Part III, Chapter XX
SIMPLE REPRODUCTION.

I. THE FORMULATION OF THE QUESTION.

If we study the annual function of social capital^*43—of the total capital whose fractional parts are the individual capitals, the movements of which are simultaneously their individual movements and links in the movements of the total capital—and its results, that is to say, if we study the product in commodities put forth by society during the year, then it must become apparent how the process of reproduction of the social capital proceeds, what characteristics distinguish this process of reproduction from that of an individual capital, and what characteristics are common to both. The annual product includes those portions of the social product which reproduce capital, the social reproduction, as well as those which go to the fund for consumption, which are consumed by capitalists and laborers, in other words, productive and individual consumption. It comprises the reproduction (maintenance) of the capitalist and working classes, and thus the reproduction of the capitalist character of the entire process of production.

It is evidently the circulation formula

which we have to analyze, and the consumption necessarily plays a role in it. For the point of departure, C' equal to C plus c, the commodity-capital, comprises the constant and variable capital as well as the surplus-value. Its movements, therefore, include both the individual and productive consumption. In the cycles M—C...P...C'—M', and P...C'—M'—C...P, the movement of the capital is the starting and finishing point. And this implies consumption, for the commodity, the product, must be sold. When these premises are accepted, it is immaterial for the movement of the individual capitals, what becomes of these commodities subsequently. On the other hand, in the movement of C'...C' the conditions of social reproduction are precisely different in this point, since it must be shown what becomes of every portion of value of this total product of C'. In this case, the total process of reproduction includes the process of consumption by way of the circulation quite as much as the process of reproduction of the capital itself.

This process of reproduction, now, must be considered for the purposes of our study both from the point of view of the reproduction of the value and of the substance of the individual component parts of C'. We cannot rest satisfied any longer, as we did in the analysis of the value of the product of the individual capital, with the assumption that the individual capitalist must first convert the component parts of his capital into money by the sale of his commodities, before he is able to reconvert it into productive capital by renewed purchase of the elements of production in the commodity market. Those elements of production, so far as they consist of things, constitute as much a portion of the social capital as the individual finished product, which is exchanged for them and reproduced by them. On the other hand, the movement of that portion of the social product in commodities, which is consumed by the laborer in the expenditure of his labor-power, and by the capitalist in spending his surplus-value, does not only form an integral part of the movement of the total product, but also intermingles with the movements of the individual capitals, and this process cannot be explained by merely assuming it.

The question which we have to face immediately, is this: How is the value of the capital consumed in production re-produced out of the annual product, and how does the movement of this reproduction intermingle with the consumption of surplus-value by the capitalists and of wages by the laborers? We are dealing, then, first with reproduction on a simple scale. It is furthermore assumed that products are exchanged at their value, and that no revolution in the value of the elements of productive capital takes place. Should there be any divergence of prices from values, this would not exert any influence on the movements of social capital. On the whole, there is the same exchange of the same quantity of products, although the individual capitalists would be taking shares in it which would no longer be proportional to their respective advances and to the quantities of value produced by each one. As for revolutions of value, they do not alter anything in the proportions of the elements of value of the various component parts of the total annual product, provided they are universally and uniformly distributed. To the extent that they are limited and unevenly distributed, they are disturbances, which, in the first place, can be understood only as divergences from equal proportions of value; and, in the second place, given the law according to which one portion of the annual product reproduces constant, and another variable capital, a revolution either in the value of the constant or variable capital would not alter this law. It would change merely the relative magnitude of the portions of value which serve in the one or the other capacity, seeing that other values would have taken the places of the original ones.

So long as we looked upon the production of value and the value of products from the point of view of individual capital, it was immaterial for the analysis which was the natural form of the product in commodities, whether it was, for instance that of a machine, of corn, or of looking glasses. It was always but a matter of illustration, and any line of production could serve that purpose. What we had to consider was the immediate process of production itself, which presented itself at every point as the process of some individual capital. So far as reproduction was concerned, it was sufficient to assume that that portion of the product in commodities, which represented capital in the sphere of circulation, found an opportunity to reconvert itself into its elements of production and thus into its form of productive capital. It likewise sufficed to assume that both the laborer and the capitalist found in the market those commodities for which they spend their wages and surplus-value. This merely formal manner of presentation does not suffice in the study of the total social capital and of the value of its products. The reconversion of one portion of the value of the product into capital, the passing of another portion into the individual consumption of the capitalist and working classes, form a movement within the value of the product itself which is created by the total capital; and this movement is not only a reproduction of value, but also of material, and is, therefore, as much conditioned on the relative proportions of the elements of value of the total social product as on its use-value, its material substance.^*44

Simple reproduction on the same scale appears as an abstraction; inasmuch as the absence of all accumulation or reproduction on an enlarged scale is an irrelevant assumption in capitalist society, and, on the other hand, conditions of production do not remain exactly the same in different years (as was assumed). The assumption is that a social capital of a given magnitude produces the same quantity of value in commodities this year as last, and supplies the same quantity of wants, although the forms of the commodities may be changed in the process of reproduction. However, while accumulation does take place, simple reproduction is always a part of it and may, therefore, be studied in itself, being an actual factor in accumulation. The value of the annual product may decrease, although the quantity of use-values may remain the same; or, the value may remain the same, although the quantity of the use-values may decrease; or, the quantity of value and of use-values may decrease simultaneously. All this amounts to saying that reproduction takes place either under more favorable conditions than before, or under more difficult ones, which may result in an imperfect reproduction. But all this can refer only to the quantitative side of the various elements of reproduction, not to the role which they are playing as a reproducing capital, or as a reproduced revenue, in the entire process.

II. THE TWO DEPARTMENTS OF SOCIAL PRODUCTION.^*45

The total product, and therefore the total production, of society, is divided into two great sections:

1. Means of Production, commodities having a form in which they must, or at least may, pass over into productive consumption.
II. Means of Consumption, commodities having a form in which they pass into the individual consumption of the capitalist and working classes.

In each of these two departments, all the various lines of production belonging to them form one single great line of production, the one that of the means of production, the other that of articles of consumption. The aggregate capital invested in each of these two departments of production constitutes a separate section of the entire social capital.

In each department, the capital consists of two parts:

(1) Variable Capital. This capital, so far as its value is concerned, is equal to the value of the social labor-power employed in this line of production, in other words equal to the sum of the wages paid for this labor-power. So far as its substance is concerned, it consists of the active labor-power itself, that is to say, of the living labor set in motion by this value of capital.
(2) Constant Capital. This is the value of all the means of production employed in this line. These, again, are divided into fixed capital, such as machines, instruments of labor, buildings, laboring animals, etc., and circulating capital, such as materials of production, raw and auxiliary materials, half-wrought articles, etc.

The value of the total annual product created with the capital of each of the two great departments of production consists of one portion representing the constant capital c consumed in the process of production and transferred to the product, and of another portion added by the entire labor of the year. This latter portion, again, consists of one part re-producing the advanced variable capital v, and of another representing an excess over the variable capital, the surplus-value s. And just as the value of every individual commodity, so that of the entire annual product of each department consists of c plus v plus s.

The portion c of the value, representing the constant capital consumed in production, is not identical with the value of the constant capital invested in production. It is true that the materials of production are entirely consumed and their values completely transferred to the product. But of the invested fixed capital, only a portion is consumed and its value transferred to the product. Another portion of the fixed capital, such as machines, buildings, etc., continues to exist and serve the same as before, merely depreciating to the extent of the annual wear and tear. This persistent portion of the fixed capital does not exist for us, when we consider the value of the product. It is a portion of the value of capital existing independently beside the new value in commodities produced by this capital. This was shown previously in the analysis of the value of the product of some individual capital (volume I, chapter VI). However, for the present we must leave aside the method of analysis employed there. We saw in the study of the value of the product of individual capital that the value withdrawn from the fixed capital by wear and tear was transferred to the product in commodities created during the time of wear, no matter whether any portion of this fixed capital is reproduced in its natural form out of the value thus transferred or not. At this point, however, in the study of the social product as a whole and of its value, we must for the present leave out of consideration that portion of value which is transferred from the fixed capital to the annual product by wear and tear, unless this fixed capital is reproduced in natura during the year. In one of the following sections of this chapter we shall return to this point.

We shall base our analysis of simple reproduction on the following diagram, in which c stands for constant capital, v for variable capital, and s for surplus-value, the rate of surplus-value between v and s being assumed at 100 per cent. The figures may indicate millions of francs, marks, pounds sterling, or dollars.

I. Production of Means of Production.
Capital...4000 c+1000 v=5000.
Product in Commodities...4000 c+1000 v+1000 s=6000.

These exist in the form of means of production.

II. Production of Means of Consumption.
Capital...2000 c+500 v=2500.
Product in Commodities...2000 c+500 v+500 s=3000.

These exist in articles of consumption.

Recapitulation: Total annual product in commodities:

I. 4000 c+1000 v+1000 s=6000 means of production.
II. 2000 c+ 500 v+ 500 s=3000 articles of consumption.

Total value 9000, exclusive of the fixed capital persisting in its natural form, according to our assumption.

Now, if we examine the transactions required on the basis of simple reproduction, where the entire surplus-value is unproductively consumed, leaving aside for the present the mediation of the money circulation, we obtain at the outset three great points of vantage.

(1) The 500 v, representing wages of the laborers, and 500 s, representing surplus-value of the capitalists, in department II, must be spent for articles of consumption. But their value exists in the articles of consumption to the amount of 1000, held by the capitalists of department II, which reproduce the 500 v and represent the 500 s. The wages and surplus-value of department II, then, are exchanged within this department for products of this same department. By this means, a quantity of articles of consumption equal to 1000 (500 v plus 500 s) disappear out of the total product of department II.

(2) The 1000 v and 1000 s of department I must likewise be spent for articles of consumption, in other words, for some of the products of department II. Hence they must be exchanged for the remaining 2000 c of constant value, which is equal in amount to them. Department II receives in return an equal quantity of means of production, the product of I, in which the value of 1000 v and 1000 s of I is incorporated. By this means, 2000 c of II and (1000 v + 1000 s) of I disappear out of the calculation.

(3) Nothing remains now but 4000 c of I. These consist of means of production which can be used up only in department I. They serve for the reproduction of its consumed constant capital, and are disposed of by the mutual exchange between the individual capitalists of I, just as are the (500 v + 500 s) in II by an exchange between the capitalists and laborers, or between the individual capitalists, of II.

This may serve for the present to render easier the understanding of the following statements.

III. THE TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN THE TWO DEPARTMENTS.^*46
I (v + s) versus II c.

We begin with the great exchange between the two departments. The values of (1000 v + 1000 s), consisting of the natural form of means of production in the hands of their producers, are exchanged for 2000 c of II, for values consisting of articles of consumption in their natural form. The capitalist class of II thereby reconverts its constant capital of 2000 from the form of articles of consumption into that of means of production of articles of consumption. In this form it may serve once more as a factor in the labor-process as the value of constant capital in the process of self-expansion. On the other hand, the equivalent of the labor-power of I (1000 v) and of the surplus-value of the capitalists of I (1000 s) is realized in articles of consumption; both of them are converted from their natural form of means of production into a natural form in which they may be consumed as revenue.

Now, this mutual transaction is accomplished by means of a circulation of money, which facilitates it as much as it renders its understanding difficult, but which is of fundamental importance, because the variable portion of capital must ever resume the form of money, of money-capital converting itself from the form of money into labor-power. The variable capital must be advanced in the form of money in all lines of production carried on simultaneously, regardless of whether they belong to department I or II. The capitalist buys the labor-power before it enters into the process of production, but does not pay for it except at stipulated terms, after it has been expended in the production of use-values. He owns, with the remainder of the value of the product, also that portion of it which is an equivalent for the money expended in the payment of labor-power, in other words, that portion of the value of the product which represents variable capital. By this portion of value the laborer has supplied the capitalist with the equivalent for his own wages. But it is the reconversion of commodities into money by their sale which restores to the capitalist his variable capital in the form of money-capital, which he may advance once more for the purchase of labor-power.

In department I, then, the aggregate capitalist has paid 1000 pounds sterling (I use the term pounds sterling merely to indicate that it is value in the form of money), equal to 1000 v, for the v-portion of the already existing value of product I, that is to say, of the means of production created by him. The laborers buy with these 1000 pounds sterling articles of consumption of the same value from the capitalists II, thereby converting one-half of the constant capital II into money; the capitalists II, in their turn, buy with these 1000 pounds sterling means of production, valued at 1000, from the capitalists I; the variable capital-value of 1000 v, which consisted, in the natural form of the product of capitalists I, of means of production, is thus reconverted for them into money and may serve anew in their hands as money-capital, which is transformed into labor-power, the most essential element of productive capital. In this way, their variable capital returns to them in the form of money, as a result of the realization on some of their commodity-capital.

As for the money which is required for the exchange of the s portion of commodity-capital I for the second half of constant capital II, it may be advanced in various ways. In reality, this circulation implies innumerable small purchases and sales of the individual capitals of both departments, the money coming under all circumstances from these capitalists, since we have already disposed of the money thrown into circulation by the laborers. It may be that one of the capitalists of department II buys, with the money-capital he has aside from his productive capital, means of production from capitalists of department I, or that, vice versa, one of the capitalists of department I buys, with funds reserved for individual expenses, not for capital investment, articles of consumption from capitalists of department II. A certain supply of money, to be used either for investment as capital or for expenditure as revenue, must be assumed to exist beside the productive capital in the hands of the capitalists, under all circumstances, as we have shown in section I and II. Let us assume—it is immaterial what proportion we select for our purpose—that one-half of the money is advanced by the capitalists of department II in the purchase of means of production intended for the reproduction of their constant capital, while the other half is spent by the capitalists of department I for articles of consumption. For instance, let department II advance 500 pounds sterling for the purchase of means of production from department I, thereby reproducing (inclusive of the 1000 pounds sterling coming from the laborers of department I) three-quarters of its constant capital in its natural form; department I buys with the 500 pounds sterling so obtained articles of consumption from II, thus completing for one-half of the s-portion of its commodity-capital the circulation c—m—c and realizing on its product in a supply of articles of consumption. By means of this second transaction, the 500 pounds sterling return to the hands of the capitalists of department II, in the form of money-capital existing beside its productive capital. On the other hand, department I expends money to the amount of 500 pounds sterling, in anticipation of the realization on the other half of the s-portion of its still unsold commodity-capital, for the purchase of articles of consumption from department II. With the same 500 pounds sterling, department II buys from I means of production, thereby reproducing in natural form its entire constant capital (1000 + 500 + 500 = 2000), while I realizes its entire surplus-value in articles of consumption. The entire transaction would represent a transfer of commodities valued at 4000 pounds sterling with a circulation of 2000 pounds sterling in money. This last amount is sufficient only because we have assumed that the entire annual product is sold in bulk in a few large transactions. The important point is here that department II has not only reconverted its constant capital, which had been reproduced in the form of articles of consumption, into the form of means of production, but has also recovered the 500 pounds sterling which it had thrown into circulation for the purchase of means of production; and that in the same way department I possesses once more not only its variable capital, which it had produced in the form of means of production, in the form of money-capital, readily convertible into labor-power, but also the 500 pounds sterling expended in the purchase of articles of consumption previously to the sale of the s-portion of its capital in anticipation of its realization. It recovers these 500 pounds sterling, not by this expenditure, but by the subsequent sale of one-half of the s-portion of its commodity-capital.

In both cases, it is not merely the constant capital of department II which is reconverted from the form of a product into the natural form of means of production, in which it can alone serve as capital; nor is it merely the variable portion of the capital of I which is reconverted into its money-form, nor the surplus-portion of the means of production of I which is transformed into its consumable form of revenue. It is also the 500 pounds sterling of money-capital, advanced by department II in the purchase of means of production previously to the sale of the corresponding portion of the value of its constant capital, which return to II; and the 500 pounds sterling expended by I for means of consumption previously to the realization of its surplus-value. The fact that the money advanced by II at the expense of the constant portion of its commodities, and by I at the expense of the surplus-portion of its commodities, returns to them is due to the circumstance that one class of capitalists throws 500 pounds sterling into circulation over and above the constant capital existing in the form of commodities in department II, and another class a like amount over and above the surplus-value existing in the form of commodities in department I. In the last analysis, the two departments have mutually paid one another in full by the exchange of equivalents in the form of their respective commodities. The money thrown into circulation by each department in excess of the value of their commodities, as a means of transacting the exchange of these commodities, returns to each one of them out of the circulation at the same rate in which they had contributed to it. Neither has grown any richer thereby. Department II possessed a constant capital of 2000 in the form of articles of consumption plus 500 pounds sterling in money; now it possesses 2000 in means of production plus 500 pounds sterling in money, the same as before; in the same way, department I possesses, as before, a surplus-value of 1000 (consisting of commodities in the form of means of production, now converted into a supply of articles of consumption) plus 500 pounds sterling. The general conclusion is this: The money which the industrial capitalists throw into circulation for the purpose of accomplishing the mutual exchange of their commodities, either in account with the constant value of the commodities, or in account with the surplus-value existing in the commodities, to the extent that it is spent as revenue, returns into the hands of the respective capitalists in proportion to the amount advanced by them for the circulation of money.

As for the reconversion of the variable capital of department I into the form of money, this capital exists, after the capitalists of I have invested it in wages, first in the form of the commodities produced by the laborers. The capitalists have paid this capital in the form of money to these laborers as the price of their labor-power. The capitalists have to this extent paid for that portion of the value of their commodities, which is equal to the variable capital expended in the form of money. They are, for this reason, the owners of this portion of the commodity-product. But that portion of the working class which is employed by them does not buy the means of production created by it; these laborers buy articles of consumption produced by department II. Hence the variable capital advanced by the capitalists of I in the payment of labor-power does not return to these capitalists directly. It passes by means of the purchases of the laborers of I into the hands of the capitalist producers of the requirements of life of the laborer, or of other commodities accessible to them; in other words, it passes into the hands of capitalists of II. And not until these expend this money in the purchase of means of production does it return by this circuitous route into the hands of the capitalists of department I.

It follows that, on the basis of simple reproduction, the sum of the values of v plus s of the commodity-capital of I (and therefore a corresponding proportional part of the total product in commodities of I) must be equal to the constant capital c of department II, which is likewise disposed of as a proportional part of the entire product in commodities of department II; or I (v + s) = II c.

IV. TRANSACTIONS WITHIN DEPARTMENT II. NECESSITIES OF LIFE AND ARTICLES OF LUXURY.

It remains for us to analyze the portion v plus s of the value of the commodities of department II. This analysis has nothing to do with the most important question which occupies our attention in this chapter, namely the question, to what extent the separation of the value of every individual capitalist product in commodities into c plus v plus s applies also to the value of the entire annual product in commodities, even though this separation may be based on different forms. This question is solved by the transaction between I (v + s) and II c, and, on the other hand, by the analysis of the reproduction of I c in the annual product in commodities of I, to be analyzed later on.

Since II (v + s) exists in the natural form of articles of consumption; since, furthermore, the variable capital advanced in the payment of the labor-power of the laborers is mostly spent by them for articles of consumption; and since, finally, the s-portion of the value of commodities, on the basis of simple reproduction, is practically spent as revenue for articles of consumption, it is evident at the first glance that the laborers of II buy back, with the money received as wages from the capitalists of II, a portion of their own product, corresponding in value to the money-value represented by these wages. The capitalist class of II thereby reconvert the money-capital advanced by them in the payment of labor-power into the form of money. It is as though they had paid the laborers in mere checks on commodities. As soon as the laborers realize on these checks by the purchase of a portion of the commodities produced by them, but belonging to the capitalists, these checks return into the hands of the capitalists. Only, these checks do not merely represent value, but they are actually embodied in gold or silver. We shall analyze later on this sort of reflux of variable capital by means of a process in which the laborer appears as a purchaser and the capitalist as a seller. Here, however, it is a question of a different point, which must be discussed on the occasion of the return of this variable capital to its point of departure.

Department II of the annual production of commodities consists of a great variety of lines of production, which may, however, be divided into two great subdivisions according to their products.

(a) Articles of consumption required for the maintenance of the laboring class, and to the extent that they are material requirements of life, also forming a portion of the consumption of the capitalist class, although they are frequently different in quality and value. We may, for our purposes, comprise this entire subdivision under the name of necessary articles of consumption, regardless of whether a product of this class, such as tobacco, is really a necessary article of consumption from the physiological standpoint or not. It is sufficient that it may be habitually in demand.

(b) Articles of luxury, which are consumed only by the capitalist class, being purchased only with the surplus-value, which never falls to the share of the laborer.

It is obvious that the variable capital advanced in the production of the commodities of the class (a) must flow back directly to that portion of the capitalist class of II (in other words the capitalists of IIa) who have produced these material requirements of life. They sell them to their own laborers to the amount of the variable capital paid to them in wages. This reflux takes place in a direct way, so far as this entire subdivision (a) of the capitalist class of department II is concerned, no matter how numerous may be the transactions between the capitalists of the various lines of industry interested in this department, by means of which the returning variable capital is distributed pro rata. These transactions are processes of circulation, whose means of circulation are supplied directly by the money expended by the laborers. It is different with subdivision IIb. The entire portion of the values produced in this subdivision, IIb (v + s), exists in the natural form of articles of luxury; that is to say, articles which the laborer can buy no more than the value of the commodities Iv existing in the form of means of production, notwithstanding the fact that both articles of luxury and means of production are the products of the working class. Hence the reflux by which the variable capital advanced in this subdivision restores to the capitalist producers its value in the form of money cannot take place directly, but must be promoted indirectly, similarly as in the case of Iv.

Let us assume, for instance, that v stands for 500 and s also for 500, as they did in the case of the entire class II; but let the division of the variable capital and of the corresponding surplus-value be as follows:

(Subdivision a) Necessities of Life: v equal to 400 and s equal to 400; hence a total quantity of necessities of life valued at 400 v plus 400 s, equal to 800, in other words, IIa (400 v+400 s).
(Subdivision b) Articles of Luxury: Valued at 100 v plus 100 s, equal to 200, or IIb (100 v + 100 s).

The laborers of IIb have received 100 in money as payment of their labor-power, or say 100 pounds sterling. They buy with this money articles of consumption from the capitalists of IIa to the same amount. This class of capitalists buys with the same money 100 p. st. worth of the commodities of IIb, thereby returning to the capitalists of IIb their variable capital in the form of money.

In IIa there are available once more 400 v in money, in the hands of the capitalists, obtained by exchange with their laborers. Furthermore, the fourth part of the product representing surplus-value has been transferred to the laborers of IIb, and IIb (100v) have been purchased in the form of articles of luxury.

Now, assuming that the capitalists of IIa and IIb divide the expenditure of their revenue in the same proportion between necessities of life and luxuries—for instance, three-fifths for necessities and two-fifths for luxuries—the capitalists of IIa will spend their revenue from surplus-value, amounting to 400 s, three-fifths, or 240, for their own product of necessities of life, and two-fifths, or 160, for articles of luxury. The capitalists of subdivision IIb will divide their surplus-value of 100 s in the same way: three-fifths, or 60, for necessities, and two-fifths, or 40, for articles of luxury, these being produced and exchanged in their own sub-division.

The 160 in articles of luxury received by IIa for its surplus-value, pass into the hands of the capitalists of IIa in the following manner: Of the 400 s of IIa, we have seen that 100 were exchanged in the form of necessities of life for an equal amount of articles of luxury of IIb, and furthermore 60, consisting of necessities of life, for 60 s of IIb, consisting of luxuries. The total calculation then stands as follows:

IIa: 400 v plus 400 s; IIb: 100 v plus 100 s.

(1) 400 v of (a) are consumed by the laborers of IIa, a part of whose product is represented by that amount in necessities of life; the laborers buy these necessities from the capitalist producers of their own subdivision. These capitalists thereby recover 400 p. st., in money, which is the value of the variable capital paid by them to these same laborers. They can now buy more labor-power with it.

(2) One portion of the 400 s of (a), equal to the 100 v of (b); in other words, one-quarter of the surplus-value of (a) is exchanged for luxuries in the following way: The laborers of (b) received from the capitalists of their subdivision 100 p. st. in wages. With this amount these laborers bought one-quarter of the surplus-value of (a), in other words, commodities consisting of necessities of life. The capitalists of (a) buy with this same money articles of luxury to the same amount, which equals 100 v of (b), or one-half of the entire product in luxuries of (b). In this way the capitalists of (b) recover their variable capital in the form of money and are enabled to resume reproduction after having invested this amount once more in labor-power, since the entire constant capital of the whole department II has been reproduced by the exchange between I (v+s) and IIc. The labor-power of the laborers of IIb, the producers of articles of luxury, is under these circumstances, only saleable because the product created by them as an equivalent for their own wages is consumed by the capitalists of IIa. (The same applies to the sale of the labor-power of I, since the IIc for which I (v + s) is exchanged, consists of both articles of luxury and necessities of life, and that which is reproduced by means of I (v + s) consists of the means of production of both luxuries and necessities.)

(3) We now come to the exchange between a and b, to the extent that it is merely a transaction between the capitalists of these two subdivisions. So far we have disposed of the variable capital (400) v and of one portion of the surplus-value (100) s in (a), and of the variable capital (100) v in (b). We had furthermore assumed that the average proportion of the expenditure of the capitalist revenue was in both classes two-fifths for luxuries and three-fifths for necessities. Apart from the 100 thus expended for luxuries, the entire department therefore still has to spend 60 for luxuries in (a) and the same proportion, or 40, in (b).

(IIa) is then divided into 240 for necessities and 160 for luxuries, or 240 + 160=400 s (IIa).

(IIb) s is divided into 60 for necessities and 40 for luxuries; 60 + 40 = 100s (IIb). The last 40 are consumed by this class out of its own product (two-fifths of its surplus-value); the 60 for necessities are obtained by this class through the exchange of 60 of its surplus-value for 60 s of a.

We have, then, for the entire capitalist class of II, the following situation (v plus s in subdivision (a) consisting of necessities, in subdivision (b) of luxuries):

IIa (400 v + 400 s) +IIb (100 v + 100 s) = 1000; by this transaction there is realized 500 v (a + b) + 500 s (a + b) = 1000; the first member in this equation being realized in 400 v of (a) and 100 s of (b), the second in 300 s of (a) plus 100 v of (b) plus 100 s of (b).

Considering a and b, each by itself, we have the transaction:

If we retain, for the sake of simplicity, the same proportion between the variable and constant capital of each subdivision (which, by the way, is not at all necessary), we obtain for 400 v (a) a constant capital of 1600, and for 100 v (b) a constant capital of 400, and we have the following two subdivisions a and b in department II:

(IIa) 1600 c + 400 v + 400 s = 2400
(IIb) 400 c + 100 v + 100 s = 600

making together

2000 c + 500 v + 500 s = 3000.

Accordingly, 1600 of the 2000 IIc in articles of consumption, which are exchanged for 2000 I (v + s), are disposed of for means of production of necessities of life, and 400 for means of production of luxuries.

The 2000 I (v + s), then, would be divided into (800 v + 800 s) I, for the 1600 means of production of necessities of life in section a, and (200 v + 200 s) I, for the 400 means of production of luxuries in b.

A considerable part of the instruments of labor, strictly so called, as well as of the raw and auxiliary materials, etc., is homogeneous for both departments. But so far as the transaction of the exchanges of the various portions of value of the total product I (v + s) are concerned, such a division would be immaterial. Both the above named 800 v of I and 200 v of I are realized by the spending of wages for articles of consumption 1000 c of II, and the money-capital advanced for this purpose is uniformly distributed, on its return, among the capitalist producers of I, reproducing their variable capital in money at the rate advanced by them. On the other hand, so far as the realization of the 1000 s of I is concerned, the capitalists will likewise draw uniformly, in proportion to the magnitude of their surplus-value, 600 IIa and 400 IIb out of the entire second half of IIc, equal to 1000; in other words, those who make up for the constant capital of IIa will draw 480, or three-fifths, out of 600 c of IIa, and 320, or two-fifths, out of 400 c of IIb, a total of 800; while those who make up for the constant capital of IIb will draw 120, or three-fifths out of 600 c of IIa and 80, or two-fifths out of 400 c of IIb, a total of 200. Grand total, 1000.

That which is arbitrary in this case is the proportion of the variable to the constant capital of both I and II and so is the uniformity of this proportion for I and II and their subdivisions. As for this uniformity, it has been assumed merely for the sake of simplifying the matter, and it would not alter in any way the fundamental conditions of the problem and its solution, if we had assumed different proportions. However, the necessary result of all this, on the basis of simple reproduction, is the following:

(1) That the new product in values created by the labor of one year in the natural form of means of production, divisible into v plus s, must be equal to the value of the constant capital c of the product in values created by the other part of annual labor, reproduced in the form of articles of consumption. If it were smaller than IIc, it would be impossible for II to reproduce its entire constant capital; if it were greater, a surplus would remain unused. In either case, the assumption of simple reproduction would be violated.

(2) That in the case of annual product which is reproduced in the form of articles of consumption, the variable capital v advanced in the form of money can be realized by its recipients, to the extent that they are laborers producing luxuries, only in that portion of the necessities of life which embodies for its capitalist producers primarily their surplus-value; so that v, invested in the production of luxuries, is equal in value to a corresponding portion of s produced in the form of necessities, and must be smaller than the whole of this s, which is s of IIa; and that, finally, the variable capital of the capitalist producers of luxuries returns to them in the form of money only by means of the realization of that v in this portion of s. This phenomenon is quite analogous to the realization of I (v +s) in IIc; only that in the second case, it is the v of IIb which is realized in a portion of s of IIa of the same value. These conditions determine the proportions of the various quantities in every distribution of the total annual product, to the extent that it actually enters into the process of the annual reproduction promoted by circulation. I (v+s) can be realized only in IIc, and IIc can renew its function as a component part of productive capital only by means of this realization; in the same way, the v of IIb can be realized only in a portion of s of IIa, and v of IIb can only thus be reconverted into the form of money-capital. Of course, all this applies only to the extent that it is a result of the process of reproduction itself, so that the capitalists of IIb do not, for instance, take up money-capital for v by credit from others. So far as mere quantity is concerned, the transactions for the exchange of the various portions of the annual product can take place only in the way indicated above, so long as the scale and the conditions determining value remain stationary, and so long as these strict conditions are not altered by the commerce with foreign countries.

Now, if we were to say after the manner of Adam Smith that I(v + s) resolves itself in IIc, and IIc resolves itself into I(v + s), or, as he says more frequently and more absurdly, I (v + s) constitutes the component parts of the price (or value in exchange, as he has it) of IIc, and IIc constitutes the entire component part of the value of I (v + s), then we could and should say that the v of IIb resolves itself into s of IIa, or the s of IIa into the v of IIb, or the v of IIb forms a component part of the s of IIa, or, vice versa, the surplus-value thus resolves itself into wages, or into variable capital, and the variable capital forms a component part of the surplus-value. This absurdity is indeed found in Adam Smith, since according to him wages are determined by the value of the necessities of life, and the values of these commodities in their turn by the value of the wages (variable capital) and surplus-value contained in them. He is so absorbed in the fractional parts, into which the product in values of one working day is divided on the basis of capitalist production—namely into v plus s—that he quite forgets that it is immaterial in the simple exchange of commodities, whether the equivalents existing in various natural forms consist of paid or unpaid labor, since their production costs in either case the same amount of labor; and that it is also immaterial, whether the commodity of A is a means of production and that of B an article of consumption, and whether one commodity has to serve as a component part of capital after its sale, while another passes into the fund for consumption and is consumed, according to Adam, as revenue. The use to which the buyer puts his commodity does not fall within the scope of the exchange of commodities, does not concern the circulation, and does not affect the value of the commodity. This fact is not in the least affected by the truth that, in the analysis of the circulation of the annual social product as a whole, the definite use for which it is intended, the mode of consumption of the various component parts of that product, must be taken into consideration.

In mentioning the fact that the conversion of the v of IIb into a portion of the s of IIa of the same value, and the further transactions between the s of IIa and the s of IIb, it is by no means assumed that either the individual capitalists of IIa and IIb or their respective totalities divide their surplus-value in the same proportion between necessities of life and articles of luxury. The one may spend more in this consumption, the other more in that. On the basis of simple reproduction we have merely assumed that a sum of values equal to the entire surplus-value is realized in a fund for consumption. The limits are thus given. Within each department, the one may do more in a, the other in b. But this may compensate itself mutually, so that the capitalist classes of a and b, each taken as a whole, each participate in the same proportion in both of them. The proportions of value—the proportional share of the two classes of producers, a and b, in the total value of the product of II—and with them a definite quantitative proportion between the departments of production supplying those products, are necessarily given in any concrete case; only a proportion chosen as an illustration is a hypothetical one. It does not alter the qualitative elements of the proposition, if we select another illustration; only the quantitative determinations would be altered. But if any circumstances cause an actual change in the proportional magnitude of a and b, then the conditions of simple reproduction would likewise be changed correspondingly.

Since the v of IIb is realized in an equivalent portion of the s of IIa, it follows that to the extent that the portion of the annual product consisting of luxuries grows, absorbing an increasing share of the labor-power in the production of luxuries, to the same extent is the reconversion of variable capital advanced by IIb into money conditioned on the prodigality of the capitalist class, who spend a considerable portion of their surplus-value in articles of luxury. It is by this means that the reconversion of this variable capital into money is promoted, and thereby the existence and reproduction of the laborers employed in IIb, by supplying them with the articles of consumption necessary for their life.

Every crisis momentarily lessens the consumption of luxuries. It retards and checks the reconversion of the v of IIb into money-capital, permitting it only partially and thus throwing a certain number of the laborers employed in the production of luxuries out of employment, while it on the other hand clogs by this means the sale of the necessary articles of consumption and reduces it. And there are, besides, the unproductive laborers who are dismissed at the same time, laborers who receive for their services a portion of the funds spent by the capitalists for luxuries (these laborers are themselves luxuries), and who take part to a very considerable extent in the consumption of necessities of life, etc. The reverse takes place in periods of prosperity, particularly during the times of bogus prosperity, in which the relative value of money, expressed in commodities, decreases primarily for other reasons (without any other actual revolution in values), so that the price of commodities rises independently of their own value. It is not alone the consumption of necessities of life which increases at such times. The working class, actively re-inforced by its entire reserve army, also enjoys momentarily articles of luxury ordinarily out of its reach, articles which at other times constitute for the greater part "necessities" only for the capitalist class. This contributes to a rise in prices from this quarter.

It is purely a tautology to say that crises are caused by the scarcity of solvent consumers, or of a paying consumption. The capitalist system does not know any other modes of consumption but a paying one, except that of the pauper or of the "thief." If any commodities are unsaleable, it means that no solvent purchasers have been found for them, in other words, consumers (whether commodities are bought in the last instance for productive or individual consumption). But if one were to attempt to clothe this tautology with a semblance of a profounder justification by saying that the working class receive too small a portion of their own product, and the evil would be remedied by giving them a larger share of it, or raising their wages, we should reply that crises are precisely always preceded by a period in which wages rise generally and the working class actually get a larger share of the annual product intended for consumption. From the point of view of the advocates of "simple" (!) common sense, such a period should rather remove a crisis. It seems, then, that capitalist production comprises certain conditions which are independent of good or bad will and permit the working class to enjoy that relative prosperity only momentarily, and at that always as a harbinger of a coming crisis.^*47

We saw a while ago that the proportion between the production of necessities of life and that of luxuries requires the division of II (v + s) into IIa and IIb, and thus of IIc into (IIa) c and (IIb) c. Hence this division touches the character and the quantitative conditions of production to their very roots, and is an essential factor in its general conformation.

Simple reproduction is essentially directed toward consumption as an end, although the securing of surplus-value appears as the compelling motive of the individual capitalists; but surplus-value in this case, whatever may be its proportional magnitude, is supposed to serve merely for the individual consumption of the capitalist.

So far as simple reproduction is a part, and the most important one at that, of annual reproduction on an enlarged scale, consumption remains as a motive accompanying the accumulation of wealth as an end and distinguished from it. In reality, the matter appears more complicated, because some partners in the loot, the surplus-value of the capitalist, figure as consumers independently of him.

V. THE PROMOTION OF THE TRANSACTIONS BY THE CIRCULATION OF MONEY.

So far as we have analyzed circulation up to the present, it proceeded between the various classes of producers as indicated in the following diagrams:

(1) Between class I and class II:
I. 4000 c + 1000 v + 1000 s.
II....2000 c...+ 500 v + 500 s.

This disposes of the circulation of IIc (2000), which is exchanged for I (1000 v + 1000 s).

Leaving aside for the present the 4000 c of I, there still remains the circulation of v + s within class II. Now II (v + s) is subdivided between the subclasses IIa and IIb in the following manner:

(2) II. 500 v + 500 s=a (400 v + 400 s) + b (100 v + 100 s).

The 400 v of a circulate within their own subclass; the laborers paid with these wages buy with them articles of consumption, produced by themselves, from their employers, the capitalists of IIa.

Since the capitalists of both subclasses spend three-fifths of their surplus-value in products of IIa (necessities) and two-fifths in products of IIb (luxuries), the three-fifths of the surplus-value of a, or 240, are consumed within the subclass IIa itself; likewise two-fifths of the surplus-value of b (produced in the form of articles of luxury and existing as such) within the subclass IIb.

There remains to be exchanged between IIa and IIb: On the side of IIa: 160 s; on the side of IIb: 100 v + 60 s. These compensate one another. The laborers of IIb buy with their 100 in the form of money necessities of life to that amount from IIa. The capitalists of IIb likewise buy necessities from IIa to the amount of three-fifths, or 60, of their surplus-value. The capitalists of IIa thus obtain the money required for investing, as above assumed, two-fifths of their surplus-value, or 160 s, in luxuries produced by IIb (100 v held by the capitalists of IIb as a product reimbursing them for the wages paid by them, and 60 s). The diagram for this transaction is

the brackets indicating the amounts circulated and consumed within their own subclass.

The direct reflux of the money-capital advanced in variable capital, which takes place only in the case of the capitalist class of IIa who produce necessities of life, is but an expression, modified by special conditions, of the previously mentioned general law, that money advanced to the circulation by producers of commodities returns to them in the normal circulation of commodities. Consequently, if a money capitalist stands behind the producer of commodities and advances to the industrial capitalist money-capital (using this term in its strictest meaning, that is to say, capital-value in the form of money), the final point of reflux for this money is the pocket of this money-capitalist. In this way the mass of the circulating money belongs to that department of money-capital which is concentrated and organized in the form of banks, etc., although the money circulates more or less through all hands. The way in which this department advances its capital necessitates continually the final reflux to it in the form of money, although this takes place by way of the reconversion of the industrial capital into money-capital.

The circulation of commodities always requires two things: Commodities which are thrown into circulation, and money which is likewise thrown into it. "The process of circulation...does not, like direct barter of products, become extinguished upon the use-values changing places and hands. The money does not vanish on dropping out of the circuit of the metamorphosis of a given commodity. It is constantly being precipitated into new places in the arena of circulation vacated by other commodities," etc. (Volume I, chapter III, page 126.)

For instance, in the circulation between IIc and I (v + s) we assumed that 500 pounds sterling in gold had been advanced for it. In the innumerable processes of circulation, into which the circulation between great social groups resolves itself, now this, now that producer will first appear in one or the other group as a buyer, throwing money into circulation. Quite aside from individual circumstances, this is conditioned on the difference of the periods of production and thus of the turn-overs of the various commodity-capitals. Now II buys with these 500 pounds sterling means of production of the same value from I, and I buys from II articles of consumption valued at 500 pounds sterling. Hence the money flows back to II, but this department does not in any way increase its wealth by this reflux. It had thrown 500 pounds sterling in money into circulation and drew the same amount out of it in commodities; then it sells 500 pounds sterling worth of commodities and draws out of circulation the same amount in money; thus the 500 pounds sterling flow back to it. As a matter of fact, II has thrown into circulation 500 pounds sterling in money and 500 pounds sterling in commodities, a total of 1000 pounds sterling. It draws out of the circulation 500 pounds sterling in commodities and 500 pounds sterling in money. The circulation requires for the handling of 500 pounds sterling in commodities of I and 500 pounds sterling in commodities of II only 500 pounds sterling in money; and whoever has first advanced money in the purchase of commodities from other producers, recovers it when selling his own. Hence, if department I had been the first to buy commodities from II for 500 pounds sterling, and to sell later on to II commodities valued at 500 pounds sterling, these 500 pounds sterling would have returned to I instead of II.

In class I, the money invested in wages, in other words, the variable capital advanced in the form of money, does not return directly in this form, but indirectly by a detour. But in II, the 500 pounds sterling return directly from the laborers to the capitalists, and this return is always direct in the case where purchase and sale takes place repeatedly between the same persons in such a way that they are acting alternately as buyers and sellers of commodities. The capitalist of II pays for the labor-power in money; he thereby incorporates his labor-power in his capital and assumes the role of an industrial capitalist over his laborers as wage earners only by means of this transaction in circulation, which is for him merely a conversion of money-capital into productive capital. Thereupon the laborer, who is in the first instance a seller of his own labor-power, assumes in the second instance the role of a buyer, a possessor of money, while the capitalist acts now as a seller of commodities. In this way the capitalist recovers the money invested by him in wages. Unless this sale of his commodities implies cheating, etc., and remains but an exchange of equivalents in money and commodities, it is not a process by which the capitalist enriches himself. He does not pay the laborer twice, first in money, and then in commodities. His money returns to him as soon as the laborer exchanges it for his commodities.

Now, the money-capital converted into variable capital, the money advanced for wages, plays a prominent role in the circulation of money itself. For the laborer must live from hand to mouth and cannot give the industrial capitalists any credit for long periods. Hence variable capital in the form of money must be advanced simultaneously at innumerable localities in the social production in certain short intervals, such as weeks, etc., whatever may be the various periods of turn-over of the capitals in the different lines of industry. These intervals succeed one another with relative rapidity, and the shorter they are, the smaller is relatively the total amount of money thrown into circulation through this channel. In every country with a capitalist production the money-capital so advanced constitutes a proportionately influential share of the total circulation, so much more so as the same money, before its return to its point of departure, roams through many channels and serves as a medium of circulation for innumerable other businesses.

Now let us consider the circulation between I (v + s) and IIc from a different point of view.

The capitalists of I advance 1000 pounds sterling in the payment of wages. The laborers buy with this money 1000 pounds sterling's worth of commodities from the capitalists of II. These in turn buy with the same money means of production from the capitalists of I. These capitalists of I thereby recover their variable capital in the form of money, while the capitalists of II have reconverted one-half of their constant capital from the form of commodities into that of productive capital. The capitalists of II advance 500 pounds sterling more for the purchase of means of production from the capitalists of I. The capitalists of I spend this money in articles of consumption of II. These 500 pounds sterling thus return to the capitalists of II. They advance this amount again, in order to reconvert the last quarter of their constant capital, existing in the form of commodities, into means of production of I, its natural productive form. This money flows back to I, and once more withdraws from II articles of consumption to the same amount, returning 500 pounds sterling to II. The capitalists of II are then once more in possession of 500 pounds sterling in money and 2000 pounds sterling of constant capital, the latter having been reconverted from the form of commodity-capital into that of productive capital. By means of 1500 pounds sterling, a quantity of commodities valued at 5000 pounds sterling has been circulated. (1) I paid 1000 pounds sterling to his laborers for their labor-power of the same value; (2) the laborers bought with these same 1000 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II; (3) II bought with the same money means of production from I, thereby restoring to I its variable capital of 1000 pounds sterling in the form of money; (4) II buys 500 pounds sterling's worth of means of production from I; (5) I buys with the same 500 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II; (6) II buys with the same 500 pounds sterling means of production from I; (7) I buys with the same 500 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II. Thus 500 pounds sterling have returned to II, which it had thrown into circulation aside from its 2000 pounds sterling in commodities and for which it did not withdraw any equivalent from circulation.^*48

The exchange, therefore, follows this course:

(1) I pays 1000 pounds sterling in money for labor-power, or, in short, commodities at 1000 pounds sterling.

(2) The laborers buy with their wages amounting to 1000 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II; therefore we have again commodities at 1000 pounds sterling.

(3) II buys with the 1000 pounds sterling received from the laborers means of production to the same amount; hence, once more, commodities at 1000 pounds sterling.

By this transaction the 1000 pounds sterling have returned to I in the money-form of its variable capital.

(4) II buys 500 pounds worth of means of production from I, or, commodities at 500 pounds sterling.

(5) I buys with the same 500 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II; or, commodities at 500 pounds sterling.

(6) II buys with the same 500 pounds sterling means of production from I; or, commodities at 500 pounds sterling.

(7) I buys with the same 500 pounds sterling articles of consumption from II; or, commodities at 500 pounds sterling.

Total amount of value of commodities converted: 500 pounds sterling.

The 500 pounds sterling advanced by II in its first additional purchase have returned to it.

This, then, is the result:

(1) I possesses variable capital in the form of money to the amount of 1000 pounds sterling, which it had originally advanced to the circulation. It has furthermore expended 1000 pounds sterling for its individual consumption, in the shape of its product in commodities; that is to say, has spent money which it had originally received for the sale of means of production to the amount of 1000 pounds sterling.

On the other hand, the natural form in which variable capital existing in the form of money must be incorporated in order to be preserved, in other words, labor-power, has been maintained by consumption, and having been reproduced exists once more as the sole commodity which its owners have for sale in order to make a living. The relation of wage workers and capitalists, then, has likewise been reproduced.

(2) The constant capital of II is reproduced in its natural form, and the 500 p. st. advanced by the same department to the circulation have likewise returned to its hands.

So far as the laborers of I are concerned, the circulation takes place according to the simple schedule C—M—C. Labor-power¹ C—1000 p. st. as the money-form of the variable capital of I; M²—necessities of life to the amount of 1000 p. st.; C³—these 1000 p. st. monetize to the same amount the constant capital of II existing in the form of commodities, of necessities of life.

From the point of view of the capitalists of II, the process is C—M, the transformation of a portion of their product into money, from which it is reconverted into the elements of productive capital, namely into a portion of the means of production required by them.

In the case of the advance of money of 500 p. st., made by the capitalists of II in the purchase of an additional portion of means of production, the money-form of that portion of IIc which exists as yet in the form of commodities, of articles of consumption, is anticipated, in the transaction M—C, in which II buys with M, and C is sold by I, the money (II) is converted into a portion of productive capital, while C (I) passes through the transaction C—M, changes itself into money, which, however, does not represent any component part of productive capital for I, but merely monetized surplus-value expended solely for articles of consumption.

In the circulation M—C..P..C¹—M¹, the first act, M—C, is that of one capitalist, the last C¹—M¹, of another (or at least in part); whether this C, by which M is converted into productive capital, represents an element of constant capital, variable capital, or surplus-value for the seller of C (who exchanges this C for money), is immaterial for the circulation of commodities itself.

Class I, so far as concerns the portion v plus s of its product in commodities, draws more money out of circulation than it threw in. In the first place, its 1000 p. st. of variable capital are restored to it; in the second place, it sells means of production valued at 500 p. st. (see above transaction No. 4); one-half of its surplus-value is thus monetized; then it sells once more 500 p. st.'s worth of means of production (transaction No. 6), the second half of its surplus-value, and thus its entire surplus-value is withdrawn from circulation in the shape of money. The successive transactions, then, have been (1) a reconversion of variable capital into money, to the amount of 1000 p. st.; (2) a monetization of one-half of the surplus-value, to the amount of 500 p. st.; (3) a monetization of the other half of the surplus-value, to the amount of 500 p. st., altogether 1000 v plus 1000 s that have been monetized, or 2000 p. st. Although department I threw only 1000 p. st. into circulation (aside from those transactions which promote the reproduction of Ic, and which we shall analyze later), it has withdrawn double that amount from it. Of course, the surplus-value passes into another hand, that of II, as soon as it has been converted into money, by being spent for articles of consumption. The capitalists of I withdrew only as much value in money as they threw into circulation in the form of commodities; the fact that this value is surplus-value, that is to say, that it does not cost the capitalists anything, does not alter the value of these commodities in any way; so far as the exchange of values in circulation is concerned, that fact is entirely irrelevant. The monetization of surplus-value is, of course, a transient act, the same as all other phases through which the advanced capital passes in its metamorphoses. It lasts no longer than the interval between the conversion of the commodities of I into money and the subsequent conversion of the money of I into commodities of II.

If the turn-overs had been assumed to be shorter—or, from the point of view of the simple circulation of commodities, the number of turn-overs of the circulating money more rapid—even less money would be required for the circulation of the exchanged values of commodities; the amount is always determined—if the number of successive transactions is given—by the sum of the prices, or the sum of values, of the circulating commodities. It is immaterial for this question what proportion of this sum of values consists of surplus-value or of capital-value.

If the wages of I, in our illustration, were paid four times per year, we should have 4 times 250, or 1000. In other words, 250 p. st. would suffice for the circulation between Iv and ½ of IIc, and for that between the variable capital of I and the labor-power of the same department. Furthermore, if the circulation between Is and IIc were to take place in four turn-overs, it would require only 250 p. st. in money, or in the aggregate a sum of money, or a money-capital, or 500 p. st. for the circulation of commodities worth 5000 p. st. In that case, the surplus-value would be converted into money by four successive transactions, monetizing one-fourth each time, instead of two transactions of one-half each time.

If department I instead of II, should assume the role of buyer in transaction No. 4 by expending 500 p. st. for articles of consumption of the same value, II would buy means of production with the same 500 p. st. in transaction No. 5, I would then buy articles of consumption with the same 500 p. st. in transaction No. 6; II would then buy means of production with the same 500 p. st. in transaction No. 7; so that the 500 p. st. would finally return to I, the same as they did in our previous illustration to II. The surplus-value is converted into money, in this second case, by means of an expenditure of money for articles of individual consumption on the part of its capitalist producer, and this expenditure of money discounts beforehand the revenue to be derived from the monetization of the surplus-value still contained in the unsold commodities. The surplus-value is not monetized by the reflux of the 500 p. st.; for aside from 1000 p. st. in the form of commodities of Iv, department I threw 500 p. st. in money into circulation at the close of transaction No. 4, and this was additional money, so far as we know, not money obtained by the sale of commodities. In recovering this money, department I merely pockets once more the additional money advanced by it. It has not monetized its surplus-value by this means. The monetization of the surplus-value of I takes place only by the sale of the commodities of Is, in which it is incorporated, and lasts only so long as the money obtained by the sale of the commodities is not expended in the purchase of new articles of consumption.

Department I buys with an additional amount of 500 p. st. in money articles of consumption from II; after spending this money, I holds its equivalent in commodities of II; the money returns for the first time by the purchase, on the part of II, of commodities to the amount of 500 p. st. from I; in other words, it returns as the equivalent of the commodities sold by I, but these commodities do not cost I anything, they constitute surplus-value for I, and thus the money thrown into circulation by this very department monetizes its own surplus-value. On buying for the second time, in transaction No. 6, I has likewise obtained its equivalent in commodities of II. Take it, now, that II would not buy means of production from I. In that case, I would have actually paid 1000 p. st. for articles of consumption, it would have consumed its entire surplus-value as revenue, namely 500 in its own commodities (means of production) and 500 in money; on the other hand, it would still have 500 p. st. in commodities (means of production) in stock, and would have gotten rid of 500 p. st. in money.

Department II, again, would have reconverted three-fourths of its constant capital from the form of commodity-capital into that of productive capital; but one-fourth, or 500 p. st., would be held by it in money, which, having interrupted its function and waiting for conversion, would be unproductive for the time being. If this condition of things should last for any length of time, II would have to cut down its scale of reproduction by one-fourth.

However, the 500 in means of production, which I has on its hands, are not surplus-value existing in the form of commodities; they occupy the place of the 500 p. st. advanced in money, which I possessed aside from its 1000 p. st. in commodities. In the form of money, they would be always convertible, as commodities they are momentarily unsalable. So much is evident, that simple reproduction—in which every element of productive capital must be reproduced in both II and I—remains possible in this case only, if the 500 golden birds, which I first sent flying, return to it.

If a capitalist (we have only industrial capitalists to deal with here, who are the representatives of all others) spends money for articles of consumption, it passes out of his life, it goes the way of the flesh. If it returns to him, it can do so only to the extent that he draws it out of circulation by means of his commodity-capital. The value of his entire annual product in commodities (which represents his commodity-capital) the same as that of every one of its elements, that is to say, of every individual commodity, resolves itself, from his point of view, into constant capital, variable capital, and surplus-value. The monetization of every individual commodity (each constituting an element of the product in commodities) is at the same time a monetization of a certain portion of the surplus-value contained in the entire product. In the cited case, then, it is literally true that the capitalist himself threw the very money into circulation by which his surplus-value is monetized, and he did so in the purchase of articles of consumption. Of course, it is not a question of the identical pieces of money, but rather of a certain amount of genuine money equal to the one (or an equal portion of the one) which he had previously thrown into circulation to satisfy his own individual wants.

In practice this is done in two ways: If the business has been opened in the current year, it will take quite a while before the capitalist will be enabled to use any portion of the receipts of his business for the satisfaction of his individual consumption. But he does not suspend his consumption for all that for a single moment. He advances to himself (immaterial whether out of his own pocket or by means of credit from others) money in anticipation of surplus-value to be realized by him. If the business has been running regularly for a period longer than the current year, payments and receipts are distributed over different terms of the year. But one thing continues uninterruptedly, namely the consumption of the capitalist, which anticipates a definite portion of the customary or estimated revenue and is calculated on a certain proportion of it. With every portion of commodities sold, a portion of the annually produced surplus-value is also realized. But if only as much of the produced commodities were sold during the entire year as is required to reproduce the values contained in the constant and variable capitals, or if prices were to fall to such an extent that only the value of the capital contained in it should be realized by the sale of the entire annual product in commodities, then the anticipatory character of the expenditure of money in expectation of future surplus-value would be clearly revealed. If our capitalist fails, then his creditors and the court investigate whether his anticipated private expenditures were reasonably proportionate to the volume of his business and to the receipts of surplus-value usually or normally corresponding to it.

So far as the entire capitalist class are concerned, the statement that they must themselves throw into circulation the money required for the realization of their surplus-value (eventually for the circulation of their constant and variable capital) is not only no paradox, but is the necessary premise of the entire mechanism. For there are only two classes in this case, the working class disposing of their labor-power, and the capitalist class owning the social means of production and the money. It would rather be a paradox if the working class were to advance in the first instance out of its own pockets the money required for the realization of the surplus-value contained in the commodities. But the individual capitalist makes this advance only by acting as a buyer, expending money in the purchase of articles of consumption, or advancing money in the purchase of elements of his productive capital. He never parts with his money unless he gets an equivalent for it. He advances money to the circulation only in the same way that he advances commodities to it. He acts in both instances as the point of departure of their circulation.

The actual transaction is obscured by two circumstances:

(1) The fact that merchant's capital (the first form of which is always money, since the merchant as such does not create any "product" or "commodity") and money-capital are manipulated by a special class of capitalists in the process of circulation of industrial capital.

(2) The division of surplus-value—which must always be first in the hands of the industrial capitalist—into various categories, represented, aside from industrial capitalists, by the land owner (for ground rent), the usurer (for interest), etc., furthermore by the government and its officials, by people living on their income, etc. This gentry appear as buyers as compared to the industrial capitalist, and to that extent as monetizers of his commodities; they likewise throw "money" into circulation on their part and the industrial gets it from them. But in that case, it is always forgotten from what source they derived it originally, and continue deriving it ever anew.

VI. THE CONSTANT CAPITAL OF DEPARTMENT I.^*49

It remains for us to analyze the constant capital of department I, amounting to 4000 c. This value is equal to that of the means of production consumed in the creation of the commodity-product of I and incorporated in it. This re-appearing value, which was not produced in the process of production of I, but entered into it during the preceding year in the form of constant capital, representing the definite value of his means of production, exists now in the entire quantity of commodities not absorbed by department II. And the value of this quantity of commodities thus left in the hands of the capitalists of I equals two-thirds of the value of their entire annual commodity-product. In the case of the individual capitalist producing some particular means of production, we were enabled to say: He sells his commodity-product; he converts it into money. By converting it into money, he has also reconverted into money the constant portion of the value of his product. With this portion of value, thus converted into money, he then buys his means of production once more from other sellers of commodities, or transforms the constant portion of the value of his product into its natural form, in which it can resume its function of productive constant capital. But now this supposition becomes impossible. The capitalist class of I comprises all the capitalists producing means of production. Besides, the commodity-product of 4000, which is left on their hands, is a portion of the social product which cannot be exchanged for any other portion, because no other portion of the annual product remains. With the exception of these 4000, all the remainder of the product has been disposed of. One portion has been absorbed by the social fund for consumption, and another portion has to reproduce the constant capital of department II, which has already bargained for everything which it can exchange with I.

The difficulty is solved very easily, when we remember that the entire product of I in its natural form consists of means of production, that is to say, of material elements of the constant capital itself. We meet here the same phenomenon which we witnessed under II, only under a different aspect. In the case of II, the entire product consisted of articles of consumption. Hence one portion of it, measured by the wages plus surplus-value contained in this product, could be consumed by its own producers. Here, in the case of I, the entire product consists of means of production, such as buildings, machinery, tanks, raw and auxiliary materials, etc. One portion of them, namely that reproducing the constant capital employed in this sphere, can, therefore, be immediately set to work in its natural form to serve once more as an element of productive capital. So far as it goes into circulation, it circulates within department I. While a portion of the commodity-product of II is individually consumed in its natural form by its own producers, a portion of the commodity-product of I is productively consumed in its natural form by its capitalist producers.

In these 4000c of the commodity-product of I, the constant capital-value consumed in this category re-appears in its natural form in which it can immediately resume its services as a productive constant capital. In department II, that portion of the commodity-product of 3000 whose value is equal to the wages plus the surplus-value of 1000, passes directly into the individual consumption of the capitalists and laborers of II, while, on the other hand, the constant value of this commodity-product, equal to 2000, cannot re-enter into the productive consumption of the capitalists of II, but must be reproduced by exchange with I.

But in department I, that portion of its commodity-product of 6000, whose value is equal to the wages plus the surplus-value, or 2000, does not pass into the individual consumption of its producers, and could not on account of its natural form. It must first be exchanged with department II. On the other hand, the constant portion of the value of this product, or 4000, exists in a natural form, in which it can immediately resume its services as the constant capital of the capitalist class of I, taking this class as an aggregate. In other words, the entire product of department I consists of use-values which, on account of their natural form, can serve only as elements of constant capital, in a capitalist system of production. One third of this product of 6000, then, reproduces the constant capital of department II, or 2000, and the other two thirds the constant capital of department I.

The constant capital of I consists of a number of different groups of capital invested in the various lines of production of means of production, so much in iron works, so much in coal mines, etc. Every one of these groups of capital, or every one of these social capital groups, is in its turn composed of a larger or smaller number of independently functioning individual capitals. In the first place, the capital of society, for instance 7500 (millions, or any other denomination) is composed of various groups of capital; the social capital of 7500 is divided into separate parts, every one of which is invested in a special line of production, each portion invested in some particular line of production consists, so far as its natural composition is concerned, partly of means of production required in that special sphere of production, partly of the labor-power employed in that business and adapted to its requirements. This labor-power is modified by division of labor, according to the specific labor to be performed in each individual sphere of production. Each portion of social capital invested in any particular line of production in its turn consists of the sum of all individual capitals invested in it. This, of course, applies equally to departments I and II.

As for the value of the constant capital re-appearing in the form of the commodity-product of I, it re-enters in part as means of production into the particular sphere whose product it is (or even into the individual business), for instance, corn into the production of corn, coal into the production of coal, iron in the form of machines into the production of iron, etc.

However, the partial products constituting the value of the constant capital of I, so far as they do not return directly to their particular or individual sphere of production, merely change their place. They pass in their natural form to some other sphere of production of department I, while the product of other spheres of production of department I replaces them in their natural state. It is merely a change of place of the products. All of them become once more the elements in the reproduction of constant capital of I, only in another group of I instead of the same one. To the extent that an exchange takes place between the individual capitalists of I, it is an exchange of one natural form of constant capital for another, one kind of means of production for another. It is an exchange of the different individual constant parts of capital of I among themselves. Unless the products serve directly as means of production in their own line, they are transferred to another line and thus naturally replace one another. In other words (similarly to what we saw in the case of the surplus value II), every capitalist of I draws on this constant capital of 4000, of which he is part owner, to the extent of his share, in means of production required by him. If production were socialized, instead of capitalistic, it is evident that these products of department I would just as regularly be redistributed as means of production to the various lines of production of this department, for purposes of reproduction, one portion remaining directly in that sphere of production which created it, another passing over to other lines of production of the same department, thereby entertaining a constant mutual exchange between the various lines of production of this department.

VII. VARIABLE CAPITAL AND SURPLUS-VALUE IN BOTH DEPARTMENTS.

The total value of the articles of consumption annually produced is equal to the value of the variable capital of II produced during the year plus the newly created surplus-value of II (in other words, equal to the value newly produced by II during the year) plus the value of the variable capital of I reproduced during the year and the newly produced surplus-value of I (in other words, plus the value created by I during the year).

On the assumption of simple reproduction, then, the total value of the annually produced articles of consumption is equal to the annual product in values, in other words, equal to the total value produced during that year by social labor. And it must be so, for the reason that this entire value is consumed, on the basis of simple reproduction.

The total social working day is divided into two parts: (1) Necessary labor, which creates in the course of the year a value of 1500 v; (2), surplus labor, which creates an additional value, or surplus-value, of 1500 s. The sum of these values, 3000, is equal to the value of the annually produced articles of consumption of 3000. The total value of articles of consumption produced during the year is therefore equal to the total value produced by the social working day during the year, equal to the value of the variable social capital plus the social surplus-value, equal to the total new product of the year.

But we know that the total value of the commodities of II, the articles of consumption, is not produced in this department of social production, although these two classes of value are identical. They are identical, because the value of the constant capital re-appearing in department II is equal to the value newly produced by I (value of variable capital plus surplus value); so that I (v+s) can buy that portion of the product of II which represents the value of the constant capital of the producers in department II. This shows why the value of the product of the capitalists of II, from the point of view of society, may be resolved into v + s, although from their standpoint it is divided into c + v + s. It is because IIc is equal to I (v + s), and because these two elements of the social product are mutually exchanged in their natural forms, so that after this exchange IIc exists once more in means of production, and I (v + s) in articles of consumption.

And it is this circumstance which induced Adam Smith to claim that the value of the annual product resolves itself into v + s. But this is not true, in the first place, except for that part of the annual product which consists of articles of consumption; and in the second place, it does not apply in the sense that this total value is entirely produced by department II, so that its value in products would be equal to the variable capital advanced by II plus the surplus-value produced by II. It is true only in the sense that II (c + v + s) is equal to II (v + s) +I (v + s), or because IIc is equal to I (v + s).

It follows, furthermore:

Although the social working day (that is to say, the labor expended by the entire working class during the whole year), like every individual working day, is divided only in two parts, namely into necessary labor and surplus-labor, and although the value produced by this working day like-wise resolves itself into but two parts, namely into the value of variable capital, or that portion with which the laborer buys his own means of reproduction, and the surplus-value which the capitalist may spend for his own individual consumption, nevertheless, from the point of view of society, one portion of the social working day is exclusively devoted to the production of new constant capital, namely of products exclusively intended for service as means of production in the labor-process and thus as constant capital in the accompanying process of self-expansion. According to our assumption, the total social working day is represented by a money-value of 3000, only one third of which, or 1000, is produced in department II, which manufactures articles of consumption, that is to say, commodities in which the entire value of the variable capital and the entire surplus-value of society is finally realized. According to this assumption, two thirds of the social working day are employed in the production of new constant capital. Although, from the standpoint of the individual capitalists and laborers of department I, these two thirds of the social working day serve merely for the production of variable capital plus surplus-value, the same as the last third of the social working day in department II, nevertheless, from the point of view of society, and of the use-value of the product, these two thirds of the social working day serve only for the reproduction of constant capital in process of productive consumption or already so consumed. From the individual point of view, these two thirds of the working day, while producing a total value equal only to the value of the variable capital plus surplus-value, so far as its producer is concerned, nevertheless do not produce any use-values of the kind on which wages or surplus-value could be expended; for their products are means of production.

It must be noted, in the first place, that no portion of the social working day, whether in I or in II, serves for the production of the value of the constant capital employed and serving in these two great spheres of production. They produce only additional value, namely 2000 I (v + s) + constant capital, represented by 4000 Ic + 2000 IIc. The 1000 II (v + s), an addition to the existing value of the new value produced in the form of means of production is not yet constant capital. It merely is intended to be used as such in the future.

The entire product of II, the articles of consumption, viewed concretely as a use-value, in its natural form, is a creation of the one third of the social working day contributed by II. It is the product of labor in its concrete form, such as the labor of weaving, baking, etc., performed in this department as the subjective element of the labor process. But the constant portion of the value of this product of II re-appears only in a new use-value, in a new natural form, namely that of articles of consumption, while it existed previously in the form of means of production. Its value has been transferred by the labor-process from its old natural form to its new natural form. But this value of these two thirds of the product, or 2000, has not been produced in this year's productive process of II.

Just as, from the point of view of the labor-process, the product of II is the result of the function of new living labor and means of production previously given to it, which are the material objects in which it incorporates itself, so, from the point of view of the process of reproduction, the value of the product of II, or 3000, is composed of the new value (500 v + 500 s = 1000) produced by the newly added one third of the social working day and of a constant value, in which two thirds of a previous social working day are embodied, which passed away before the present process of production of II. This portion of the value of the product of II is materialized in a portion of the product itself. It exists in a quantity of articles of consumption valued at 2000, or two thirds of a social working day. This is the new use-form in which it re-appears. The exchange of a portion of the articles of consumption of 2000 IIc for means of production of I equal to I (1000 v + 1000 s) represents, therefore, indeed an exchange of two thirds of a social working day which do not constitute any portion of this year's labor, but passed away previously to this year, for two thirds of the social working day newly added this year. Two thirds of this year's social working day could not serve in the production of constant capital and yet at the same time constitute variable capital plus surplus-value for their own producers, unless they were compelled to exchange with a portion of the value of the annually consumed articles of consumption, in which two thirds of a working day spent and realized, not this year, but previously, are incorporated. It is an exchange of two thirds of this year's working day with two thirds of a preceding working day, an exchange of this year's labor with that of a previous year. This, then explains the riddle, how it is that the product in values of an entire social working day may resolve itself into variable capital plus surplus-value, although two thirds of this working day were not expended in the production of articles, in which variable capital or surplus-value can be realized, but rather in the production of means of production for the replacement of capital consumed during this year. The explanation is simply that two thirds of the value of the product of II, in which the capitalists and laborers of I realize the value of the variable capital and surplus-value produced by them (and which constitute two thirds of the value of the entire annual product), are, so far as their value is concerned, the product of two thirds of a social working day passed previously to this year.

The sum of the social product of I and II, comprising means of production and articles of consumption, so far as its concrete use-value in its natural form is concerned, is indeed the result of this year's labor, but only to the extent that this labor is regarded as useful and concrete, not as an expenditure of labor-power and creator of values. And even so, it is concrete labor only in the sense that the means of production have transformed themselves into this year's new product by dint of the living labor operating on them. On the other hand, it is also true that this year's labor could not have transformed itself into products without the help of means of production, of instruments of production and materials, which existed independently of it.

VIII. THE CONSTANT CAPITAL IN BOTH DEPARTMENTS.

The analysis of the total value of the product of 9000, and of the categories into which it is divided, does not present any greater difficulties than that of the value produced by some individual capital. It is rather identical with it.

In the present instance, the entire social product of this year contains three social working days, each of one year. The value represented by each one of these working days is 3000, so that the value of the total product is 3 × 3000, or 9000.

Furthermore, the following portions of this working time belong to a period previous to that of the process of production which we now analyze: In department I, four thirds of a working day (with a product valued at 4000), and in department II, two thirds of a working day (with a product valued at 2000), making a total of two social working days with a product valued at 6000. For this reason, 4000 Ic + 2000 IIc = 6000 c figure as t