The Basics of Capitalist Destruction

“Capitalist production disturbs the circulation of matter between man and the soil, i.e., prevents the return to the soil of its elements consumed by man in the form of food and clothing; it therefore violates the conditions necessary to lasting fertility of the soil...Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth-the soil and the laborer.[1]”

As it can be seen above, the foundations of capitalism's life-threating character should be searched roots of capitalism. Those roots that include entering from feudalism to capitalism, ownership of production tools (the separation of producers- production tools and expropriation of the agricultural population from the land) are important to be understood. However, in this article, it will be sufficed to the passion of surplus value of capital, exploitation and alienation due to requirements of it.

The Passion of Surplus Value of Capital: Exploitation

Increasing of surplus value permanently is the ultimate target of capitalist production style. It desires to maximize its profit constantly. Capital must be expanded to the market permanently because of maximizing own profit constantly, it produces extreme and uses natural and human resources in an unsustainable way. It means that both laborers will work more, and natural resources will be used more as commodities that can be bought and sold. On account of this, the exploitation of working class and the exploitation of nature should not be thought separately. Hence, it can be defined exploitation in capitalism, it should be become aware of dialectic relationship between each other[2]. To describe exploitation of laborer, Marx mentions two parts of production process: necessary labor part and surplus labor part. He explains necessary labor in this way:

“If the value of those necessaries represents on an average the expenditure of six hours labor, the workman must on an average work for six hours to produce that value. If instead of working for the capitalist, he worked independently on his own account, he would, other things being equal, still be obliged to labor for the same number of hours, in order to produce the value of his labor-power, and thereby to gain the means of subsistence necessary for his conservation or continued reproduction...That portion of the working day, then, during which this reproduction takes place, I call necessary labor time, and the labor expended during that time I call necessary labor.”[3]

He uses “v”as a symbol of necessary labor and keeps on:

“During the second period of the labor-process, that in which his labor is no longer necessary labor, the workman, it is true, labors, expends labor-power; but his labor, being no longer necessary labor, he creates no value for himself. He creates surplus-value which, for the capitalist, has all the charms of a creation out of nothing.”[4]

Also, it is used “s” for surplus value, and he creates an exploitation rate: surplus labor(s)/necessary labor(v). This rate can be written as surplus value/ variable capital (wage) and two of them give the same result in different ways: the degree of exploitation of labor power by capital. If we say more simply, some of hours is paid and some of hours unpaid. In other words, workers needs some hours to produce anew themselves (to meet their needs) and at the same time they must work some hours for capitalist in the unpaid way. Exploitation is these hours unpaid for in this context and it is utterly hidden with the contract between workers and capitalists. Moreover, laborer always want to decrease to this rate by trying to down working hours, conversely capitalists want to increase by using their power that arises from ownership of production tools. Marx explains exploitation in that way in Capital I:

“As the value of labor is only an irrational expression for the value of labor-power, it follows, of course, that the value of labor must always be less than the value it produces, for the capitalist always makes labor-power work longer than is necessary for the reproduction of its own value. In the above example, the value of the labor-power that functions through 12 hours is 3s., value for the reproduction of which 6 hours are required. The value which the labor-power produces is, on the other hand, 6s., because it, in fact,functions during 12 hours, and the value it produces depends, not on its own value, but on the length of time it is in action. Thus, we have a result absurd at first sight that labor which creates a value of 6s. possesses a value of 3s.”

We can see easily 6 hours labor-is paid for and 6 hours unpaid for in this quote. In other words, l worker needs 6 hours for producing anew themselves, they must work 6 hours for capitalist in the unpaid way. Exploitation is 6 hours unpaid for in this context and it is utterly hidden with the contract between workers and capitalists.

Alienation

It is necessary to ask that question when we think about production process under capitalism: Does working style of humans affect their daily lives, if yes, how?

The answer of above question entrapped to us towards the theory of alienation: Under capitalist conditions, if the harvest of your labor are taken away from you, you lose your creativity and sense of self.

The laborers in capitalist societies do not have their own production tools. In this reason, laborers must sell their labor power to capitalists (owners of production tools) in return wage. Thus, four relations come into the open related to alienation: laborer alienates own productive activity (decisions about product are given by capitalist), product of own productive activity (laborer generally does not know the process and ultimate product) other people (due to competition and mutual indifference) and community and creative qualifications [5]. These relations impoverish the laborer. On the other hand, the products reenter in laborer's life with different names (like commodity, wage, capital) and laborer cannot recognize them anymore, although the products are produced by them[6]. So, they reproduce their conditions unaware and the world which built themselves cream in their hands with their alienated labor. Alienation is based on that way by Marx in Capital I:

“That which comes directly face to face with the possessor of money on the market, is in fact not labor, but the laborer. What the latter sells is his labor-power. As soon as his labor actually begins, it has already ceased to belong to him; it can therefore no longer be sold by him. Labor is the substance, and the immanent measure of value, but has itself no value.”[7]

It means they alienate their labor power firstly. As a matter of fact, the other ones will emerge sadly. It will keep going until it is realized to emancipation of labor.

On the other hand, laborers also alienate to nature. They see it as water which they irrigate to own garden, parks which they walk in are not nature. In other words, seeing nature as a monetary value is an indicator of laborer who is alienated from fundamental common conditions of production indirectly[8].

In conclusion, other classes alienate in unique way to be included, and affected in these relations like capitalists. It means that alienated class is not only working class.

References:

[1] Marx, K., 1867, Capital Volume I: A Critique of Political Economy, [online] Available at:<https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Capital-Volume-I.pdf > [Accessed 19 May 2016] [2] It is necassary to get rid of slavery created by exchange value and adopting their use values [3] Marx, K., 1867 [4] Marx, K., 1867 [5] Ollman, B.,1971, Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society, trans. A. Kars, Istanbul:Yordam Published, 2015, p.221-248 [6] Ollman, B., 1991, p.14 [7] Marx, K., 1867 [8] Burket, P., 2006, p.101