Marx notes that the basis of all surplus value is relative surplus value, because unless the labourer can produce more in a day than is required for the reproduction of their labour-power, no surplus product or surplus value is possible. Relative surplus value, is surplus value created by a reduction in necessary labour-time, i.e. the time required for the reproduction of labour-power. This reduction may arise simply because the labourer becomes more adept at the production they undertake, because they undertake production on a larger scale that brings economies of scale, because of the division of labour, or because the instruments of labour enable labour productivity to rise. Under industrial capitalism, it is the introduction of ever more complex technology that brings about the greatest rise in labour productivity, and thereby creates relative surplus value.
If we take Marx's example of Robinson Crusoe as telling us everything we need to know about The Law of Value, value, and, in this case, the creation of relative surplus value, it can be explained like this. Robinson, must first allocate his available labour-time, so as best ensure that his labour-power can be reproduced. He has basic requirements in that regard. He must eat, he must have safe shelter, he must have clothing, and other means of staying warm. The way he allocates his labour-time, is thereby, objectively constrained so as to meet these basic requirements. He must, at least initially, hunt for those animals that require the least labour-time to provide the protein he requires, and/or, he must search out appropriate fruits, nuts, cereals and roots. As soon as he has been able to ensure that he has the food required to reproduce his labour-power, he can utilise any remaining time in other ways.
He might, for example, use some time, finding a cave so as to have shelter; he might fashion some clothes to keep warm; he might, if he has sufficient time, construct traps, or make a fishing rod so as to be able to catch rabbits or fish more easily; or if he does not have time left over in the day for that, he may continue his other labour, producing his necessities, and storing them up, so that on another day, he can devote more time to these other activities, simply consuming the surplus food produced on previous days.
Everything, here, tells us what we need to know about the production of relative surplus value. Firstly, relative surplus value is created by reducing the amount of necessary labour required for the reproduction of the labourer. But, first we need to address the question of what that necessary labour is. All products, and thereby commodities, can be produced using materials and methods that are not actually necessary. A producer of nails, for example, could make them out of gold, but that would be an expenditure of unnecessary labour, i.e. the labour required to produce the gold, because nails can be produced out of iron, or steel, which requires much less labour to produce than does gold. The same is true with the use value/product labour-power, and, thereby the commodity labour-power. Robinson could, for example, have sought to reproduce his labour-power, by seeking out truffles, if he had a particular liking for such delicacies. But, if he did so, the time required to acquire them, as against the nourishment obtained from them, would have almost certainly mean that he did not have enough labour-time in the day, to ensure the reproduction of his labour-power. He would starve to death in fairly short order. In other words, not only is the value of the products of his labour objectively determined by the natural laws that flow from his physical environment, and his own capacity for labour, but the way he allocates that labour is itself also constrained by these same material conditions, and the fundamental requirement that he must live. In other words, the supply of products is for him objectively determined, and at this basic level so is his demand for those products.
This is what Marx calls the historical or cultural component of the value of labour-power. Robinson is immediately constrained to reproduce his labour-power by devoting his labour-time to the production of only those things most vital for his survival. Once he is able to raise the productivity of his labour, he can devote time to the production of other products, and these become embodied in what he considers the necessary minimum for his own reproduction, and the basis for his allocation of available labour-time. His labour-time is divided into three parts, the product of his labour forming three different funds. The first is that part of the day required for the reproduction of his own labour-power, the second, once he has been able to accumulate them, is a part of the day required to reproduce his consumed means of production, the third is any surplus labour-time left over, which can be used to either accumulate additional means of production, or else to expand his own consumption, or to save up as a fund to cover future eventualities.
And, this is true for all labour-power. What the labourer considers a bare minimum for subsistence varies from time to time and place to place. And, not only is this a matter that workers in the 21st century would not accept, as a bare minimum, what was accepted as such by their great grandparents in the middle of the twentieth century, but, the objective needs of that labour-power itself determines that it has different requirements for its own reproduction. The industrial labourer in the 1930's, did not need to have a sufficient level of education to know how to operate a personal computer, which did not even exist at that point, for example. But, that has become an essential element for a worker in the 21st century. Moreover, because capital must continually expand the market for the commodities it produces, and because workers form the vast majority of society, capital must itself continually expand the range of use values consumed by workers. This is what Marx calls its Civilising Mission.
“On the other side, the production of relative surplus value, i.e. production of surplus value based on the increase and development of the productive forces, requires the production of new consumption; requires that the consuming circle within circulation expands as did the productive circle previously. Firstly quantitative expansion of existing consumption; secondly: creation of new needs by propagating existing ones in a wide circle; thirdly: production of new needs and discovery and creation of new use values. In other words, so that the surplus labour gained does not remain a merely quantitative surplus, but rather constantly increases the circle of qualitative differences within labour (hence of surplus labour), makes it more diverse, more internally differentiated. For example, if, through a doubling of productive force, a capital of 50 can now do what a capital of 100 did before, so that a capital of 50 and the necessary labour corresponding to it become free, then, for the capital and labour which have been set free, a new, qualitatively different branch of production must be created, which satisfies and brings forth a new need. The value of the old industry is preserved by the creation of the fund for a new one in which the relation of capital and labour posits itself in a new form. Hence exploration of all of nature in order to discover new, useful qualities in things; universal exchange of the products of all alien climates and lands; new (artificial) preparation of natural objects, by which they are given new use values. The exploration of the earth in all directions, to discover new things of use as well as new useful qualities of the old; such as new qualities of them as raw materials etc.; the development, hence, of the natural sciences to their highest point; likewise the discovery, creation and satisfaction of new needs arising from society itself; the cultivation of all the qualities of the social human being, production of the same in a form as rich as possible in needs, because rich in qualities and relations -- production of this being as the most total and universal possible social product, for, in order to take gratification in a many-sided way, he must be capable of many pleasures [genussfähig], hence cultured to a high degree -- is likewise a condition of production founded on capital. This creation of new branches of production, i.e. of qualitatively new surplus time, is not merely the division of labour, but is rather the creation, separate from a given production, of labour with a new use value; the development of a constantly expanding and more comprehensive system of different kinds of labour, different kinds of production, to which a constantly expanding and constantly enriched system of needs corresponds.”
No comments:
Post a Comment