Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
'(1) ... the forming of such supplies and the necessity for it applies
to all capitalists, those of I as well as of II. Considering them in
their capacity as sellers of commodities, they differ only by the fact
that they sell different kinds of commodities. A supply of commodities
of II implies a previous supply of commodities of I. If we neglect this
supply on the one side, we must also do so on the other. But if we count
them in on both sides, the problem is not altered in any way. (2) Just
as this year closes on the side of II with a supply of commodities for
the next year, so it was opened by a supply of commodities on the same
side, taken over from last year. In the analysis of annual reproduction,
reduced to its abstract form, we must therefore strike it out at both
ends. By leaving this year in possession of its entire production,
including the supply held for next year, we take from it the supply of
commodities transferred from last year, and thus we have actually to
deal with the aggregate product of an average year as the object of our
analysis. (3) The simple circumstance that the difficulty which must be
overcome did not show itself in the analysis of simple reproduction
proves that it is a specific phenomenon due merely to the different
arrangement of the elements of Department I with a view to reproduction,
an arrangement without which reproduction on an expanded scale cannot
take place at all.'[125]
The last remark, be it noted, is equally damaging to his own earlier
attempt at resolving the specific difficulties of accumulation by
moments pertaining to simple reproduction, viz. the formation of a hoard
consequent upon the gradual turnover of the fixed capital in the hands
of the capitalists which was previously adduced as the explanation of
accumulation in Department I.
Marx then proceeds to set out enlarged reproduction in the form of
diagrams. But no sooner does he begin to analyse his diagram, than the
same difficulty crops up anew in a slightly different guise. Assuming
that the capitalists of Department II must for their part convert 140_s_
into constant capital so as to make accumulation possible for the
others, he asks:
'Therefore Department II must buy 140_s_ for cash without recovering
this money by a subsequent sale of its commodities to I. And this is a
process which is continually repeated in every new annual production, so
far as it is reproduction on an enlarged scale. Where does II get the
money for this?'[126]
In the following, Marx tries out various approaches in order to discover
this source. First the expenditure on variable capital by the
capitalists in Department II is closely scrutinised. True, it exists in
the form of money; but its proper function is the purchase of labour
power, and it cannot possibly be withdrawn and made to serve, maybe, for
purchasing additional means of production.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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