Anti-Duhring, Part II, Political Economy, IX Natural Laws of Economics. Ground-Rent - Part 7 of 8

To illustrate, Engels quotes Adam Smith from The Wealth of Nations.

“The revenue derived from labour is called wages. That derived from stock, by the person who manages or employs it, is called profit... The revenue which proceeds altogether from land, is called rent, and belongs to the landlord... When those three different sorts of revenue belong to different persons they are readily distinguished; but when they belong to the same they are sometimes confounded with one another, at least in common language. A gentleman who farms a part of his own estate, after paying the expense of cultivation, should gain both the rent of the landlord and the profit of the farmer. He is apt to denominate, however, his whole gain, profit, and thus confounds rent with profit, at least in common language.” (p 287)

For Duhring, the real relation is turned on its head, with rent representing the primary form of surplus-value, and a part of it being handed to capital as a secondary form. Duhring says,

“The farmer's earnings depend on the exploitation of the “rural labour-power” and are therefore obviously a “part of the rent” by which the “full rent”, which really should flow into the landowner’s pocket, “is reduced”.” (p 288)

On this basis, for Duhring, the only difference between ground-rent and profit is that the former is the form of the surplus in agriculture, and the latter in industry.

“It was inevitable that Herr Dühring should arrive at this uncritical and confused view. We saw that his starting-point was the “truly historical conception”, that domination over the land could be based only on domination over man. Therefore, as soon as land is cultivated by means of any form of subjugated labour, a surplus arises for the landlord, and it is precisely this surplus which is the rent, just as in industry the surplus of the labour product over and above the earnings of labour constitutes the earnings of capital.” (p 288-9)

Engels quotes Duhring to that effect.

“Thus it is clear that ground-rent exists on a considerable scale wherever and whenever agriculture is carried on by means of any form of subjugation of labour.” (p 289)

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