Key Arguments

• Marx notes that the value advanced as variable capital equals the value of labour-power, which fixes the necessary part of the working day: 'Since, on the one hand, the variable capital and the labour-power purchased by that capital are equal in value, and the value of this labour-power determines the necessary part of the working day; and since, on the other hand, the surplus-value is determined by the surplus part of the working day, it follows that surplus-value is in the same ratio to variable capital as surplus labour is to necessary labour.'
• He states explicitly that the two ratios—s/v and surplus labour/necessary labour—are equivalent expressions, one in objectified labour, the other in living labour-time: 'In other words, the rate of surplus value ⁄ , Both ratios, ⁄ and , express the same thing in different ways; in the one case in the form of objectified labour, in the other in the form of living, fluid labour.'
• He concludes with a definitional statement: 'The rate of surplus-value is therefore an exact expression for the degree of exploitation of labour-power by capital, or of the worker by the capitalist.'
• Finally, he contrasts this with the 'usual' way of reckoning which confuses the rate of surplus-value with the much smaller rate of profit, using his example where £90 surplus over £500 capital gives 18%: 'We assumed in our example that the value of the product = £410 constant+£90 variable+£90 surplus, and that the capital advanced = £500. Since the surplus-value = £90, and the capital advanced = £500, we should, according to the usual way of reckoning, get 18 per cent as the rate of surplus-value (because it is generally confused with the rate of profit), a rate so low it might well cause a pleasant surprise to Mr Carey and other harmonizers.'

Source Quotes

What distinguishes the various economic formations of society – the distinction between for example a society based on slave-labour and a society based on wage-labour – is the form in which this surplus labour is in each case extorted from the immediate producer, the worker. Since, on the one hand, the variable capital and the labour-power purchased by that capital are equal in value, and the value of this labour-power determines the necessary part of the working day; and since, on the other hand, the surplus-value is determined by the surplus part of the working day, it follows that surplus-value is in the same ratio to variable capital as surplus labour is to necessary labour. In other words, the rate of surplus value ⁄ , Both ratios, ⁄ and , express the same thing in different ways; in the one case in the form of objectified labour, in the other in the form of living, fluid labour.

Since, on the one hand, the variable capital and the labour-power purchased by that capital are equal in value, and the value of this labour-power determines the necessary part of the working day; and since, on the other hand, the surplus-value is determined by the surplus part of the working day, it follows that surplus-value is in the same ratio to variable capital as surplus labour is to necessary labour. In other words, the rate of surplus value ⁄ , Both ratios, ⁄ and , express the same thing in different ways; in the one case in the form of objectified labour, in the other in the form of living, fluid labour. The rate of surplus-value is therefore an exact expression for the degree of exploitation of labour-power by capital, or of the worker by the capitalist.

In other words, the rate of surplus value ⁄ , Both ratios, ⁄ and , express the same thing in different ways; in the one case in the form of objectified labour, in the other in the form of living, fluid labour. The rate of surplus-value is therefore an exact expression for the degree of exploitation of labour-power by capital, or of the worker by the capitalist. We assumed in our example that the value of the product = £410 constant+£90 variable+£90 surplus, and that the capital advanced = £500.

We assumed in our example that the value of the product = £410 constant+£90 variable+£90 surplus, and that the capital advanced = £500. Since the surplus-value = £90, and the capital advanced = £500, we should, according to the usual way of reckoning, get 18 per cent as the rate of surplus-value (because it is generally confused with the rate of profit), a rate so low it might well cause a pleasant surprise to Mr Carey and other harmonizers.

Key Concepts

• Since, on the one hand, the variable capital and the labour-power purchased by that capital are equal in value, and the value of this labour-power determines the necessary part of the working day; and since, on the other hand, the surplus-value is determined by the surplus part of the working day, it follows that surplus-value is in the same ratio to variable capital as surplus labour is to necessary labour.
• Both ratios, ⁄ and , express the same thing in different ways; in the one case in the form of objectified labour, in the other in the form of living, fluid labour.
• The rate of surplus-value is therefore an exact expression for the degree of exploitation of labour-power by capital, or of the worker by the capitalist.
• we should, according to the usual way of reckoning, get 18 per cent as the rate of surplus-value (because it is generally confused with the rate of profit), a rate so low it might well cause a pleasant surprise to Mr Carey and other harmonizers.

Context

At the end of the section, Marx links his formal definition s/v to the temporal division of the working day, interprets it explicitly as a measure of exploitation, and contrasts it with the common (and, he implies, mystifying) practice of viewing surplus-value relative to total capital as the rate of profit.