintherealdifferencethatbecomesevident，withregardtochangesofvaluesoftheelementsofproductivecapital，betweenM……M’andtheothertwocircuitforms。

InthecirculationsectionM——C

ofcommunes(DutchEastIndies)，ofstateenterprise(suchasexistedinformerepochsofRussianhistoryonthebasisofserfdom)orofhalf-savagehuntingtribes，etc——ascommoditiesandmoneytheycomefacetofacewiththemoneyandcommoditiesinwhichtheindustrialcapitalpresentsitselfandenterasmuchintoitscircuitasintothatofthesurplus-valueborneinthecommodity-capital，providedthesurplus-valueisspentasrevenue；hencetheyenterinbothbranchesofcirculationofcommodity-capital，Thecharacteroftheprocessofproductionfromwhichtheyoriginateisimmaterial。Theyfunctionascommoditiesinthemarket，andascommoditiestheyenterintothecircuitofindustrialcapitalaswellasintothecirculationofthesurplus-valueincorporatedinit。Itisthereforetheuniversalcharacteroftheoriginofthecommodities，theexistenceofthemarketasworld-market，whichdistinguishestheprocessofcirculationofindustrialcapital。Whatistrueofthecommoditiesofothersisalsotrueofthemoneyofothers。Justascommodity-capitalfacesmoneyonlyascommodities，sothismoneyfunctionsvis-á；-viscommodity-capitalonlyasmoney。

Moneyhereperformsthefunctionsofworld-money。

Howevertwopointsmustbenotedhere。

First:AssoonasactM——MPiscompleted，thecommodities(MP)

ceasetobesuchandbecomeoneofthemodesofexistenceofindustrialcapitalinitsfunctionalformofP，productivecapital。Therebyhowevertheiroriginisobliterated。Theyexisthenceforthonlyasformsofexistenceofindustrialcapital，areembodiedinit。Howeveritstillremainstruethattoreplacethemtheymustbereproduced，andtothisextentthecapitalistmodeofproductionisconditionalonmodesofproductionlyingoutsideofitsownstageofdevelopment。Butitisthetendencyofthecapitalistmodeofproductiontotransformallproductionasmuchaspossibleintocommodityproduction。Themainspringbywhichthisisaccomplishedispreciselytheinvolvementofallproductionintothecapitalistcirculationprocess。

Anddevelopedcommodityproductionitselfiscapitalistcommodityproduction。

Theinterventionofindustrialcapitalpromotesthistransformationeverywhere，butwithitalsothetransformationofalldirectproducersintowage-labourers。

Secondly:Thecommoditiesenteringintothecirculationofindustrialcapital(includingtherequisitemeansofsubsistenceintowhichvariablecapital，afterbeingpaidtothelabourers，istransformedforthepurposeofreproducingtheirlabour-power)，regardlessoftheiroriginandofthesocialformoftheproductiveprocessbywhichtheywerebroughtintoexistence，comefacetofacewithindustrialcapitalitselfalreadyintheformofcommodity-capital，intheformofcommodity-dealer’sormerchant’scapital。

Andmerchant’scapital，byitsverynaturecomprisescommoditiesofallmodesofproduction。

Thecapitalistmodeofproductionpresupposesnotonlylarge-scaleproductionbutalso，andnecessarilyso，salesonalargescale，hencesaletothemerchant，nottotheindividualconsumer。Ifthisconsumerishimselfaproductiveconsumer，henceanindustrialcapitalist，i。e。，iftheindustrialcapitalofonebranchofproductionsuppliessomeotherbranchofindustrywithmeansofproduction，directsalebyoneindustrialcapitalisttomanyotherstakeplace(intheformoforders，etc。)。Tothisextenteveryindustrialcapitalistisadirectsellerandhisownmerchant，whichbythewayiswhenhesellstoamerchant。

Tradingincommoditiesasthefunctionofmerchant’scapitalisapremiseofcapitalistproductionanddevelopsmoreandmoreinthecourseofdevelopmentofsuchproduction。Thereforeweoccasionallytakeitsexistenceforgrantedtoillustrateparticularaspectsoftheprocessofcapitalistcirculation；butinthegeneralanalysisofthisprocessweassumedirectsale，withouttheinterventionofamerchant，becausethisinterventionobscuresvariousfacetsofthemovement。

Cf。Sismondi，whopresentsthemattersomewhatnaively:”Commerceemploysconsiderablecapital，whichatfirstsightdoesnotseemtobeapartofthatcapitalwhosemovementwehavedescribed。

Thevalueoftheclothaccumulatedinthestoresofthecloth-merchantseemsatfirsttobeentirelyforeigntothatpartoftheannualproductionwhichtherichgivestothepooraswagesinordertomakehimwork。Howeverthiscapitalhassimplyreplacedtheotherofwhichwehavespoken。Forthepurposeofclearlyunderstandingtheprogressofwealth，wehavebegunwithitscreationandfollowedittoitsconsumption。Thenthecapitalemployedinclothmanufacturing，forinstance，alwaysseemedthesametous；itwasexchangedfortherevenueoftheconsumer，itwasdividedintoonlytwoparts，oneofthemservingasrevenueofthemanufacturerintheformoftheprofit，theotherservingasrevenueofthelabourersintheformofwagesforthetimetheyweremanufacturingnewcloth。”Butitwassoonfoundthatitwouldbetotheadvantageofallifthedifferentpartsofthiscapitalweretoreplaceoneanotherandthat，if100，000è；cusweresufficientfortheentirecirculationbetweenthemanufacturerandtheconsumer，theyshouldbedividedequallybetweenthemanufacturer，thewholesalemerchant，andtheretailmerchant。

Thefirstthendidwithonlyone——thirdofthiscapitalthesameworkashehaddonewiththeentirecapital，becauseassoonashisworkofmanufacturingwascompletedhefoundoutthatamerchantwouldratherbuyfromhimthanaconsumerwould。Ontheotherhandthecapitalofthewholesalerwasmuchsoonerreplacedbythatoftheretailer……Thedifferencebetweenthesumsadvancedforwagesandthepurchasepricepaidbytheultimateconsumerwasconsideredtheprofitofthosecapitals。Itwasdividedbetweenthemanufacturer，themerchantandtheretailer，fromthemomentthattheyhaddividedtheirfunctionsamongthemselves，andtheworkperformedwasthesame，althoughithadrequiredthreepersonsandthreepartsofcapitalinsteadofone。”(NouveauxPrincipes，I，pages139-140。)”Allofthem[themerchants]contributedindirectlytotheproduction；

forhavingconsumptionforitsobject，productioncannotberegardedascompleteduntilthethingproducedisplacedwithinthereachoftheconsumer。”

(Ibid。，p。137)

Inthediscussionofthegeneralformsofthecircuitandintheentiresecondbookingeneral，wetakemoneytomeanmetallicmoney，withtheexceptionofsymbolicmoney，meretokensofvalue，whicharedesignedforspecificuseincertainstates，andofcredit-money，whichisnotyetdeveloped。Inthefirstplace，thisisthehistoricalorder；credit-productionplaysonlyaveryminorrole，ornoneatall，duringthefirstepochofcapitalistproduction。Inthesecondplace，thenecessityofthisorderisdemonstratedtheoreticallybythefactthateverythingofacriticalnaturewhichTookeandothershithertoexpoundedinregardtothecirculationofcredit-moneycompelledthemtoharkbackagainandagaintothequestionofwhatwouldbetheaspectofthematterifnothingbutmetal-moneywereincirculation。Butitmustnotbeforgottenthatmetal-moneymayserveasapurchasingmediumandalsoasapayingmedium。Forthesakeofsimplicity，weconsideritinthissecondbookgenerallyonlyinitsfirstfunctionalform。

Theprocessofcirculationofindustrialcapital，whichisonlyapartofitsindividualcircuit，isdeterminedbythegenerallawspreviouslysetforth(BuchI，Kap。III)，[Englishedition:Ch。III——Ed。]

insofarasitisonlyaseriesofactswithinthegeneralcirculationofcommodities。Thegreaterthevelocityofthecurrencyofmoney，themorerapidlythereforeeveryindividualcapitalpassesthroughtheseriesofitscommodityormoneymetamorphoses，themorenumerousaretheindustrialcapitals(orindividualcapitalsintheformofcommodity-capitals)startedcirculatingsuccessivelybyagivenmassofmoney，forexample£；500。

Themorethemoneyfunctionsasapayingmedium，themoretherefore——

forinstanceinthereplacementofsomecommodity-capitalbyitsmeansofproduction——nothingbutbalanceshavetobesquared，andtheshortertheperiodsoftimewhenpaymentsfalldue，asforinstanceinpayingwages，thelessmoneyagivenmassofcapital-valuethereforerequiresforitscirculation。Ontheotherhand，assumingthatthevelocityofthecirculationandallotherconditionsremainthesame，theamountofmoneyrequiredtocirculateasmoney-capitalisdeterminedbythesumofthepricesofthecommodities(pricemultipliedbythevolumeofcommodities)，or，ifthequantityandvalueofthecommoditiesarefixed，bythevalueofthemoneyitself。

Butthelawsofthegeneralcirculationofcommoditiesarevalidonlywhencapital’scirculationprocessconsistsofaseriesofsimpleactsofcirculation；theydonotapplywhenthelatterconstitutefunctionallydeterminedsectionsofthecircuitofindividualindustrialcapitals。

Inordertomakethisplain，itisbesttostudytheprocessofcirculationinitsuninterruptedinterconnection，suchasitappearsinthefollowingtwoforms:

|C——|M——C

II)P……C’|——M’

|

|c——|m——c|C——|M——C

III)

C’|——M|

|c——|m——cAsseriesofactsofcirculationingeneral，theprocessofcirculation(whetherintheformofC——M——CorofM——C——M)representsthetwoantitheticalseriesofcommoditymetamorphoses，everysingleoneofwhichinitsturnimpliesanoppositemetamorphosisonthepartofthealiencommodityoralienmoneyconfrontingthecommodity。

C——MonthepartoftheownerofacommoditymeansM——Conthepartofitsbuyer；thefirstmetamorphosisofthecommodityappearingintheformofM；theoppositeappliestoM——C。Whathasbeenshownconcerningtheintertwiningofthemetamorphosisofacertaincommodityinonestagewiththatofanotherinanotherstageappliestothecirculationofcapitalsofarasthecapitalistfunctionsasabuyerandsellerofcommodities，andhiscapitalonthataccountfunctionsintheformofmoneyopposedtothecommoditiesofanother。Butthisintertwiningisnottobeidentifiedwiththeintertwiningofthemetamorphosesofcapitals。

InthefirstplaceM——C(MP)，aswehaveseen，mayrepresentaninterminglingofthemetamorphosesofdifferentindividualcapitals。

Forinstancethecommodity-capitalofthespinning-millowner，yarnispartlyreplacedbycoal。Onepartofhiscapitalexistsintheformofmoneyandisconvertedintotheformofcommodities，whilethecapitalofthecapitalistproducerofcoalisintheformofcommoditiesandisthereforeconvertedintotheformofmoney；thesameactofcirculationrepresentsinthiscaseoppositemetamorphosesoftwoindustrialcapitals(indifferentbranchesofproduction)，henceanintertwiningoftheseriesofmetamorphosesofthesecapitals。ButaswehaveseentheMPintowhichMistransformedneednotbecommodity-capitalinthecategoricalsense，i。e。，neednotbeafunctionalformofindustrialcapital，neednotbeproducedbyacapitalist。ItisalwaysM——CononesideandC——Montheother，butnotalwaysaninterminglingofmetamorphosesofcapitals。FurthermoreM——L，thepurchaseoflabour-power，isneveraninterminglingofmetamorphosesofcapitals，forlabour-power，thoughthecommodityofthelabourer，doesnotbecomecapitaluntilitissoldtothecapitalist。OntheotherhandintheprocessC’——M’，itisnotnecessarythatM’shouldrepresentconvertedcommodity-capital；itmaybetherealisationinmoneyofthecommoditylabour-power(wages)，oroftheproductofsomeindependentlabourer，slave，serf，orcommunity。

Inthesecondplacehoweveritisnotatallrequiredforthedischargeofthefunctionallydeterminedroleplayedbyeverymetamorphosisoccurringwithintheprocessofcirculationofsomeindividualcapitalthatthismetamorphosisshouldrepresentthecorrespondingoppositemetamorphosisinthecircuitoftheothercapital，providedweassumethattheentireproductionoftheworld-marketiscarriedoncapitalistically。ForinstanceinthecircuitP……P，theMwhichconvertsC’intomoneymaybetothebuyeronlytherealisationinmoneyofhissurplus-value(ifthecommodityisanarticleofconsumption)；orinM’——C’

hereforethemannerinwhichthevariouscomponentpartsoftheaggregatesocialcapital，ofwhichtheindividualcapitalsarebutconstituentsfunctioningindependently，mutuallyreplaceoneanotherintheprocessofcirculation——inregardtocapitalaswellassurplus-value——isnotascertainedfromthesimpleintertwiningsofthemetamorphosesinthecirculationofcommodities——intertwiningswhichtheactsofcapitalcirculationhaveincommonwithallothercirculationofcommodities。Thatrequiresadifferentmethodofinvestigation。Hithertoonehasbeensatisfiedwithutteringphraseswhichuponcloseranalysisarefoundtocontainnothingbutindefiniteideasborrowedfromtheintertwiningofmetamorphosescommontoallcommoditycirculation。

_______________Oneofthemostobviouspeculiaritiesofthemovementincircuitsofindustrialcapital，andthereforealsoofcapitalistproduction，isthefactthatononehandthecomponentelementsofproductivecapitalarederivedfromthecommodity-marketandmustbecontinuallyrenewedoutofit，boughtascommodities；andthatontheotherhandtheproductofthelabour-processemergesfromitasacommodityandmustbecontinuallysoldanewasacommodity。

CompareforinstanceamodernfarmeroftheScotchlowlandswithanold-fashionedsmallpeasantontheContinent。Theformersellshisentireproductandhasthereforetoreplaceallitselements，evenhisseed，inthemarket；

thelatterconsumesthegreaterpartofhisproductdirectly，buysandsellsaslittleaspossible，fashionstools，makesclothing，etc。，sofaraspossiblehimself。

Naturaleconomy，money-economy，andcredit-economyhavethereforebeenplacedinoppositiontooneanotherasbeingthethreecharacteristiceconomicformsofmovementinsocialproduction。

Inthefirstplacethesethreeformsdonotrepresentequivalentphasesofdevelopment。Theso-calledcredit-economyismerelyaformofthemoney-economy，sincebothtermsexpressfunctionsormodesofexchangeamongtheproducersthemselves。Indevelopedcapitalistproduction，themoney-economyappearsonlyasthebasisofthecredit-economy。Themoney-economyandcredit-economythuscorrespondonlytodifferentstagesinthedevelopmentofcapitalistproduction，buttheyarebynomeansindependentformsofexchangevis-à；-visnaturaleconomy。Withthesamejustificationonemightcontraposeasequivalentstheverydifferentformsofnaturaleconomytothosetwoeconomies。

Inthesecondplace，sinceitisnottheeconomy，i。e。，theprocessofproductionitselfthatisemphasisedasthedistinguishingmarkofthetwocategories，money-economyandcredit-economy，butratherthemodeofexchange——correspondingtothateconomy——betweenthevariousagentsofproduction，orproducers，thesameshouldapplytothefirstcategory。

Henceexchangeeconomyinsteadofnaturaleconomy。Acompletelyisolatednaturaleconomy，suchastheIncastateofPeru，wouldnotcomeunderanyofthesecategories。

Inthethirdplacethemoney-economyiscommontoallcommodityproductionandtheproductappearsasacommodityinthemostvariedorganismsofsocialproduction。Consequentlywhatcharacterisescapitalistproductionwouldthenbeonlytheextenttowhichtheproductiscreatedasanarticleofcommerce，asacommodity，andhencetheextentalsotowhichitsownconstituentelementsmustenteragainasarticlesofcommerce，ascommodities，intotheeconomyfromwhichitemerges。

Asamatteroffactcapitalistproductioniscommodityproductionasthegeneralformofproduction。Butitissoandbecomessomoreandmoreinthecourseofitsdevelopmentonlybecauselabouritselfappearshereasacommodity，becausethelabourersellshislabour，thatis，thefunctionofhislabour-power，andourassumptionisthathesellsitatitsvalue，determinedbyitscostofreproduction。Totheextentthatlabourbecomeswage-labour，theproducerbecomesanindustrialcapitalist。Forthisreasoncapitalistproduction(andhencealsocommodityproduction)

doesnotreachitsfullscopeuntilthedirectagriculturalproducerbecomesawage-labourer。Intherelationofcapitalistandwage-labourer，themoney-relation，therelationbetweenthebuyerandtheseller，becomesarelationinherentinproduction。Butthisrelationhasitsfoundationinthesocialcharacterofproduction，notinthemodeofexchange。Thelatterconverselyemanatesfromtheformer。Itis，however，quiteinkeepingwiththebourgeoishorizon，everyonebeingengrossedinthetransactionofshadybusiness，nottoseeinthecharacterofthemodeofproductionthebasisofthemodeofexchangecorrespondingtoit，butviceversa。[7]

_______________Thecapitalistthrowslessvalueintheformofmoneyintothecirculationthanhedrawsoutofit，becausehethrowsintoitmorevalueintheformofcommoditiesthanhewithdrewfromitintheformofcommodities。Sincehefunctionssimplyasapersonificationofcapital，asanindustrialcapitalist，hissupplyofcommodity-valueisalwaysgreaterthanhisdemandforit。