Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
We may now set out the model for simple reproduction--that is, annual
national income for an economy in which the stock of capital is kept
intact but not increased. All output is divided into two departments:
I, producing capital equipment and raw materials, (producers' goods),
and II, producing consumption goods. Then we have
I: _c_{1} + v_{1} + s_{1} = c_{1} + c_{2}_
II: _c_{2} + v_{2} + s_{2} = v_{1} + v_{2} + s_{1} + s_{2}_
Thus
_c_{2} = v_{1} + s_{1}_
This means that the net output of the producers' goods department is
equal to the replacement of capital in the consumers' goods department.
The whole surplus, as well as the whole of wages, is currently consumed.
Before proceeding to the model for accumulation there is a difficulty
which must be discussed. In the above model the stock of capital exists,
so to speak, off stage. Rosa Luxemburg is perfectly well aware of the
relationship between annual wear and tear of capital, which is part of
_c_, and the stock of fixed capital,[13] but as soon as she (following
Marx) discusses accumulation she equates the addition to the stock of
capital made by saving out of surplus in one year to the wear and tear
of capital in the next year. To make sense of this we must assume that
all capital is consumed and made good once a year. She seems to slip
into this assumption inadvertently at first, though later it is made
explicit.[14] She also consciously postulates that _v_ represents the
amount of capital which is paid out in wages in advance of receipts from
sales of the commodities produced. (This, as she says, is the natural
assumption to make for agricultural production, where workers this year
are paid from the proceeds of last year's harvest.)[15] Thus _v_
represents at the same time the annual wages bill and the amount of
capital locked up in the wages fund, while _c_ represents both the
annual amortisation of capital and the total stock of capital (other
than the wages fund). This is a simplification which is tiresome rather
than helpful (it arises from Marx's ill-judged habit of writing _s/(c +
v)_ for the rate of profit on capital), but it is no more than a
simplification and does not invalidate the rest of the analysis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account