Key Arguments

• Marx notes that "during the periods of stagnation and average prosperity" the industrial reserve army "weighs down the active army of workers," indicating that unemployment and underemployment depress wages and bargaining power in normal or sluggish times.
• Conversely, "during the periods of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions," meaning that even when demand for labour is high, the existence of a reserve population prevents workers from fully exploiting temporary advantages.
• He states that "the relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work," indicating that the law operates within a structural context shaped by the reserve army.
• This background "confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers," so that fluctuations of supply and demand never fundamentally threaten capitalist command over labour-power.

Source Quotes

But he really sees only the local oscillations of the labour-market in a particular sphere of production – he sees only the phenomena which accompany the distribution of the working population into the different spheres of outlay of capital, according to its varying needs. The industrial reserve army, during the periods of stagnation and average prosperity, weighs down the active army of workers; during the periods of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions. The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work.

The industrial reserve army, during the periods of stagnation and average prosperity, weighs down the active army of workers; during the periods of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions. The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work. It confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers.

The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work. It confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers. This is the place to return to one of the great exploits of economic apologetics.

Key Concepts

• The industrial reserve army, during the periods of stagnation and average prosperity, weighs down the active army of workers; during the periods of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions.
• The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labour does its work.
• It confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers.

Context

After discussing economists’ confusions about labour supply and wages, Marx specifies the strategic role of the industrial reserve army in shaping how the law of supply and demand of labour actually functions under capitalism.