Simple reproduction I

As a periodic increment of the value of the capital, or a

periodic fruit borne by capital-in-process, surplus-value acquires the form of a

revenue arising out of capital. (pp. 711–12)

Simple reproductionThe capitalist uses revenue only as a consumption fund. No part of surplus value is invested in the new production cycle.

Condition: Sufficient means of production must be created for future production cycles.

The production process is not an isolated occurence, but rather repeats itself continuously. the process of reproduction

Simple reproduction II

Thus far, variable and constant capital have appeared to have been advanced by the capitalist.

Now the analysis of simple reproduction shows:

All capital is merely surplus value that has been capitalized after a short or long period of time.

The capital that is advanced is simply the product constantly reproduced by the worker and transformed into money.

In the new cycle, capital functions as a means of purchasing (c + v).

Simple reproduction III

The capitalist process of production, therefore, seen as a total, connected process, i. e. a process of

reproduction, produces not only commodities, not only surplus-value, but it also produces and reproduces the capital-relation itself;

on the one hand the capitalist, on the other the wage-labourer.

(p. 724)

Expanded reproduction

The more the capitalist has accumulated,

the more he is able to accumulate.

(p. 729)

Accumulation of capital:expanded reproduction

A part of the surplus value is invested in the next production cycle and turned back into capital.

The perspective of simple commodity circulation obscures this relationship.

The inversion of property laws

According to bourgeois conceptions, labour constitutes the basis for property. This perception is grounded in the perspective of simple commodity circulation.

The capitalist appropriates alien labour – without an equivalent. The property of the capitalist is not based upon his own labour, but rather the labour of others.

This «inversion» only occurs in analysis, and does not refer to a historical process.

If one considers not only an individual act of exchange, but also the expanded reproduction of capital, this conception is inverted and transformed into its opposite:

The composition of capital

value relation in which capital is divided into constant and variable capital.

The value composition of capital:

relation between the mass of means of production used and the quantity of labour necessary for their use.

The technical composition of capital:

value composition, to the extent that it is determined by the technical composition.

The organic composition of capital:

either

accumulation is not disturbed by this

Phases of the accumulation of capital

The development of productivity: decrease in LP relative to MP (an increase in the organic composition). The constant part of capital grows in relation to the variable part. This phase necessarily occurs in the course of accumulation.

If capital is to grow, a part of surplus value must be tranformed into variable capital.

If we assume that the relation between LP and MP remains constant (so the organic composition remains unchanged), then:

Demand for LP grows and the price of the commodity LP increases. That can have two consequences:

Capital produces a relative overpopulation (industrial reserve army).

accumulation slackens

or

The general law of capitalist accumulation

The greater the social wealth […], the greater is the industrial

reserve army […]. The greater the industrial reserve army […], the greater is the mass of

a consolidated surplus-population […]. The more extensive, finally, the pauperized sections of the working class and the industrial reserve army, the greater is official pauperism. This is the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation. […] It follows therefore that in proportion as capital accumulates,

the situation of the worker, be his payment high or low, must grow worse.

(pp. 798–99.)