Marxs most famous work A few themes from Das Kapital
Slide 2
Historical Perspective During foundations of Economic Theory
(born 1818 in Germany) Same period as David Ricardos The Principles
of Economic Economy Middle of Industrial Revolution where machines
were making dramatic increases in factory production and could only
be afforded by the rich. (Watt invented the steam engine in 1769).
Doctorate in philosophy, then turned to revolutionary in an age of
revolutionaries
Slide 3
Historical perspective (Cont) Kicked out of Germany, then
France Ended in England Moved on from Revolution, as it did not
catch on apart from the foreigners, and focussed on his journalism
Worked with Engels in this, son of a capitalist. Thus a mixture of
high level analysis and the bitternesses of a revolutionary.
Slide 4
Central Conviction The working class can - and must abolish
production for profit and build instead a society based on freely
associated labour engaging in production for use.
Slide 5
Understand the idea of commodities (Adams Smith) The commodity
is an oddity Anything with a price tag is a commodity. Because it
leads a double life Use - it is - an object A rose is a rose is a
rose Gertrude Stein Exchange it has a worth an object with a price
use-value. A rose = a handful of chocolates
Slide 6
Production for use Aristotle in defining economics as the name
for production for use. Until the industrial revolution dresses
were made to be worn not sold, chocolates were made to be eaten not
exchanged for roses Only with the industrial revolution did
production for exchange become prevalent. Producing to sell for
profit was considered immoral. Goods now have a double life use
value and use
Slide 7
Marx: Alienation of Use Value The double life of a commodity is
neither peaceful nor harmonious. Value and Use-Value clash. The
capitalist quest for profit (ever greater sums of value) clashes
with human desires for food, shelter and other use-values. Thus
Value is alienated from Use Value A commodity must have some use
value to sell. But it is the SALE OF the COMMODITY, the exchange
that is important. Thus does Alien exchange dominate natural
use
Slide 8
Result of Conflict: Overproduction Commodity values are at odds
with use: Food full of carcinogens sells, as does poisonous baby
formulas, and unsafe cars, medicine that kills An excess of
commodities Hence prices fall. Business destroys some of its
production to raise prices. During the great depression when
unemployed were starving, there was an excess of pigs which were
destroyed to safeguard profits. Much capacity is left idle.
Slide 9
Aristotle & Marx: The Meaning of Exchange Aristotle
concluded that real equality between commodities is impossible.
Five beds are not = one house in value, different qualities. People
simply decide to exchange unequal things. Marx solves this. The
object has a particlar form to which is added labour The principle
that regulates systematic commodity exchanges is labour-time E.g If
it takes seven days to catch a deer and one to catch a beaver, then
seen beaver are worth one deer.
Slide 10
The Crux of Marx: the Nature of Labour Abstract labour: though
different kinds of labour are not materially equal, they can be
regarded as such Useful labour can be treated as abstract labour.
Useful LabourAbstract Labour Work activites as they really are with
unique material qualities Work activities treated as if they had no
distinguishing qualities Embodied in use-valueEmbodied in
value
Slide 11
Alienation of Useful Labour Socially Standard labour abstract
labour needed to produce. E.g. the power loom when introduced into
England halved the time to produce cloth, thus the standard labour
value was halved. Equal labour is not real material labour but
socially abstract labour Alienation Exhange is an act of human
relations Can never find the labour that is in the
commodities.
Slide 12
Money & the Growth of Capitalism Commodities are use-values
produced for exchange Money is the universal commodity Marx: Money
is the standard measure of the values of all commodities. It
emerges as the universe of commodities grows, with the growth of
capitalism. In a trading society this is guesswork As more and more
commodities are exchanged, value relationships increase and can
become more standardised One coat = 20 meters of linen = 10 kilos
of tea = 40 kilos of coffee = 20 grammes of gold Capital is money
invested to produce more money Finally a system of commodity
production arises in which the relative values of the different
commodities are systematically fixed.
Slide 13
Gold Standard Gold became the standard with paper representing
it. Then the US made its $ the standard With an eventually
collapsing US$ a global unit will be called for.
Slide 14
The Second Crux of Marx Analysis: The Accumulation of Capital
When we speak of capitalism we speak not just of money but of money
gain, of money invested as capital to generate profit. Where does
the surplus value come from to increase that money? The self
employed or employed direct producers sell in order to buy: (the
tailor (sells the ability to make coats), the owner of the tailors
shop (sells to buy linen) C-M-C The Capitalist (Mr Moneybags) buys
in order to sell. M-C-M More money for less that is his motto
Slide 15
M-C-M But to the original M is added some surplus value, some
profit: Interest pays off the interest on the orignal money, since
some of it is likely borrowed Rent of land or equipment Profit
after interest and rent Marx: Capital accumulation is the defining
principle of capitalism, the economic goal Buy cheap, sell
dear
Slide 16
Labour-Power But between buying and selling there must be a
process of production, of value added. Where to get that extra
value, what can produce this surplus value? Human labour-power, the
super-commodity the free worker available on the market as the
seller of labour power Here Marx analyses European and particularly
British history (though we can aply this to the excess free labour
pouring into the slums as the rural peasant is disposessed.
Slide 17
Expropriation = Dispossession Production is the combination of
human resources=labour-power and production resources = means of
production When production is controlled by direct producers,
labour power and and production combine organically leading to
independence and self-sufficiency. But take away the land - the
livestock - the energy resources, wrench the tools form the
producers hands and what is left? An uprooted vagabond whose only
possession is labour-power
Slide 18
From owners of production to the for sale proletariat The
former producer to survive must sell his or her labour- power, as a
proletarian, abjectly dependent on the capitalist who now owns the
means of production. Though the proletarian does all the productive
labour, the capitalist alone controls production simply by owning
the means of production, which allows him to buy and thus own the
labour-power.
Slide 19
Historical Expropriation in England Exploitation is the control
of surplus labour by an armed oppressor class. By the end of the 14
th century English serfdom had practically disappeared as most were
free peasants The King disempowered the nobles creating unemployed
aides de camp. The feudal Lords responded by forcibly siezing
peasant holdings in order to magnify their power. They enclosed the
common lands of sheep grazing in order to make money from wool in
Flanders. The expropriation process continued with the theft of
Catholic church lands (during the Protestant Revolution). Beggars,
unemployed over 14 were flogged (Elizabethan law, 1542). Thus were
the farming folk of England expropriated, chased from their homes,
turned into vagabonds, and then whipped, branded and tortured by
grotesquely terroristic laws into accepting the discipline
necessary for the system of wage labour. The discovery of gold and
silver in America, the elimination, enslavement and entombment in
mines of the original American population, the beginning of the
conquest and plunder of India, and the conversion of Africa into a
preserve for the commercial hunting of Black skins these are the
idyllic proceedings that characterised the dawn of production.
Slide 20
The Making of the Working Class Surplus labour is extracted
from the proletariat in the form of surplus labour The immesne
majority of the English population became proletarians (except
thoose who fled to New Zealand, who set up a society of
self-employed entrepreneurs) Now the silent compulsion of economic
relations sets the seal on the domination of the capitalist over
the worker. Direct extra-economic force is still of course used,
but only in exceptional cases. In the ordinary run of things,
workers can safely be left to the gentle mercy of production
relations to fears of joblessness, to hunger and need
Slide 21
Alienation of Labour Because they possess no means of
production, the workers have no option but to freely sell their
labour-power. Differ from slaves Free to sell labour Free to starve
can choose to be unemployed!! Free of the means of production The
worker loses all control over what is produced and how, and the
methods of labour these are the questions the capitalist only may
answer The motives of the workers are entirely discounted in
production for the profit motive. Resisting Moneybags is possible
buyt difficult for one who is dependent. And Moneybags has the law
on his side. After all he buys your labour.
Slide 22
Marx Breakthrough 3: Surplus value = variable capital =
proletariat Alienation of labour is the prerequisite for
exploitation of labour. Overcharingfor commodities does not create
surplus value: exploiting the working class does. The value of
labour power < the value of labour product This difference is
the secret of surplus value Produce more in less time E.g. Recent
Time article indicating some US businesses have become fifty times
more productive over the last decade indidcating the basic cause of
massive unemployment increase is the increased efficiency of the US
worker. But not all workers can work at this level so many have
become alienated from an increasingly educated requirement in the
work context. The machines cost, so that is a constant factor, but
the variable is the worker-power
Slide 23
Opposing the Exploitation Only the workers organised for their
own ends can resist this kind of process. When the working class is
strong they can enforce a relatively higher standard of living. A
serch for a abalance of power between capitla and labour Forced to
pay high wages in one place, Moneybags will relocate production
elsewhere to secure cheap labour. Results in wars etc. when such
assets are threatened. Calls on the poor of their own country to
combat the threatening insurgency. Fear and dislike of eh foreign
poor must be cultivated. Only a global alliance of workers can put
a stop to predatory capitalism.
Slide 24
Abolition of Wage Labour Why should workers not rule
themselves? Work does not have to be a commodity with a particular
exchange value Real working people may unite for democratic,
nationless, sexually equal cooperative production for shared use =
communism producing for use not for exchange and profit. Abolition
of the wages system, not just reforms or higher wages seeking a
fair wage. The search for a fair wage masks the underlying
exploitation. In reality workers are not paid for their labour nor
is there such a thing as a fair wage. Capitalist production is
based on exploitation
Slide 25
The Expropriators are Expropriated. It is not natural for
workers to be divorced from the means of production. This has been
the result of a long process of expropriation. Without capital, -
without bosses empowered by the possession of money to buy and
control labour power workers could be genuinely free. It would be
possible to combine labour power and the means of production
organically, directly. Democracy between workers rather than the
tyranny of capital over workers would become possible. This
requires the self organization of the working class for the
revolutionary overthrow of capitalism for an end of commodity
production for the defeat of imperialism and the capitalist state
for the creation of anew and truly free system. A global
struggle.
Slide 26
Readings Marx, Karl & Friedrich Engels. (1867). Das
Kapital: A Critique of Political Economy. (99c on Kindle). Marx,
Karl & Friedrich Engels. (2008) Communist Manifesto. Wordsworth
Classics of World Literature. Free on Kindle.