Key Arguments

• Marx assumes that six hours of labour (creating a value of three shillings) are sufficient to reproduce the daily value of labour-power; if the process ended then, that new value would exactly equal the wage outlay.
• He notes that the labour process may continue for longer, e.g. twelve hours, so that labour-power not only reproduces its own value but produces 'value over and above this.'
• He defines surplus-value as 'the difference between the value of the product and the value of the elements consumed in the formation of the product, in other words the means of production and the labour-power.'
• He ties this directly to the capital relation: the excess of the product’s total value over the sum of advanced values is 'the excess of the capital which has been valorized over the value of the capital originally advanced.'
• By presenting the differentiated roles of means of production and labour-power in forming product value, he claims simultaneously to have characterized 'the different functions allotted to the different elements of capital in its own valorization process.'

Source Quotes

While labour, because it is directed to a specific purpose, preserves and transfers to the product the value of the means of production, at the same time, throughout every instant it is in motion, it is creating an additional value, a new value. Suppose the process of production breaks off just when the worker has produced an equivalent for the value of his own labour-power, when for example by six hours of labour he has added a value of three shillings. This value is the excess of the total value of the product over the portion of its value contributed by the means of production.

It is the only original value formed during this process, the only portion of the value of the product created by the process itself. Of course, we do not forget that this new value only replaces the money advanced by the capitalist in purchasing labour-power, and spent by the worker on means of subsistence. With regard to the three shillings which have been expended, the new value of three shillings appears merely as a reproduction.

The replacement of one value by another is here brought about by the creation of new value. We know however from what has gone before that the labour process may continue beyond the time necessary to reproduce and incorporate in the product a mere equivalent for the value of the labour-power. For this, six hours alone would be sufficient: but the process lasts longer, say for twelve hours.

We know however from what has gone before that the labour process may continue beyond the time necessary to reproduce and incorporate in the product a mere equivalent for the value of the labour-power. For this, six hours alone would be sufficient: but the process lasts longer, say for twelve hours. The activity of labour-power, therefore, not only reproduces its own value, but produces value over and above this.

For this, six hours alone would be sufficient: but the process lasts longer, say for twelve hours. The activity of labour-power, therefore, not only reproduces its own value, but produces value over and above this. This surplus-value is the difference between the value of the product and the value of the elements consumed in the formation of the product, in other words the means of production and the labour-power.

The activity of labour-power, therefore, not only reproduces its own value, but produces value over and above this. This surplus-value is the difference between the value of the product and the value of the elements consumed in the formation of the product, in other words the means of production and the labour-power. In presenting the different parts played by the various factors of the labour process in the formation of the product’s value, we have in fact characterized the different functions allotted to the different elements of capital in its own valorization process.

In presenting the different parts played by the various factors of the labour process in the formation of the product’s value, we have in fact characterized the different functions allotted to the different elements of capital in its own valorization process. The excess of the total value of the product over the sum of the values of its constituent elements is the excess of the capital which has been valorized over the value of the capital originally advanced. The means of production on the one hand, labour-power on the other, are merely the different forms of existence which the value of the original capital assumed when it lost its monetary form and was transformed into the various factors of the labour process.

Key Concepts

• Suppose the process of production breaks off just when the worker has produced an equivalent for the value of his own labour-power, when for example by six hours of labour he has added a value of three shillings.
• Of course, we do not forget that this new value only replaces the money advanced by the capitalist in purchasing labour-power, and spent by the worker on means of subsistence.
• We know however from what has gone before that the labour process may continue beyond the time necessary to reproduce and incorporate in the product a mere equivalent for the value of the labour-power.
• For this, six hours alone would be sufficient: but the process lasts longer, say for twelve hours.
• The activity of labour-power, therefore, not only reproduces its own value, but produces value over and above this.
• This surplus-value is the difference between the value of the product and the value of the elements consumed in the formation of the product, in other words the means of production and the labour-power.
• The excess of the total value of the product over the sum of the values of its constituent elements is the excess of the capital which has been valorized over the value of the capital originally advanced.

Context

Central theoretical moment in Chapter 8 where Marx transitions from the reproduction of labour-power’s value to the generation of surplus-value through the extension of the working day, explicitly interpreting the resulting excess as the valorization of capital.