The surplus value produced by the direct producer is not a surplus value of the kind obtained by the productive-capitalist. The latter lays out a certain quantity of exchange value in its physical form, as money, or commodities, and advances productive-capital in the form of means of production and labour-power. As a result of the production process, the workers create new value, and this new value is greater than the value of their labour-power. The consequence is that this greater amount of new value then represents a surplus exchange value that is appropriated by the capitalist as profit. The quantity of exchange value advanced by the capitalist, at the start of this process, has been turned into a greater sum of exchange-value at the end of it, without the capitalist giving anything in exchange for the difference. It is this fact that the exchange value advanced, self-expands in value, as a consequence of the production process, that makes it capital rather than simply an amount of exchange value, or as Marx describes makes it capital rather than simply commodities.
But, for the direct producer, the food producer, although they have a surplus product, over and above what was required to reproduce their labour-power, i.e. over and above the necessary labour they needed to perform, and although this product is a use value, and so represents two hours of value, it is not a surplus exchange value, of the kind appropriated by the capitalist. The food producer did not obtain this surplus value without giving something in exchange for it, as the capitalist did. The food producer gave two hours of their own labour-time to obtain this surplus product and its surplus value.
If we return to the situation of the food producer and the equipment maker, a total of twelve hours is worked, but only the ten hours worked by the food producer constitutes necessary labour. It is only this necessary labour that produces the means of consumption required by the two producers. Although it appears that the two hours of additional food production is surplus production, from the standpoint of the society, it is not, because the food is required for the subsistence of the equipment maker. It is, in fact, the two hours spent by the equipment maker, which, from the standpoint of the society, represents surplus-labour.
Marx points out that it is this division of labour, between food producers and the producers of means of production that is at the basis of all economic and social development. A society must first be able to produce more food than it immediately requires to feed itself, before it can devote some time to producing other things. It must be able to feed the whole of society from the labour of only a part of society, so that another portion of society can devote itself wholly to producing means of production.
“The physiocrats, furthermore, are correct in stating that in fact all production of surplus-value, and thus all development of capital, has for its natural basis the productiveness of agricultural labour. If man were not capable of producing in one working-day more means of subsistence, which signifies in the strictest sense more agricultural products than every labourer needs for his own reproduction, if the daily expenditure of his entire labour power sufficed merely to produce the means of subsistence indispensable for his own individual requirements, then one could not speak at all either of surplus-product or surplus-value. An agricultural labour productivity exceeding the individual requirements of the labourer is the basis of all societies, and is above all the basis of capitalist production, which disengages a constantly increasing portion of society from the production of basic foodstuffs and transforms them into "free heads," as Steuart [Steuart, An Inquiry Into the Principles of Political Economy, Vol. I, Dublin, 1770, p. 396. — Ed.] has it, making them available for exploitation in other spheres.”
This is also the basis of the total social exchange of commodities between Department I, producing means of production, and Department II producing means of consumption.
Nor is it time expended producing means of production used in this year's production of consumption goods. It forms part of the total value of output for this year, which is equal to 12 hours (10 hours of output from the food producer and 2 hours from the equipment producer), but it forms no part of this year's revenue (which is equal only to the value of consumption goods produced = 10 hours.) The means of production produced by the equipment maker do not take part in the production process until the following year, and so only become part of the value of food production at that time. But, although the two hours of labour of the equipment maker is not necessary labour, it is socially necessary labour, provided the product of that labour is all required.
In the model Marx sets up in Capital II, Chapter 20, explaining this the figures are:
Department 1 c 4000 + v 1000 + s 1000 = 6000
Department II c 2000 + v 500 + s 500 = 3000
Let's examine this, as Marx describes this reproduction process. First of all Department I has a stock of constant capital. This stock comprises its stock of fixed capital, such as buildings, machines and so on. It also comprises a stock of raw and auxiliary materials, or circulating constant capital. As Marx says, it must begin the reproduction process from the point of having these actual physical commodities that comprise the productive-capital or else it could not produce to begin with! The circuit of industrial capital is:
In the model above, not all the fixed capital stock is included, because the above model only deals with the values that contribute to the value of output, and which are reproduced from the output. It is only the wear and tear of fixed capital, whose value is transferred to the value of output, and reproduced out of it. The 4000 c, therefore, comprises the stock of raw and auxiliary materials that Department I possesses at the start of the year, along with the stock of fixed capital set aside to replace the worn out fixed capital that must be physically replaced at the start of the year. The value of all of this constant capital stock is 4000. This value is transferred to the value of Department I output of 6000.
The other 2000 of value is comprised of the new value produced by Department I labour. But, the Department I workers cannot live on fresh air, and so, likewise, Department I must have a stock of wage goods that can be paid to its workers so that they can continue to live and work during the year. More correctly, Department II capitalists hold these stocks of wage goods, whilst Department I capitalists hold a stock of money-capital, which they pay out as wages to their workers, so that these workers can then purchase the consumption goods from Department II capitalists. Similarly, Department I capitalists cannot live on air for a year, and so also begin the year with a stock of money, which they use to buy the consumption goods they require from Department II capitalists.
Department II capitalists also must hold a stock of constant capital, otherwise they could not begin producing at the start of the year either. This stock of fixed capital (wear and tear) and of raw and auxiliary materials amounts to 2000. Again, in practice, Department I will hold some of these stocks, whilst Department II will hold a stock of money-capital used to buy them when required. Department II capitalists must also have a stock of consumption goods, required by Department II workers and capitalists during the year, and that amounts to 1000 in total.
So, at the start of the year, a total stock of constant capital amounting to 4000 (Department I) plus 2000 (Department II) exists, and is productively consumed during the year. In addition a stock of consumption goods amounting to 2000 (Department I) and 1000 (Department II) are in existence. So, in this model the 2000 c (means of production) used by Department II are NOT the 2000 c of means of production produced by Department I, and equal to the Department I (v + s). That output of Department I, is this year's output. It is exchanged, at the end of the year, with Department II, for 2000 of consumer goods, which are part of its output for this year, and form the consumption for Department I workers and capitalists next year. Department II's 2000 of means of production, used in its current production, and forming part of the value of its current output is 2000 of value it already possessed, and which had been produced in previous years. The 2000 c, produced by Department I, represented by the 1,000 v + 1,000 s, only reproduce the 2,000 of means of production already in the hands of Department II, and whose value is transferred to its output for this year. It thereby forms the stock of constant capital possessed by Department II at the start of next year.
The total value of output, here, is then 9,000. Department II's output is equal to 3,000. This comprises 1000 of new value created by Department II workers, and which is then divided into 500 to reproduce Department II labour-power, with a surplus value of 500 being left over for the consumption of Department II capitalists. The remaining 2000 of value is comprised of the value of the stock of means of production already in the hands of Department II producers, which was produced in previous years, and whose value is merely transferred into Department II's current output.
Department I's output is 6000. It comprises 2000 of new value created by its workers, which is divided into 1000 for the reproduction of the labour-power of its workers, and 1,000 left over as surplus value used to fund the consumption of Department I capitalists. This 2000 of value, which is exchanged with Department II, at the end of the year, only replaces the 2000 of value that Department II already had in its possession. It is not the 2000 of value, that Department II uses in this year's production. This 2000 is part of this year's value of output, but does not take part in the production of Department II until next year. That is why the total value of output is 6000 from Department I, and 3000 from Department II, giving 9,000 in total. The other 4000 of output value from Department I, itself simply replaces the value of means of production that Department I itself already had in its possession, and which was the product of previous year's production.
If these values are measured in hours, then the total value of output is equal to 9000 hours. Of that value 6000 hours takes the form of congealed labour in the form of means of production (4000 Department I, 2000 Department II). The other 3000 hours of value is new value created by labour (2000 Department I, 1000 Department II). It is only this 3000 hours that constitutes revenue (wages, profits), equal to National Income. Of this 3000 hours, only 1500 hours constitutes necessary labour. That is the labour that Department I and Department II workers needed to undertake in order to acquire the commodities required for the reproduction of their labour-power. The remaining 1500 hours constitutes surplus labour, appropriated by capital.
The working-day for an individual or for a society then can be divided into necessary labour and surplus labour. The product of the necessary labour is a necessary product, and the product of the surplus labour is a surplus product with a corresponding surplus value. In terms of the total value of output, however, both of these elements constitute a diminishing component, because the largest component of output value is the value of the means of production, which must be simply reproduced out of the total output, and total output value.
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