Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
In order to comprehend the problem in complete purity, Marx here assumes
the whole of the surplus value to be capitalised, for which reason he
ignores altogether that part of the surplus value is used for the
capitalists' personal consumption; in addition, A´, A´´ and A´´´ as well
as B´, B´´ and B´´´ here belong to Department I.
'The formation of a hoard, then, is not a production, nor is it an
increment of production. The action of the capitalist consists merely in
withdrawing from circulation 100 obtained by the sale of his
surplus-product, in holding and hoarding this amount. This operation is
carried on, not alone on the part of A, but at numerous points of the
periphery of circulation by other capitalists named A´, A´´, A´´´....
However, A accomplishes the formation of a hoard only to the extent that
he acts as a seller, so far as his surplus-product is concerned, not as
a buyer. His successive production of surplus-products, the bearers of
his surplus-value convertible into money, is therefore a premise for the
formation of his hoard. In the present case, where we are dealing only
with the circulation within Department I, the natural form of the
surplus-product, and of the total product of which it is a part, is that
of an element of constant capital of I, that is to say it belongs to the
category of a means of production creating means of production. We shall
see presently what becomes of it, what function it performs, in the
hands of the buyers such as B, B´, B´´, etc.
'It must particularly be noted at this point that A, while withdrawing
money from circulation and hoarding it, on the other hand throws
commodities into it without withdrawing other commodities in return. The
capitalists, B, B´, B´´, etc., are thereby enabled to throw only money
into it and withdraw only commodities from it. In the present case,
these commodities, according to their natural form and destination,
become a fixed or circulating element of the constant capital of B, B´,
etc.'[117]
There is nothing new about this whole process. Marx had already
described it extensively in connection with simple reproduction, since
it alone can explain how a society is able to renew constant capital
under conditions of capitalist reproduction. How this process can lay
the besetting problem of our analysis of enlarged reproduction is far
from self-evident. The difficulty had been that for the purpose of
accumulation, part of the surplus value is not consumed by the
capitalists but added to capital in order to expand production, giving
rise to the question of buyers for this additional product. The
capitalists do not want to consume it and the workers are not able to do
so, their entire consumption being covered in every case by the
available variable capital. Whence the demand for the accumulated
surplus value? or, as Marx would have it: Whence the money to pay for
the accumulated surplus value?
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