Marx cites an example provided by Ricardo, which “palpably” expresses the nature of surplus value. It involves a capitalist with a capital of £20,000. £7,000 is invested in buildings and other fixed capital. The capital is engaged in agricultural production, and the manufacture of items of consumption. The remaining £13,000 of the capital is employed as variable-capital, paid as wages to his workers. Ricardo makes no account for the wear and tear of the fixed capital, but he assumes a rate of profit of 10%, therefore equal to £2,000. At the start of the year, the £13,000 of variable-capital takes the form of commodities that are sold to the workers, during the year. Simultaneously, the capitalist pays money wages to these workers, so that what is paid out to them as wages, flows back to him as payment for the commodities they buy from him. When the year ends, the workers will have produced commodities with a value of £15,000. Of this, the capitalist consumes a portion equal to £2,000, or the same as his profit. The remaining £13,000 of output now constitutes all of his variable-capital, which he again pays out to the workers during the next year.
Marx continues Ricardo's quote, elaborating this example, before analysing the flaws in the argument presented by Ricardo. The gross product is £15,000, and net product £2,000. Ricardo assumes that the capitalist then employs half of their workers to produce a machine, whilst the other half continue to produce necessaries. Both groups of workers continue to be paid from the variable-capital with which the capitalist begins the year. At the end of the year, a gross product, still equal to £15,000 is produced, but now, £7,500 of that product consists of the value of the machine, whilst the value of the necessaries produced has fallen from £15,000 to £7,500. The capitalist paid out £13,000, and has created a new value of £15,000, giving them still a profit of £2,000, and they still have their original fixed capital of £7,000.
Assuming the £2,000 of profit is consumed out of the consumable product, the capitalist is left with a capital still of £20,000 - £7,500 machine, £7,000 fixed capital, and £5,500 necessaries. So, now, only this £5,500 is available as variable-capital, so that the number of workers employed must be proportionally reduced. All of the workers that were previously employed by the other £7,500 of variable-capital (£13,000 - £5,500 = £7,500) would then be redundant.
Marx then examines Ricardo's argument. He begins by noting Ricardo's failure to account for wear and tear of the original £7,000 of fixed capital, and this must also be accounted for in relation to the £7,500 value of the machine. Marx points out that the machine may enable the workers who remain employed to produce the same amount of output that was previously produced with a variable-capital of £13,000. Marx, however, makes an error in his own explication. He says, assume that wear and tear of the machine is equal to 10%, or £750. In that case, he says, the value of the product is equal to £8,250, which he appears to arrive at from taking the £5,500 of wages, adding the £2,000 of profit, to give £7,500, and then adding the £750 of wear and tear to arrive at the value of £8,250. But, that cannot be correct.
The adding of a fixed 10% profit confuses matters here. Previously, £13,000 employed all of the workers who produced the surplus value/profit of £2,000. But, now, only £5,500 of variable-capital is employed, which means that fewer than half the workers are employed, and so less than half of the previous £2,000 of surplus value. If previously 130 workers were employed, and produced a value of £15,000, then now, only 55 workers are employed, creating a new value of 55/130 x £15,000 = £6,346. Adding in the £750 of wear and tear gives a product value of £7096. The surplus value is then £846.
No comments:
Post a Comment