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桌麵快捷
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桌麵快捷
加入收藏
設為首頁
The
additional
capitals
formed
in
the
normal
course
of
accumulation
(see
Chapter
XXIV,
Section
1)
serve
particularly
as
vehicles
for
the
exploitation
of
new
inventions
and
discoveries,
and
industrial
improvements
in
general.
But
in
time
the
old
capital
also
reaches
the
moment
of
renewal
from
top
to
toe,when
it
sheds
its
skin
and
is
reborn
like
the
others
in
a
perfected
technical
form,
in
which
a
smaller
quantity
of
labour
will
suffice
to
set
in
motion
a
larger
quantity
of
machinery
and
raw
materials.
The
absolute
reduction
in
the
demand
for
labour
which
necessarily
follows
from
this
is
obviously
so
much
the
greater
the
higher
the
degree
in
which
the
capitals
undergoing
this
process
of
renewal
are
already
massed
together
by
virtue
of
the
centralisation
movement.
On
the
one
hand,
therefore,
the
additional
capital
formed
in
the
course
of
accumulation
attracts
fewer
and
fewer
labourers
in
proportion
to
its
magnitude.
On
the
other
hand,
the
old
capital
periodically
reproduced
with
change
of
composition,
repels
more
and
more
of
the
labourers
formerly
employed
by
it.
Section
3:
Progressive
Production
of
a
Relative
Surplus
Population
or
Industrial
Reserve
Army
The
accumulation
of
capital,
though
originally
appearing
as
its
quantitative
extension
only,
is
effected,as
we
have
seen,
under
a
progressive
qualitative
change
in
its
composition,
under
a
constant
increase
of
its
constant,
at
the
expense
of
its
variable
constituent.13The
specifically
capitalist
mode
of
production,the
development
of
the
productive
power
of
labour
corresponding
to
it,
and
the
change
thence
resulting
in
the
organic
composition
of
capital,
do
not
merely
keep
pace
with
the
advance
of
accumulation,
or
with
the
growth
of
social
wealth.
They
develop
at
a
much
quicker
rate,
because
mere
accumulation,
the
absolute
increase
of
the
total
social
capital,
is
accompanied
by
the
centralisation
of
the
individual
capitals
of
which
that
total
is
made
up;
and
because
the
change
in
the
technological
composition
of
the
additional
capital
goes
hand
in
hand
with
a
similar
change
in
the
technological
composition
of
the
original
capital.With
the
advance
of
accumulation,
therefore,
the
proportion
of
constant
to
variable
capital
changes.
If
it
was
originally
say
1:1,
it
now
becomes
successively
2:1,
3:1,
4:1,
5:1,
7:1,
&c.,
so
that,
as
the
capital
increases,
instead
of
of
its
total
value,
only
1\/3,
1\/4,1\/5,
1\/6,
1\/8,
&c.,
is
transformed
into
labour-power,and,
on
the
other
hand,
2\/3,
3\/4,
4\/5,
5\/6,
7\/8
into
means
of
production.
Since
the
demand
for
labour
is
determined
not
by
the
amount
of
capital
as
a
whole,but
by
its
variable
constituent
alone,
that
demand
falls
progressively
with
the
increase
of
the
total
capital,instead
of,
as
previously
assumed,
rising
in
proportion
to
it.
It
falls
relatively
to
the
magnitude
of
the
total
capital,
and
at
an
accelerated
rate,
as
this
magnitude
increases.
With
the
growth
of
the
total
capital,
its
variable
constituent
or
the
labour
incorporated
in
it,also
does
increase,
but
in
a
constantly
diminishing
proportion.
The
intermediate
pauses
are
shortened,in
which
accumulation
works
as
simple
extension
of
production,
on
a
given
technical
basis.
It
is
not
merely
that
an
accelerated
accumulation
of
total
capital,accelerated
in
a
constantly
growing
progression,
is
needed
to
absorb
an
additional
number
of
labourers,
or
even,
on
account
of
the
constant
metamorphosis
of
old
capital,
to
keep
employed
those
already
functioning.
In
its
turn,
this
increasing
accumulation
and
centralisation
becomes
a
source
of
new
changes
in
the
composition
of
capital,
of
a
more
accelerated
diminution
of
its
variable,
as
compared
with
its
constant
constituent.This
accelerated
relative
diminution
of
the
variable
constituent,
that
goes
along
with
the
accelerated
increase
of
the
total
capital,
and
moves
more
rapidly
than
this
increase,
takes
the
inverse
form,
at
the
other
pole,
of
an
apparently
absolute
increase
of
the
labouring
population,
an
increase
always
moving
more
rapidly
than
that
of
the
variable
capital
or
the
means
of
employment.
But
in
fact,
it
is
capitalistic
accumulation
itself
that
constantly
produces,
and
produces
in
the
direct
ratio
of
its
own
energy
and
extent,
a
relatively
redundant
population
of
labourers,
i.e.,
a
population
of
greater
extent
than
suffices
for
the
average
needs
of
the
self-expansion
of
capital,
and
therefore
a
surplus
population.
Considering
the
social
capital
in
its
totality,
the
movement
of
its
accumulation
now
causes
periodical
changes,
affecting
it
more
or
less
as
a
whole,
now
distributes
its
various
phases
simultaneously
over
the
different
spheres
of
production.
In
some
spheres
a
change
in
the
composition
of
capital
occurs
without
increase
of
its
absolute
magnitude,
as
a
consequence
of
simple
centralisation;
in
others
the
absolute
growth
of
capital
is
connected
with
absolute
diminution
of
its
variable
constituent,
or
of
the
labour
power
absorbed
by
it;
in
others
again,
capital
continues
growing
for
a
time
on
its
given
technical
basis,
and
attracts
additional
labour
power
in
proportion
to
its
increase,
while
at
other
times
it
undergoes
organic
change,
and
lessens
its
variable
constituent;
in
all
spheres,
the
increase
of
the
variable
part
of
capital,and
therefore
of
the
number
of
labourers
employed
by
it,
is
always
connected
with
violent
fluctuations
and
transitory
production
of
surplus
population,
whether
this
takes
the
more
striking
form
of
the
repulsion
of
labourers
already
employed,
or
the
less
evident
but
not
less
real
form
of
the
more
difficult
absorption
of
the
additional
labouring
population
through
the
usual
channels.14With
the
magnitude
of
social
capital
already
functioning,
and
the
degree
of
its
increase,with
the
extension
of
the
scale
of
production,
and
the
mass
of
the
labourers
set
in
motion,
with
the
development
of
the
productiveness
of
their
labour,with
the
greater
breadth
and
fulness
of
all
sources
of
wealth,
there
is
also
an
extension
of
the
scale
on
which
greater
attraction
of
labourers
by
capital
is
accompanied
by
their
greater
repulsion;
the
rapidity
of
the
change
in
the
organic
composition
of
capital,and
in
its
technical
form
increases,
and
an
increasing
number
of
spheres
of
production
becomes
involved
in
this
change,
now
simultaneously,
now
alternately.
The
labouring
population
therefore
produces,
along
with
the
accumulation
of
capital
produced
by
it,
the
means
by
which
it
itself
is
made
relatively
superfluous,is
turned
into
a
relative
surplus
population;
and
it
does
this
to
an
always
increasing
extent.15This
is
a
law
of
population
peculiar
to
the
capitalist
mode
of
production;
and
in
fact
every
special
historic
mode
of
production
has
its
own
special
laws
of
population,historically
valid
within
its
limits
and
only
in
so
far
as
man
has
not
interfered
with
them.
But
if
a
surplus
labouring
population
is
a
necessary
product
of
accumulation
or
of
the
development
of
wealth
on
a
capitalist
basis,
this
surplus
population
becomes,
conversely,
the
lever
of
capitalistic
accumulation,
nay,
a
condition
of
existence
of
the
capitalist
mode
of
production.
It
forms
a
disposable
industrial
reserve
army,
that
belongs
to
capital
quite
as
absolutely
as
if
the
latter
had
bred
it
at
its
own
cost.Independently
of
the
limits
of
the
actual
increase
of
population,
it
creates,
for
the
changing
needs
of
the
self-expansion
of
capital,
a
mass
of
human
material
always
ready
for
exploitation.
With
accumulation,and
the
development
of
the
productiveness
of
labour
that
accompanies
it,
the
power
of
sudden
expansion
of
capital
grows
also;
it
grows,
not
merely
because
the
elasticity
of
the
capital
already
functioning
increases,
not
merely
because
the
absolute
wealth
of
society
expands,
of
which
capital
only
forms
an
elastic
part,
not
merely
because
credit,
under
every
special
stimulus,
at
once
places
an
unusual
part
of
this
wealth
at
the
disposal
of
production
in
the
form
of
additional
capital;
it
grows,
also,
because
the
technical
conditions
of
the
process
of
production
themselves–
machinery,
means
of
transport,
&c.
–
now
admit
of
the
rapidest
transformation
of
masses
of
surplus
product
into
additional
means
of
production.
The
mass
of
social
wealth,
overflowing
with
the
advance
of
accumulation,
and
transformable
into
additional
capital,
thrusts
itself
frantically
into
old
branches
of
production,
whose
market
suddenly
expands,
or
into
newly
formed
branches,
such
as
railways,
&c.,the
need
for
which
grows
out
of
the
development
of
the
old
ones.
In
all
such
cases,
there
must
be
the
possibility
of
throwing
great
masses
of
men
suddenly
on
the
decisive
points
without
injury
to
the
scale
of
production
in
other
spheres.
Overpopulation
supplies
these
masses.
The
course
characteristic
of
modern
industry,
viz.,
a
decennial
cycle
(interrupted
by
smaller
oscillations),
of
periods
of
average
activity,
production
at
high
pressure,
crisis
and
stagnation,
depends
on
the
constant
formation,
the
greater
or
less
absorption,and
the
re-formation
of
the
industrial
reserve
army
or
surplus
population.
In
their
turn,
the
varying
phases
of
the
industrial
cycle
recruit
the
surplus
population,and
become
one
of
the
most
energetic
agents
of
its
reproduction.
This
peculiar
course
of
modern
industry,which
occurs
in
no
earlier
period
of
human
history,was
also
impossible
in
the
childhood
of
capitalist
production.
The
composition
of
capital
changed
but
very
slowly.
With
its
accumulation,
therefore,
there
kept
pace,
on
the
whole,
a
corresponding
growth
in
the
demand
for
labour.
Slow
as
was
the
advance
of
accumulation
compared
with
that
of
more
modern
times,
it
found
a
check
in
the
natural
limits
of
the
exploitable
labouring
population,
limits
which
could
only
be
got
rid
of
by
forcible
means
to
be
mentioned
later.
The
expansion
by
fits
and
starts
of
the
scale
of
production
is
the
preliminary
to
its
equally
sudden
contraction;
the
latter
again
evokes
the
former,but
the
former
is
impossible
without
disposable
human
material,
without
an
increase,
in
the
number
of
labourers
independently
of
the
absolute
growth
of
the
population.
This
increase
is
effected
by
the
simple
process
that
constantly
\"sets
free\"
a
part
of
the
labourers;
by
methods
which
lessen
the
number
of
labourers
employed
in
proportion
to
the
increased
production.
The
whole
form
of
the
movement
of
modern
industry
depends,
therefore,
upon
the
constant
transformation
of
a
part
of
the
labouring
population
into
unemployed
or
half-employed
hands.
The
superficiality
of
Political
Economy
shows
itself
in
the
fact
that
it
looks
upon
the
expansion
and
contraction
of
credit,
which
is
a
mere
symptom
of
the
periodic
changes
of
the
industrial
cycle,
as
their
cause.
As
the
heavenly
bodies,
once
thrown
into
a
certain
definite
motion,
always
repeat
this,
so
is
it
with
social
production
as
soon
as
it
is
once
thrown
into
this
movement
of
alternate
expansion
and
contraction.Effects,
in
their
turn,
become
causes,
and
the
varying
accidents
of
the
whole
process,
which
always
reproduces
its
own
conditions,
take
on
the
form
of
periodicity.
When
this
periodicity
is
once
consolidated,even
Political
Economy
then
sees
that
the
production
of
a
relative
surplus
population
–
i.e.,
surplus
with
regard
to
the
average
needs
of
the
self-expansion
of
capital
–
is
a
necessary
condition
of
modern
industry.
\"Suppose,\"
says
H.
Merivale,
formerly
Professor
of
Political
Economy
at
Oxford,
subsequently
employed
in
the
English
Colonial
Office,
\"suppose
that,
on
the
occasion
of
some
of
these
crises,
the
nation
were
to
rouse
itself
to
the
effort
of
getting
rid
by
emigration
of
some
hundreds
of
thousands
of
superfluous
arms,
what
would
be
the
consequence
That,
at
the
first
returning
demand
for
labour,
there
would
be
a
deficiency.
However
rapid
reproduction
may
be,
it
takes,
at
all
events,
the
space
of
a
generation
to
replace
the
loss
of
adult
labour.
Now,
the
profits
of
our
manufacturers
depend
mainly
on
the
power
of
making
use
of
the
prosperous
moment
when
demand
is
brisk,
and
thus
compensating
themselves
for
the
interval
during
which
it
is
slack.
This
power
is
secured
to
them
only
by
the
command
of
machinery
and
of
manual
labour.
They
must
have
hands
ready
by
them,
they
must
be
able
to
increase
the
activity
of
their
operations
when
required,
and
to
slacken
it
again,
according
to
the
state
of
the
market,
or
they
cannot
possibly
maintain
that
pre-eminence
in
the
race
of
competition
on
which
the
wealth
of
the
country
is
founded.\"16
Even
Malthus
recognises
overpopulation
as
a
necessity
of
modern
industry,
though,
after
his
narrow
fashion,
he
explains
it
by
the
absolute
over-growth
of
the
labouring
population,
not
by
their
becoming
relatively
supernumerary.
He
says:
\"Prudential
habits
with
regard
to
marriage,
carried
to
a
considerable
extent
among
the
labouring
class
of
a
country
mainly
depending
upon
manufactures
and
commerce,
might
injure
it....
From
the
nature
of
a
population,
an
increase
of
labourers
cannot
be
brought
into
market
in
consequence
of
a
particular
demand
till
after
the
lapse
of
16
or
18
years,
and
the
conversion
of
revenue
into
capital,
by
saving,
may
take
place
much
more
rapidly:
a
country
is
always
liable
to
an
increase
in
the
quantity
of
the
funds
for
the
maintenance
of
labour
faster
than
the
increase
of
population.\"
17
After
Political
Economy
has
thus
demonstrated
the
constant
production
of
a
relative
surplus
population
of
labourers
to
be
a
necessity
of
capitalistic
accumulation,she
very
aptly,
in
the
guise
of
an
old
maid,
puts
in
the
mouth
of
her
\"beau
ideal\"
of
a
capitalist
the
following
words
addressed
to
those
supernumeraries
thrown
on
the
streets
by
their
own
creation
of
additional
capital:
–
\"We
manufacturers
do
what
we
can
for
you,
whilst
we
are
increasing
that
capital
on
which
you
must
subsist,
and
you
must
do
the
rest
by
accommodating
your
numbers
to
the
means
of
subsistence.\"18
Capitalist
production
can
by
no
means
content
itself
with
the
quantity
of
disposable
labour
power
which
the
natural
increase
of
population
yields.
It
requires
for
its
free
play
an
industrial
reserve
army
independent
of
these
natural
limits.
Up
to
this
point
it
has
been
assumed
that
the
increase
or
diminution
of
the
variable
capital
corresponds
rigidly
with
the
increase
or
diminution
of
the
number
of
labourers
employed.
The
number
of
labourers
commanded
by
capital
may
remain
the
same,
or
even
fall,
while
the
variable
capital
increases.
This
is
the
case
if
the
individual
labourer
yields
more
labour,
and
therefore
his
wages
increase,
and
this
although
the
price
of
labour
remains
the
same
or
even
falls,
only
more
slowly
than
the
mass
of
labour
rises.
Increase
of
variable
capital,
in
this
case,
becomes
an
index
of
more
labour,
but
not
of
more
labourers
employed.
It
is
the
absolute
interest
of
every
capitalist
to
press
a
given
quantity
of
labour
out
of
a
smaller,
rather
than
a
greater
number
of
labourers,if
the
cost
is
about
the
same.
In
the
latter
case,
the
outlay
of
constant
capital
increases
in
proportion
to
the
mass
of
labour
set
in
action;
in
the
former
that
increase
is
much
smaller.
The
more
extended
the
scale
of
production,
the
stronger
this
motive.
Its
force
increases
with
the
accumulation
of
capital.
We
have
seen
that
the
development
of
the
capitalist
mode
of
production
and
of
the
productive
power
of
labour
–
at
once
the
cause
and
effect
of
accumulation–
enables
the
capitalist,
with
the
same
outlay
of
variable
capital,
to
set
in
action
more
labour
by
greater
exploitation
(extensive
or
intensive)
of
each
individual
labour
power.
We
have
further
seen
that
the
capitalist
buys
with
the
same
capital
a
greater
mass
of
labour
power,
as
he
progressively
replaces
skilled
labourers
by
less
skilled,
mature
labour
power
by
immature,male
by
female,
that
of
adults
by
that
of
young
persons
or
children.
On
the
one
hand,
therefore,
with
the
progress
of
accumulation,
a
larger
variable
capital
sets
more
labour
in
action
without
enlisting
more
labourers;
on
the
other,
a
variable
capital
of
the
same
magnitude
sets
in
action
more
labour
with
the
same
mass
of
labour
power;
and,
finally,
a
greater
number
of
inferior
labour
powers
by
displacement
of
higher.
The
production
of
a
relative
surplus
population,or
the
setting
free
of
labourers,
goes
on
therefore
yet
more
rapidly
than
the
technical
revolution
of
the
process
of
production
that
accompanies,
and
is
accelerated
by,
the
advance
of
accumulation;
and
more
rapidly
than
the
corresponding
diminution
of
the
variable
part
of
capital
as
compared
with
the
constant.
If
the
means
of
production,
as
they
increase
in
extent
and
effective
power,
become
to
a
less
extent
means
of
employment
of
labourers,
this
state
of
things
is
again
modified
by
the
fact
that
in
proportion
as
the
productiveness
of
labour
increases,
capital
increases
its
supply
of
labour
more
quickly
than
its
demand
for
labourers.
The
overwork
of
the
employed
part
of
the
working
class
swells
the
ranks
of
the
reserve,whilst
conversely
the
greater
pressure
that
the
latter
by
its
competition
exerts
on
the
former,
forces
these
to
submit
to
overwork
and
to
subjugation
under
the
dictates
of
capital.
The
condemnation
of
one
part
of
the
working
class
to
enforced
idleness
by
the
overwork
of
the
other
part,
and
the
converse,
becomes
a
means
of
enriching
the
individual
capitalists,19and
accelerates
at
the
same
time
the
production
of
the
industrial
reserve
army
on
a
scale
corresponding
with
the
advance
of
social
accumulation.
How
important
is
this
element
in
the
formation
of
the
relative
surplus
population,
is
shown
by
the
example
of
England.Her
technical
means
for
saving
labour
are
colossal.Nevertheless,
if
to-morrow
morning
labour
generally
were
reduced
to
a
rational
amount,
and
proportioned
to
the
different
sections
of
the
working
class
according
to
age
and
sex,
the
working
population
to
hand
would
be
absolutely
insufficient
for
the
carrying
on
of
national
production
on
its
present
scale.
The
great
majority
of
the
labourers
now
\"unproductive\"
would
have
to
be
turned
into
\"productive\"
ones.
Taking
them
as
a
whole,
the
general
movements
of
wages
are
exclusively
regulated
by
the
expansion
and
contraction
of
the
industrial
reserve
army,
and
these
again
correspond
to
the
periodic
changes
of
the
industrial
cycle.
They
are,
therefore,
not
determined
by
the
variations
of
the
absolute
number
of
the
working
population,
but
by
the
varying
proportions
in
which
the
working
class
is
divided
into
active
and
reserve
army,
by
the
increase
or
diminution
in
the
relative
amount
of
the
surplus
population,
by
the
extent
to
which
it
is
now
absorbed,
now
set
free.For
Modern
Industry
with
its
decennial
cycles
and
periodic
phases,
which,
moreover,
as
accumulation
advances,
are
complicated
by
irregular
oscillations
following
each
other
more
and
more
quickly,
that
would
indeed
be
a
beautiful
law,
which
pretends
to
make
the
action
of
capital
dependent
on
the
absolute
variation
of
the
population,
instead
of
regulating
the
demand
and
supply
of
labour
by
the
alternate
expansion
and
contraction
of
capital,
the
labour
market
now
appearing
relatively
under-full,
because
capital
is
expanding,
now
again
over-full,
because
it
is
contracting.
Yet
this
is
the
dogma
of
the
economists.According
to
them,
wages
rise
in
consequence
of
accumulation
of
capital.
The
higher
wages
stimulate
the
working
population
to
more
rapid
multiplication,and
this
goes
on
until
the
labour-market
becomes
too
full,
and
therefore
capital,
relatively
to
the
supply
of
labour,
becomes
insufficient.
Wages
fall,
and
now
we
have
the
reverse
of
the
medal.
The
working
population
is
little
by
little
decimated
as
the
result
of
the
fall
in
wages,
so
that
capital
is
again
in
excess
relatively
to
them,
or,
as
others
explain
it,
falling
wages
and
the
corresponding
increase
in
the
exploitation
of
the
labourer
again
accelerates
accumulation,
whilst,
at
the
same
time,
the
lower
wages
hold
the
increase
of
the
working
class
in
check.
Then
comes
again
the
time,when
the
supply
of
labour
is
less
than
the
demand,wages
rise,
and
so
on.
A
beautiful
mode
of
motion
this
for
developed
capitalist
production!
Before,
in
consequence
of
the
rise
of
wages,
any
positive
increase
of
the
population
really
fit
for
work
could
occur,
the
time
would
have
been
passed
again
and
again,
during
which
the
industrial
campaign
must
have
been
carried
through,
the
battle
fought
and
won.
Between
1849
and
1859,
a
rise
of
wages
practically
insignificant,
though
accompanied
by
falling
prices
of
corn,
took
place
in
the
English
agricultural
districts.In
Wiltshire,
e.g.,
the
weekly
wages
rose
from
7s.
to
8s.;
in
Dorsetshire
from
7s.
or
8s.,
to
9s.,
&c.
This
was
the
result
of
an
unusual
exodus
of
the
agricultural
surplus
population
caused
by
the
demands
of
war,
the
vast
extension
of
railroads,
factories,
mines,
&c.
The
lower
the
wages,
the
higher
is
the
proportion
in
which
ever
so
insignificant
a
rise
of
them
expresses
itself.
If
the
weekly
wage,
e.g.,
is
20s.
and
it
rises
to
22s.,
that
is
a
rise
of
10
per
cent.;
but
if
it
is
only
7s.
and
it
rises
to
9s.,
that
is
a
rise
of
28
4\/7
per
cent.,
which
sounds
very
fine.
Everywhere
the
farmers
were
howling,and
the
London
Economist,
with
reference
to
these
starvation-wages,
prattled
quite
seriously
of
\"a
general
and
substantial
advance.\"20What
did
the
farmers
do
now
Did
they
wait
until,
in
consequence
of
this
brilliant
remuneration,
the
agricultural
labourers
had
so
increased
and
multiplied
that
their
wages
must
fall
again,
as
prescribed
by
the
dogmatic
economic
brainThey
introduced
more
machinery,
and
in
a
moment
the
labourers
were
redundant
again
in
a
proportion
satisfactory
even
to
the
farmers.
There
was
now
\"more
capital\"
laid
out
in
agriculture
than
before,
and
in
a
more
productive
form.
With
this
the
demand
for
labour
fell,
not
only
relatively,
but
absolutely.
The
above
economic
fiction
confuses
the
laws
that
regulate
the
general
movement
of
wages,
or
the
ratio
between
the
working
class
–
i.e.,
the
total
labour
power
–
and
the
total
social
capital,
with
the
laws
that
distribute
the
working
population
over
the
different
spheres
of
production.
If,
e.g.,
in
consequence
of
favourable
circumstances,
accumulation
in
a
particular
sphere
of
production
becomes
especially
active,
and
profits
in
it,
being
greater
than
the
average
profits,attract
additional
capital,
of
course
the
demand
for
labour
rises
and
wages
also
rise.
The
higher
wages
draw
a
larger
part
of
the
working
population
into
the
more
favoured
sphere,
until
it
is
glutted
with
labour
power,
and
wages
at
length
fall
again
to
their
average
level
or
below
it,
if
the
pressure
is
too
great.
Then,not
only
does
the
immigration
of
labourers
into
the
branch
of
industry
in
question
cease;
it
gives
place
to
their
emigration.
Here
the
political
economist
thinks
he
sees
the
why
and
wherefore
of
an
absolute
increase
of
workers
accompanying
an
increase
of
wages,
and
of
a
diminution
of
wages
accompanying
an
absolute
increase
of
labourers.
But
he
sees
really
only
the
local
oscillation
of
the
labour-market
in
a
particular
sphere
of
production
–
he
sees
only
the
phenomena
accompanying
the
distribution
of
the
working
population
into
the
different
spheres
of
outlay
of
capital,
according
to
its
varying
needs.
The
industrial
reserve
army,
during
the
periods
of
stagnation
and
average
prosperity,
weighs
down
the
active
labour-army;
during
the
periods
of
over
production
and
paroxysm,
it
holds
its
pretensions
in
check.
Relative
surplus
population
is
therefore
the
pivot
upon
which
the
law
of
demand
and
supply
of
labour
works.
It
confines
the
field
of
action
of
this
law
within
the
limits
absolutely
convenient
to
the
activity
of
exploitation
and
to
the
domination
of
capital.
This
is
the
place
to
return
to
one
of
the
grand
exploits
of
economic
apologetics.
It
will
be
remembered
that
if
through
the
introduction
of
new,
or
the
extension
of
old,
machinery,
a
portion
of
variable
capital
is
transformed
into
constant,
the
economic
apologist
interprets
this
operation
which
\"fixes\"
capital
and
by
that
very
act
sets
labourers
\"free,\"
in
exactly
the
opposite
way,
pretending
that
it
sets
free
capital
for
the
labourers.
Only
now
can
one
fully
understand
the
effrontery
of
these
apologists.
What
are
set
free
are
not
only
the
labourers
immediately
turned
out
by
the
machines,
but
also
their
future
substitutes
in
the
rising
generation,
and
the
additional
contingent,
that
with
the
usual
extension
of
trade
on
the
old
basis
would
be
regularly
absorbed.
They
are
now
all
\"set
free,\"
and
every
new
bit
of
capital
looking
out
for
employment
can
dispose
of
them.
Whether
it
attracts
them
or
others,the
effect
on
the
general
labour
demand
will
be
nil,
if
this
capital
is
just
sufficient
to
take
out
of
the
market
as
many
labourers
as
the
machines
threw
upon
it.
If
it
employs
a
smaller
number,
that
of
the
supernumeraries
increases;
if
it
employs
a
greater,
the
general
demand
for
labour
only
increases
to
the
extent
of
the
excess
of
the
employed
over
those
\"set
free.\"
The
impulse
that
additional
capital,
seeking
an
outlet,
would
otherwise
have
given
to
the
general
demand
for
labour,
is
therefore
in
every
case
neutralised
to
the
extent
of
the
labourers
thrown
out
of
employment
by
the
machine.That
is
to
say,
the
mechanism
of
capitalistic
production
so
manages
matters
that
the
absolute
increase
of
capital
is
accompanied
by
no
corresponding
rise
in
the
general
demand
for
labour.
And
this
the
apologist
calls
a
compensation
for
the
misery,
the
sufferings,
the
possible
death
of
the
displaced
labourers
during
the
transition
period
that
banishes
them
into
the
industrial
reserve
army!
The
demand
for
labour
is
not
identical
with
increase
of
capital,
nor
supply
of
labour
with
increase
of
the
working
class.
It
is
not
a
case
of
two
independent
forces
working
on
one
another.
Les
dés
sont
pipés.
Capital
works
on
both
sides
at
the
same
time.
If
its
accumulation,
on
the
one
hand,
increases
the
demand
for
labour,
it
increases
on
the
other
the
supply
of
labourers
by
the
\"setting
free\"
of
them,
whilst
at
the
same
time
the
pressure
of
the
unemployed
compels
those
that
are
employed
to
furnish
more
labour,
and
therefore
makes
the
supply
of
labour,
to
a
certain
extent,
independent
of
the
supply
of
labourers.
The
action
of
the
law
of
supply
and
demand
of
labour
on
this
basis
completes
the
despotism
of
capital.
As
soon,therefore,
as
the
labourers
learn
the
secret,
how
it
comes
to
pass
that
in
the
same
measure
as
they
work
more,
as
they
produce
more
wealth
for
others,
and
as
the
productive
power
of
their
labour
increases,
so
in
the
same
measure
even
their
function
as
a
means
of
the
self-expansion
of
capital
becomes
more
and
more
precarious
for
them;
as
soon
as
they
discover
that
the
degree
of
intensity
of
the
competition
among
themselves
depends
wholly
on
the
pressure
of
the
relative
surplus
population;
as
soon
as,
by
Trades'Unions,
&c.,
they
try
to
organise
a
regular
co-operation
between
employed
and
unemployed
in
order
to
destroy
or
to
weaken
the
ruinous
effects
of
this
natural
law
of
capitalistic
production
on
their
class,
so
soon
capital
and
its
sycophant,
Political
Economy,
cry
out
at
the
infringement
of
the
\"eternal\"
and
so
to
say
\"sacred\"law
of
supply
and
demand.
Every
combination
of
employed
and
unemployed
disturbs
the
\"harmonious\"action
of
this
law.
But,
on
the
other
hand,
as
soon
as(in
the
colonies,
e.g.)
adverse
circumstances
prevent
the
creation
of
an
industrial
reserve
army
and,
with
it,the
absolute
dependence
of
the
working
class
upon
the
capitalist
class,
capital,
along
with
its
commonplace
Sancho
Panza,
rebels
against
the
\"sacred\"
law
of
supply
and
demand,
and
tries
to
check
its
inconvenient
action
by
forcible
means
and
State
interference.
Section
4:Different
Forms
ofthe
Relative
Surplus
Population.
The
General
Law
of
Capitalistic
Accumulation
The
relative
surplus
population
exists
in
every
possible
form.
Every
labourer
belongs
to
it
during
the
time
when
he
is
only
partially
employed
or
wholly
unemployed.
Not
taking
into
account
the
great
periodically
recurring
forms
that
the
changing
phases
of
the
industrial
cycle
impress
on
it,
now
an
acute
form
during
the
crisis,
then
again
a
chronic
form
during
dull
times
–
it
has
always
three
forms,
the
floating,
the
latent,
the
stagnant.
In
the
centres
of
modern
industry
–
factories,manufactures,
ironworks,
mines,
&c.
–
the
labourers
are
sometimes
repelled,
sometimes
attracted
again
in
greater
masses,
the
number
of
those
employed
increasing
on
the
whole,
although
in
a
constantly
decreasing
proportion
to
the
scale
of
production.
Here
the
surplus
population
exists
in
the
floating
form.
In
the
automatic
factories,
as
in
all
the
great
workshops,
where
machinery
enters
as
a
factor,
or
where
only
the
modern
division
of
labour
is
carried
out,
large
numbers
of
boys
are
employed
up
to
the
age
of
maturity.
When
this
term
is
once
reached,
only
a
very
small
number
continue
to
find
employment
in
the
same
branches
of
industry,
whilst
the
majority
are
regularly
discharged.
This
majority
forms
an
element
of
the
floating
surplus
population,
growing
with
the
extension
of
those
branches
of
industry.
Part
of
them
emigrates,
following
in
fact
capital
that
has
emigrated.One
consequence
is
that
the
female
population
grows
more
rapidly
than
the
male,
teste
England.
That
the
natural
increase
of
the
number
of
labourers
does
not
satisfy
the
requirements
of
the
accumulation
of
capital,
and
yet
all
the
time
is
in
excess
of
them,
is
a
contradiction
inherent
to
the
movement
of
capital
itself.
It
wants
larger
numbers
of
youthful
labourers,a
smaller
number
of
adults.
The
contradiction
is
not
more
glaring
than
that
other
one
that
there
is
a
complaint
of
the
want
of
hands,
while
at
the
same
time
many
thousands
are
out
of
work,
because
the
division
of
labour
chains
them
to
a
particular
branch
of
industry.21
The
consumption
of
labour
power
by
capital
is,besides,
so
rapid
that
the
labourer,
half-way
through
his
life,
has
already
more
or
less
completely
lived
himself
out.
He
falls
into
the
ranks
of
the
supernumeraries,or
is
thrust
down
from
a
higher
to
a
lower
step
in
the
scale.
It
is
precisely
among
the
work-people
of
modern
industry
that
we
meet
with
the
shortest
duration
of
life.
Dr.
Lee,
Medical
Officer
of
Health
for
Manchester,stated
\"that
the
average
age
at
death
of
the
Manchester...
upper
middle
class
was
38
years,
while
the
average
age
at
death
of
the
labouring
class
was
17;
while
at
Liverpool
those
figures
were
represented
as
35
against
15.
It
thus
appeared
that
the
well-to
do
classes
had
a
lease
of
life
which
was
more
than
double
the
value
of
that
which
fell
to
the
lot
of
the
less
favoured
citizens.\"22
In
order
to
conform
to
these
circumstances,
the
absolute
increase
of
this
section
of
the
proletariat
must
take
place
under
conditions
that
shall
swell
their
numbers,
although
the
individual
elements
are
used
up
rapidly.
Hence,
rapid
renewal
of
the
generations
of
labourers
(this
law
does
not
hold
for
the
other
classes
of
the
population).
This
social
need
is
met
by
early
marriages,
a
necessary
consequence
of
the
conditions
in
which
the
labourers
of
modern
industry
live,
and
by
the
premium
that
the
exploitation
of
children
sets
on
their
production.
As
soon
as
capitalist
production
takes
possession
of
agriculture,
and
in
proportion
to
the
extent
to
which
it
does
so,
the
demand
for
an
agricultural
labouring
population
falls
absolutely,
while
the
accumulation
of
the
capital
employed
in
agriculture
advances,
without
this
repulsion
being,
as
in
non-agricultural
industries,compensated
by
a
greater
attraction.
Part
of
the
agricultural
population
is
therefore
constantly
on
the
point
of
passing
over
into
an
urban
or
manufacturing
proletariat,
and
on
the
look-out
for
circumstances
favourable
to
this
transformation.
(Manufacture
is
used
here
in
the
sense
of
all
non-agricultural
industries.)23This
source
of
relative
surplus
population
is
thus
constantly
flowing.
But
the
constant
flow
towards
the
towns
pre-supposes,
in
the
country
itself,
a
constant
latent
surplus
population,
the
extent
of
which
becomes
evident
only
when
its
channels
of
outlet
open
to
exceptional
width.
The
agricultural
labourer
is
therefore
reduced
to
the
minimum
of
wages,
and
always
stands
with
one
foot
already
in
the
swamp
of
pauperism.
The
third
category
of
the
relative
surplus
population,the
stagnant,
forms
a
part
of
the
active
labour
army,but
with
extremely
irregular
employment.
Hence
it
furnishes
to
capital
an
inexhaustible
reservoir
of
disposable
labour
power.
Its
conditions
of
life
sink
below
the
average
normal
level
of
the
working
class;
this
makes
it
at
once
the
broad
basis
of
special
branches
of
capitalist
exploitation.
It
is
characterised
by
maximum
of
working-time,
and
minimum
of
wages.
We
have
learnt
to
know
its
chief
form
under
the
rubric
of
\"domestic
industry.\"
It
recruits
itself
constantly
from
the
supernumerary
forces
of
modern
industry
and
agriculture,
and
specially
from
those
decaying
branches
of
industry
where
handicraft
is
yielding
to
manufacture,
manufacture
to
machinery.Its
extent
grows,
as
with
the
extent
and
energy
of
accumulation,
the
creation
of
a
surplus
population
advances.
But
it
forms
at
the
same
time
a
self
reproducing
and
self-perpetuating
element
of
the
working
class,
taking
a
proportionally
greater
part
in
the
general
increase
of
that
class
than
the
other
elements.
In
fact,
not
only
the
number
of
births
and
deaths,
but
the
absolute
size
of
the
families
stand
in
inverse
proportion
to
the
height
of
wages,
and
therefore
to
the
amount
of
means
of
subsistence
of
which
the
different
categories
of
labourers
dispose.This
law
of
capitalistic
society
would
sound
absurd
to
savages,
or
even
civilised
colonists.
It
calls
to
mind
the
boundless
reproduction
of
animals
individually
weak
and
constantly
hunted
down.24
The
lowest
sediment
of
the
relative
surplus
population
finally
dwells
in
the
sphere
of
pauperism.Exclusive
of
vagabonds,
criminals,
prostitutes,
in
a
word,
the
\"dangerous\"
classes,
this
layer
of
society
consists
of
three
categories.
First,
those
able
to
work.One
need
only
glance
superficially
at
the
statistics
of
English
pauperism
to
find
that
the
quantity
of
paupers
increases
with
every
crisis,
and
diminishes
with
every
revival
of
trade.
Second,
orphans
and
pauper
children.These
are
candidates
for
the
industrial
reserve
army,and
are,
in
times
of
great
prosperity,
as
1860,
e.g.,speedily
and
in
large
numbers
enrolled
in
the
active
army
of
labourers.
Third,
the
demoralised
and
ragged,and
those
unable
to
work,
chiefly
people
who
succumb
to
their
incapacity
for
adaptation,
due
to
the
division
of
labour;
people
who
have
passed
the
normal
age
of
the
labourer;
the
victims
of
industry,
whose
number
increases
with
the
increase
of
dangerous
machinery,
of
mines,
chemical
works,
&c.,
the
mutilated,
the
sickly,the
widows,
&c.
Pauperism
is
the
hospital
of
the
active
labour-army
and
the
dead
weight
of
the
industrial
reserve
army.
Its
production
is
included
in
that
of
the
relative
surplus
population,
its
necessity
in
theirs;along
with
the
surplus
population,
pauperism
forms
a
condition
of
capitalist
production,
and
of
the
capitalist
development
of
wealth.
It
enters
into
the
faux
frais
of
capitalist
production;
but
capital
knows
how
to
throw
these,
for
the
most
part,
from
its
own
shoulders
on
to
those
of
the
working
class
and
the
lower
middle
class.
精選分類
