Key Arguments

• The original capital's source might be obscured by history or myth
• Additional capital is formed entirely from the surplus-value of the previous cycle
• Every atom of value in the accumulated capital owes its existence to unpaid labor extracted from the working class

Source Quotes

And, in fact, their assumption appears to be the only one consonant with the laws of commodity production. But it is quite otherwise with regard to the additional capital of £2,000. We know perfectly well how that originated.

We know perfectly well how that originated. There is not one single atom of its value that does not owe its existence to unpaid labour. The means of production with which the additional labour-power is incorporated, as well as the necessaries with which the workers are sustained, are nothing but component parts of the surplus product, parts of the tribute annually exacted from the working class by the capitalist class.

There is not one single atom of its value that does not owe its existence to unpaid labour. The means of production with which the additional labour-power is incorporated, as well as the necessaries with which the workers are sustained, are nothing but component parts of the surplus product, parts of the tribute annually exacted from the working class by the capitalist class. Even if the latter uses a portion of that tribute to purchase the additional labour-power at its full price, so that equivalent is exchanged for equivalent, the whole thing still remains the age-old activity of the conqueror, who buys commodities from the conquered with the money he has stolen from them.

Key Concepts

• quite otherwise with regard to the additional capital
• There is not one single atom of its value that does not owe its existence to unpaid labour
• nothing but component parts of the surplus product, parts of the tribute annually exacted from the working class

Context

Marx distinguishing between the mythical origins of 'original capital' and the transparent origins of accumulated capital