2) The Representation Of The Components Of The Value Of The Product By Corresponding Proportional Parts Of The Product Itself
Marx sets
out the way each of the components of the final product can be
represented as a proportion of the total physical output. This might
seem a bit of a waste of time or a diversion. Because Marx uses
Imperial measures for his example, it can be a bit cumbersome
nowadays to follow. His reason for using this breakdown is to
illustrate the falsity of some capitalist arguments relating to
profits, which he deals with later. In order to hopefully make it
easier to follow I will try to use different numbers and metric
measurements.
Suppose we
have 20 kilos of yarn produced. It requires:
20 kilos of
cotton
10% of a
spindle
10 hours of
abstract labour-time
The 20 kilos
of cotton require 10 hours of abstract labour-time to produce.
A spindle
requires 10 hours of abstract labour-time to produce.
1 oz gold
requires 10 hours of labour-time to produce.
1 oz gold =
£10.
So, the 20
kilos of yarn =
20 kilos of
cotton = 10 hours = £10
10% of a
spindle = 1 hour = £1
Spinning =
10 hours = £10.
The total
value of the yarn = 21 hours = £21.
If we assume
that the spinner requires 5 hours labour-time as necessary Labour to
cover the cost of reproducing their labour-power, then we also have:
Labour-power
= 5 hours = £5
Surplus
Value = 5 hours = £5.
All of these
amounts can be expressed as a certain physical quantity of yarn. If
we express each as a decimal of the total, the calculation becomes
clear. So:
Cotton =
£10/£21 = 0.476
Spindle =
£1/£21 = 0.048
Labour-power
= £5/£21 = 0.238
Surplus
Value = £5/£21 = 0.238
As a
proportion of the yarn:
Cotton =
9.52 kilos
Spindle =
0.96 kilos
Labour-power
= 4.76 kilos
Surplus
Value = 4.76 kilos
Marx says
looked at this way, its as though 9.52 kilos of yarn was made up of
the whole 20 kilos of cotton, but no labour and no spindle. The same
for all the other components i.e. its as though 9.52 kilos of yarn
had been spun by the spinner in his 10 hours out of thin air, half of
it covering his wages, the other half going to the capitalist as
Surplus Value.
Similarly,
this physical breakdown can be represented as portions of the time
taken to spin the yarn i.e. of the working day. We have taken that
to be 10 hours. In that case:
the,
9.52 kilos
of yarn representing cotton = 4.76 hours
0.96 kilos
of yarn representing spindle = 0.48 hours
4.76 kilos
of yarn representing Labour-power = 2.38 hours
4.76 kilos
of yarn representing Surplus Value = 2.38 hours
Total =
10 hours
This way of
presenting matters as Marx says is correct. The first method
operated at a spatial level. It was as though different amounts of
the yarn were laid down side by side, and labelled, “this much
to cover the cotton, this much to cover wear and tear of spindle,
this much to cover wages, this much left over for profit.”
Builders often look at things
like this. They calculate that on an estate or block of flats they
have to sell a given number to break even, and then every house/flat
sold over that they count as profit.
The
second form is the same as the first except instead of being spatial
its temporal, apportioning each part of the working day as covering
the respective costs. However, this latter way of presenting matters
was also beneficial to capitalists because it was open to being
misrepresented and abused. In the struggle over the working day, the
capitalists used this presentation to argue that the working day
could not be cut because it was only in the last hour or so of the
working day that profits were made.
This
argument known as “Senior's Last Hour”, after the economist
Nassau Senior, is dealt with next by Marx.
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