Re: [OPE] Reply to critics

Superficially of course the labour power of workers in dept III does exchange against capital, but the deeper relationship is different. You have to ask where did Rolls Royce get the money that they paid Rolls Royce workers from?
Clearly it came from revenue.
This is quite different for the workers in depts I and II. The money that employs them always stays in the circuit of capital however many steps you trace it back. When you look at the social division of labour as a whole in simple reproduction productive labour maps onto those branches of the division of labour that correspond to necessary labour, and unproductive labour to those branches of the fivision of labour that correpond to surplus labour. When expanded reproduction occurs part of the total social surplus labour becomes productive, but this can only happen by a shrinkage of dept III relative to its share of the labour force under conditions of simple reproduction. Ie, accumulation requires a shift from unproductive to productive work.

--- original message ---
From: "Paula" <Paula_cerni@msn.com>
Subject: Re: [OPE] Reply to critics
Date: 23rd October 2010
Time: 12:29:57 am

Paul C. wrote:

"The whole of the newly added value in dept 3 has to exchange against capitalist revenue and thus the workers in dept III are collectively in the same position as menial servants working in the houses of the capitalist class – their labour is all being exchanged against revenue."

No, the labor is exchanged against capital - these workers are employees of capitalist firms, not servants. It's the goods they produce that are exchanged against revenue, not their labor. By Paul's logic we'd have to say that all wage-goods are exchanged against wages, therefore there's no accumulation possible in this sector either. Clearly this is absurd. Once goods are sold to the final user, they cease to be values, they are only use-values, and it matters not (for our purposes) who the consumer is. The value has changed form, through exchange, from commodity to money.

Paula

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Received on Sat Oct 23 03:51:15 2010