Engels sets out the problem that the Classical Economists faced, however, solely in relation to simple labour. The cost of production of such a worker, Engels assumes, to be 3 Marks a day. If we assume that the worker is a machinist, who, each day, produces part of a machine, then, this part also comprises materials, wear and tear of the machines used to produce it, of the factory and so on. As with the earlier examples of The Putting Out System, the capitalist bears these costs, which can be deducted from the value of the produced component.
Engels assumes these costs to be 21 Marks, which, adding in the wages, comes to 24 Marks. However, the capitalist calculates that they will be able to obtain 27 Marks, being the value of the component, as determined by the competition in the market, with all other such producers. In other words, the value added by labour is 6 Marks, whilst the value of that “labour”, as reflected in the wage was only 3 Marks. So, where did the 3 Marks of surplus value come from? 21 Marks came from the value of materials, and wear and tear of fixed capital, required for production (constant capital). That production also entailed a day's labour – 12 hours – by the worker. Consequently, we can see that a day's labour produces 6 Marks of new value, whereas the worker is paid wages of 3 Marks for providing that labour.
It is, then, clear that the worker is not paid for providing a day's labour, or the product of a day's labour, but, on the assumption that exchanges have taken place on the basis of equal values, not cheating, we can't explain this as being the result simply of the worker being cheated. The answer, as described earlier, is that the worker does not sell labour, or the product of their labour, to the capitalist, but their labour-power. The value of this labour-power is equal to its cost of production, 3 Marks, i.e. the equivalent of 6 hours, or ½ a day's labour, not 12 hours.
As Marx describes, this is different to the situation in relation to simple commodity production and exchanges by individual commodity producers. It may well be the case that producer A can reproduce their labour-power in this same 6 hours, but works for 12 hours, creating a new value 6 Marks. The same would be true for producer B. When they exchange their commodities, ignoring other costs, A sells and receives 6 Marks, which they use to buy the product of B's labour, also for 6 Marks. Both have exchanged 12 hours of labour for 12 hours of labour in some other form. These are equal exchanges of labour with labour, revenue with revenue.
If B is a gardener, then, A might pay them 6 Marks to provide 12 hours of labour tending their garden, which is an exchange of revenue with labour. So, what is it that enables the capitalist to be able to obtain 12 hours of labour from the worker, whilst only paying the equivalent of 6 hours of labour for it? It is the fact that this is an exchange of capital with labour, and this signifies a different set of social relations to those of simple commodity production and exchange. The capitalist pays the worker 3 Marks as wages, and this is, indeed, an exchange of equal values, because this is the value of what the worker actually sells, which is, no longer, the product of their labour, in the form of some commodity, or a labour-service (for example, gardening, cooking, sexual services), but is their labour-power.
The value of this capital (variable-capital) is, in fact, greater than the value of the commodities/money that comprises it. It is, in this instance, equal to a value of 6 Marks, because, in the given historical and social conditions, it can buy 12 hours of labour. In terms of this variable-capital, equal to what is paid out as wages, its value, as capital, is determined by the rate of surplus value, which is, here, 100%. In other conditions, it might buy 15 hours of labour, a 150% rate of surplus value, giving it a value of 7.5 Marks, or it might buy only 10 hours of labour, giving it a value of 5 Marks.
If the value of labour-power falls to say 1.5 Marks, because the value of wage goods fall, the capitalist, for the same expenditure in wages, could employ twice as many workers. If they continued to work for 12 hours, each worker would produce the same 6 Marks of new value, but, as there are twice as many workers, twice as much new value is produced, by the same quantity of variable-capital. In practice, firms must employ materials, machines etc. (constant capital) as well as labour-power, an so it is the relation of the surplus value to this total capital advanced (s/(c + v)), which determines the rate of profit. The actual value of capital, as capital, therefore, as against the value of the commodities that physically comprise its components, is determined by the average rate of profit, but that is for a further discussion.
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