023-Chapter-9-The-Rate-of-Surplus-Value-Section-1-The-Degree-of-Exploitation-of-Labour-Power

Chapter 9: The Rate of Surplus-Value

第9章：剩余价值率

Section 1: The Degree of Exploitation of Labour-Power

第1节：劳动力被剥削的程度

The surplus-value generated in the process of production by C, the capital
advanced, or in other words, the self-expansion of the value of the capital C,
presents itself for our consideration, in the first place, as a surplus, as the
amount by which the value of the product exceeds the value of its constituent
elements.

The capital C is made up of two components, one, the sum of money c laid out
upon the means of production, and the other, the sum of money v expended upon
the labour-power; c represents the portion that has become constant capital, and
v the portion that has become variable capital. At first then, C = c + v: for
example, if £500 is the capital advanced, its components may be such that the
£500 = £410 const. + £90 var. When the process of production is finished, we get
a commodity whose value = (c + v) + s, where s is the surplus-value; or taking
our former figures, the value of this commodity may be (£410 const. + £90 var.) +
£90 surpl. The original capital has now changed from C to C', from £500 to
£590. The difference is s or a surplus-value of £90. Since the value of the
constituent elements of the product is equal to the value of the advanced
capital, it is mere tautology to say, that the excess of the value of the
product over the value of its constituent elements, is equal to the
expansion of the capital advanced or to the surplus-value produced.

C(最初的资本)=c(生产资料，即不变资本)+v(劳动力，即可变资本)。
在生产过程结束时得到商品，它的Value=C'=c+v+m(剩余价值)。
【C=c+v~>(production)~>C'=c+v+m】
【500=410+90~>(production)~>590=410+90+90】

Nevertheless, we must examine this tautology a little more closely. The two
things compared are, the value of the product and the value of its constituents
consumed in the process of production. Now we have seen how that portion of the
constant capital which consists of the instruments of labour, transfers to the
production only a fraction of its value, while the remainder of that value
continues to reside in those instruments. Since this remainder plays no part in
the formation of value, we may at present leave it on one side. To introduce it
into the calculation would make no difference. For instance, taking our former
example, c = £410: suppose this sum to consist of £312 value of raw material,
£44 value of auxiliary material, and £54 value of the machinery worn away in the
process; and suppose that the total value of the machinery employed is £1,054.
Out of this latter sum, then, we reckon as advanced for the purpose of turning
out the product, the sum of £54 alone, which the machinery loses by wear and
tear in the process; for this is all it parts with to the product. Now if we
also reckon the remaining £1,000, which still continues in the machinery, as
transferred to the product, we ought also to reckon it as part of the value
advanced, and thus make it appear on both sides of our calculation.1 We should,
in this way, get £1,500 on one side and £1,590 on the other. The difference of
these two sums, or the surplus-value, would still be £90. Throughout this Book
therefore, by constant capital advanced for the production of value, we always
mean, unless the context is repugnant thereto, the value of the means of
production actually consumed in the process, and that value alone.

This being so, let us return to the formula C = c + v, which we saw was
transformed into C' = (c + v) + s, C becoming C'. We know that the value of the
constant capital is transferred to, and merely re-appears in the product. The
new value actually created in the process, the value produced, or value-product,
is therefore not the same as the value of the product; it is not, as it would at
first sight appear (c + v) + s or £410 const. + £90 var. + £90 surpl.; but v + s
or £90 var. + £90 surpl., not £590 but £180. If c = 0, or in other words, if
there were branches of industry in which the capitalist could dispense with all
means of production made by previous labour, whether they be raw material,
auxiliary material, or instruments of labour, employing only labour-power and
materials supplied by Nature, in that case, there would be no constant capital
to transfer to the product. This component of the value of the product, i.e.,
the £410 in our example, would be eliminated, but the sum of £180, the amount of
new value created, or the value produced, which contains £90 of surplus-value,
would remain just as great as if c represented the highest value imaginable. We
should have C = (0 + v) = v or C' the expanded capital = v + s and therefore C' - C = s
as before. On the other hand, if s = 0, or in other words, if the
labour-power, whose value is advanced in the form of variable capital, were
to produce only its equivalent, we should have C = c + v or C' the value of
the product = (c + v) + 0 or C = C'. The capital advanced would, in this
case, not have expanded its value.

不变资本在这里的数额是多少都没有关系。

From what has gone before, we know that surplus-value is purely the result of a
variation in the value of v, of that portion of the capital which is transformed
into labour-power; consequently, v + s = v + v', or v plus an increment of v.
But the fact that it is v alone that varies, and the conditions of that
variation, are obscured by the circumstance that in consequence of the increase
in the variable component of the capital, there is also an increase in the sum
total of the advanced capital. It was originally £500 and becomes £590.
Therefore in order that our investigation may lead to accurate results, we must
make abstraction from that portion of the value of the product, in which
constant capital alone appears, and consequently must equate the constant
capital to zero or make c = 0. This is merely an application of a mathematical
rule, employed whenever we operate with constant and variable magnitudes,
related to each other by the symbols of addition and subtraction only.

我们已经知道，剩余价值是v(劳动力，即可变资本)的Value变化的结果，因此，v+m=v+Δv(v的增加额)。只有v(劳动力，即可变资本)的Value发生了变化；其变化的比例为Δv/v。这两个事实，被下面的情况掩盖了：由于可变资本的增加，全部预付资本C也增加了。最初的500万元变成了590万元。因此，为了便于研究，我们抽干不变资本，使c=0。这只是一个很简单的数学抽象。

A further difficulty is caused by the original form of the variable capital. In
our example, C' = £410 const. + £90 var. + £90 surpl.; but £90 is a given and
therefore a constant quantity; hence it appears absurd to treat it as variable.
But in fact, the term £90 var. is here merely a symbol to show that this value
undergoes a process. The portion of the capital invested in the purchase of
labour-power is a definite quantity of materialised labour, a constant value
like the value of the labour-power purchased. But in the process of production
the place of the £90 is taken by the labour-power in action, dead labour is
replaced by living labour, something stagnant by something flowing, a constant
by a variable. The result is the reproduction of v plus an increment of v. From
the point of view then of capitalist production, the whole process appears as
the spontaneous variation of the originally constant value, which is transformed
into labour-power. Both the process and its result, appear to be owing to this
value. If, therefore, such expressions as “£90 variable capital,” or “so much
self-expanding value,” appear contradictory, this is only because they bring to
the surface a contradiction immanent in capitalist production.

At first sight it appears a strange proceeding, to equate the constant capital
to zero. Yet it is what we do every day. If, for example, we wish to calculate
the amount of England’s profits from the cotton industry, we first of all deduct
the sums paid for cotton to the United States, India, Egypt and other countries;
in other words, the value of the capital that merely re-appears in the value of
the product, is put = 0.

Of course the ratio of surplus-value not only to that portion of the capital
from which it immediately springs, and whose change of value it represents, but
also to the sum total of the capital advanced is economically of very great
importance. We shall, therefore, in the third book, treat of this ratio
exhaustively. In order to enable one portion of a capital to expand its value by
being converted into labour-power, it is necessary that another portion be
converted into means of production. In order that variable capital may perform
its function, constant capital must be advanced in proper proportion, a
proportion given by the special technical conditions of each labour-process. The
circumstance, however, that retorts and other vessels, are necessary to a
chemical process, does not compel the chemist to notice them in the result of
his analysis. If we look at the means of production, in their relation to the
creation of value, and to the variation in the quantity of value, apart from
anything else, they appear simply as the material in which labour-power, the
value-creator, incorporates itself. Neither the nature, nor the value of this
material is of any importance. The only requisite is that there be a sufficient
supply to absorb the labour expended in the process of production. That supply
once given, the material may rise or fall in value, or even be, as land and the
sea, without any value in itself; but this will have no influence on the
creation of value or on the variation in the quantity of value.2

当然，Δv/v和Δv/(c+v)都有重要的经济意义。我们将在第三册讨论Δv/(c+v)这个比率。为了让可变资本（劳动力）增殖，就必须投入不变资本（生产资料）。为了让可变资本发挥作用，就必须按一定比例投入不变资本。这个比例是由劳动过程的技术条件决定的。【越是高科技产业，技术条件要求的不变资本的比例就越大。】化学反应过程需要使用各种容器，但化学家的分析结果并不关心容器。在创造Value的过程中，在Value数量的变化过程中，生产资料仅仅是让劳动力在其中发挥作用的“容器”。【精彩】这个容器是棉花还是铁矿，不重要；这个容器的Value大小，也不重要。只要有足够的容器来吸纳生产过程中的劳动就行。容器的Value如何增减，甚至像土地和大海一样没有Value，都是无所谓的。

In the first place then we equate the constant capital to zero. The capital
advanced is consequently reduced from c + v to v, and instead of the value of
the product (c + v) + s we have now the value produced (v + s). Given the new
value produced = £180, which sum consequently represents the whole labour
expended during the process, then subtracting from it £90 the value of the
variable capital, we have remaining £90, the amount of the surplus-value. This
sum of £90 or s expresses the absolute quantity of surplus-value produced. The
relative quantity produced, or the increase per cent of the variable capital, is
determined, it is plain, by the ratio of the surplus-value to the variable
capital, or is expressed by s/v. In our example this ratio is 90/90, which gives
an increase of 100%. This relative increase in the value of the variable
capital, or the relative magnitude of the surplus-value, I call, “The rate of
surplus-value.” 3

我们先假设c=0。此时，c+v=v，c+v+m=v+m。例如，劳动力的Value为90万元，劳动力创造的Value为180万元，那么，剩余价值m=180-90=90（万元）。这个m=90里的90就是生产出的剩余价值的绝对数量。而m/v就是剩余价值的相对数量，我称之为剩余价值率。上例中，m/v=90/90=100%。

We have seen that the labourer, during one portion of the labour-process,
produces only the value of his labour-power, that is, the value of his means of
subsistence. Now since his work forms part of a system, based on the social
division of labour, he does not directly produce the actual necessaries which he
himself consumes; he produces instead a particular commodity, yarn for example,
whose value is equal to the value of those necessaries or of the money with
which they can be bought. The portion of his day’s labour devoted to this
purpose, will be greater or less, in proportion to the value of the necessaries
that he daily requires on an average, or, what amounts to the same thing, in
proportion to the labour-time required on an average to produce them. If the
value of those necessaries represent on an average the expenditure of six hours’
labour, 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 labour for the
same number of hours, in order to produce the value of his labour-power, and
thereby to gain the means of subsistence necessary for his conservation or
continued reproduction. But as we have seen, during that portion of his day’s
labour in which he produces the value of his labour-power, say three shillings,
he produces only an equivalent for the value of his labour-power already
advanced4 by the capitalist; the new value created only replaces the variable
capital advanced. It is owing to this fact, that the production of the new value
of three shillings takes the semblance of a mere reproduction. That portion of
the working day, then, during which this reproduction takes place, I call
“necessary” labour time, and the labour expended during that time I call
“necessary” labour.5 Necessary, as regards the labourer, because independent of
the particular social form of his labour; necessary, as regards capital, and the
world of capitalists, because on the continued existence of the labourer depends
their existence also.

我们看到，劳动者在劳动过程的一段期间内，只生产出了他的劳动力的Value，即他的生活资料的Value。由于劳动的社会分工，他的工作是这个分工系统的一支，他并不是直接生产他自己消费的生活资料，而是生产一种特定商品（例如纱线），其Value等于这些生活资料的Value，即可以使他买到这些生活资料。他的工作日中有多大比例是为此耗费的呢？这由他每日需要的生活资料的Value决定，即，由生产这些生活资料所需的社会必要劳动时间决定。如果这个Value代表6小时的劳动耗费，那么工人就必须平均每天工作6小时，才能生产这么多Value。如果他不是为资本家工作，而是为自己工作，在其他条件不变时，他仍旧必须劳动6小时，才能生产出他的劳动力的Value，才能获得足够的生活资料，才能维持生活，才能再生产出他自己。但是，我们看到，在工作日的这个期间内，他只生产出他的劳动力的Value（假设是300元），这仅仅是由资本家预付的劳动力Value的等价物，这仅仅是新创造的Value代替了可变资本原有的Value。因此，这300元Value的生产就表现得像是单纯的再生产一样。我将这个再生产的期间，称为必要劳动时间；这个期间的劳动，我称之为必要劳动。对于工人来说是“必要”，是因为这个劳动是独立于劳动的社会形式的【在任何社会形态中，都必须要有这个劳动，人类才能生存】。对于资本和资本家世界来说是“必要”，是因为他们的存在仰赖着劳动者的存在。

During the second period of the labour-process, that in which his labour is no
longer necessary labour, the workman, it is true, labours, expends labour-power;
but his labour, being no longer necessary labour, he creates no value for
himself. He creates surplus-value which, for the capitalist, has all the charms
of a creation out of nothing. This portion of the working day, I name surplus
labour-time, and to the labour expended during that time, I give the name of
surplus labour. It is every bit as important, for a correct understanding of
surplus-value, to conceive it as a mere congelation of surplus labour-time, as
nothing but materialised surplus labour, as it is, for a proper comprehension of
value, to conceive it as a mere congelation of so many hours of labour, as
nothing but materialised labour. The essential difference between the various
economic forms of society, between, for instance, a society based on
slave-labour, and one based on wage-labour, lies only in the mode in which this
surplus labour is in each case extracted from the actual producer, the
labourer.6

在劳动过程的第二个期间内，工人的劳动不是必要劳动。工人的劳动仍旧耗费劳动力，但是不再为工人自己创造Value，而是为资本家创造剩余价值，这个无中生有的剩余价值，对资本家有十足的魅惑力。工作日的这个期间，我称之为剩余劳动时间；耗费在这个期间内的劳动，我称之为剩余劳动。Value是一定量劳动时间的凝结，是对象化的劳动，是凝结在物中的劳动。对Value的这个理解，是至关重要的。剩余价值是剩余劳动时间的凝结，是对象化的剩余劳动，是凝结在物中的剩余劳动。对剩余价值的这个理解，同样是至关重要的。社会的各种经济形式之间的本质区别，例如，基于奴隶劳动的社会经济形式和基于工资劳动的社会经济形式之间的本质区别，就在于剩余价值是以何种方式从生产者（劳动者）身上榨取的。

Since, on the one hand, the values of the variable capital and of the
labour-power purchased by that capital are equal, and the value of this
labour-power determines the necessary portion of the working day; and since, on
the other hand, the surplus-value is determined by the surplus portion of the
working day, it follows that surplus-value bears the same ratio to variable
capital, that surplus labour does to necessary labour, or in other words, the
rate of surplus-value, s/v = (surplus labour)/(necessary labour). Both ratios,
s/v and (surplus labour)/(necessary labour), express the same thing in different
ways; in the one case by reference to materialised, incorporated labour, in the
other by reference to living, fluent labour.

一方面，由于可变资本的Value与它购买的劳动力的value相等，而劳动力的Value决定了工作日中必要劳动时间的比例；另一方面，剩余价值由工作日的剩余劳动期间的比例决定。那么，可以推论出，剩余价值率(m/v)=(剩余劳动/必要劳动)。(m/v)和(剩余劳动/必要劳动)，用不同的形式表达了同一个实质。(m/v)是对象化的劳动【凝结在物种的劳动】，(剩余劳动/必要劳动)是活的流动中的劳动。

The rate of surplus-value is therefore an exact expression for the degree of
exploitation of labour-power by capital, or of the labourer by the capitalist.7

因此，剩余价值率是资本对劳动力的剥削程度的准确表达，是资本家对劳动者的剥削程度的准确表达。【是资本家比劳动者富裕多少倍的准确表达】

We assumed in our example, that the value of the product = £410 const. + £90
var. + £90 surpl., and that the capital advanced = £500. Since the surplus-value
= £90, and the advanced capital = £500, we should, according to the usual way of
reckoning, get as the rate of surplus-value (generally confounded with rate of
profits) 18%, a rate so low as possibly to cause a pleasant surprise to Mr.
Carey and other harmonisers. But in truth, the rate of surplus-value is not
equal to s/C or s/(c+v), but to s/v: thus it is not 90/500 but 90/90 or 100%,
which is more than five times the apparent degree of exploitation. Although, in
the case we have supposed, we are ignorant of the actual length of the working
day, and of the duration in days or weeks of the labour-process, as also of the
number of labourers employed, yet the rate of surplus-value s/v accurately
discloses to us, by means of its equivalent expression, surplus labour/necessary
labour the relation between the two parts of the working day. This relation is
here one of equality, the rate being 100%. Hence, it is plain, the labourer, in
our example, works one half of the day for himself, the other half for the
capitalist.

在我们的例子中，我们设定产品Value=410万元（不变资本(c)）+90万元（可变资本(v)）+90万元（剩余价值m）。按通常的计算方法，剩余价值率（实际上是利润率，人们将两者混淆了）=90/(410+90)=18%。这么低的比率，会让凯里先生（Mr. Carey）之类的和谐论者感到惊喜的。但事实上，剩余价值率决不是m/(c+v)，而是m/v。因此，不是90/500=18%，而是90/90=100%，是表面上感觉的剥削程度的5倍多。无需知道工作日的长度是12小时还是8小时，无需知道是一日还是一周的劳动过程，无需知道被雇佣的劳动者人数，只通过m/v这个剩余价值率，就可以知道工作日的两个组成部分的比例。在我们的例子中，这个比例是100%，因此，劳动者是半日为自己工作，另半日为为资本家工作。

The method of calculating the rate of surplus-value is therefore, shortly, as
follows. We take the total value of the product and put the constant capital
which merely re-appears in it, equal to zero. What remains, is the only value
that has, in the process of producing the commodity, been actually created. If
the amount of surplus-value be given, we have only to deduct it from this
remainder, to find the variable capital. And vice versâ, if the latter be given,
and we require to find the surplus-value. If both be given, we have only to
perform the concluding operation, viz., to calculate s/v, the ratio of the
surplus-value to the variable capital.

Though the method is so simple, yet it may not be amiss, by means of a few
examples, to exercise the reader in the application of the novel principles
underlying it.

剩余价值率的计算方法就这么简单，但是读者可能不熟悉它，所以我们用几个例子来练习一下。

First we will take the case of a spinning mill containing 10,000 mule spindles,
spinning No. 32 yarn from American cotton, and producing 1 lb. of yarn weekly
per spindle. We assume the waste to be 6%: under these circumstances 10,600 lbs.
of cotton are consumed weekly, of which 600 lbs. go to waste. The price of the
cotton in April, 1871, was 7¾d. per lb.; the raw material therefore costs in
round numbers £342. The 10,000 spindles, including preparation-machinery, and
motive power, cost, we will assume, £1 per spindle, amounting to a total of
£10,000. The wear and tear we put at 10%, or £1,000 yearly = £20 weekly. The
rent of the building we suppose to be £300 a year, or £6 a week. Coal consumed
(for 100 horse-power indicated, at 4 lbs. of coal per horse-power per hour
during 60 hours, and inclusive of that consumed in heating the mill), 11 tons a
week at 8s. 6d. a ton, amounts to about £4½ a week: gas, £1 a week, oil, &c.,
£4½ a week. Total cost of the above auxiliary materials, £10 weekly. Therefore
the constant portion of the value of the week’s product is £378. Wages amount to
£52 a week. The price of the yarn is 12¼d. per. lb. which gives for the value of
10,000 lbs. the sum of £510. The surplus-value is therefore in this case £510 -
£430 = £80. We put the constant part of the value of the product = 0, as it
plays no part in the creation of value. There remains £132 as the weekly value
created, which = £52 var. + £80 surpl. The rate of surplus-value is therefore
80/52 = 153 11/13%. In a working day of 10 hours with average labour the result
is: necessary labour = 3 31/33 hours, and surplus labour = 6 2/33.8

【这个例子我就懒得翻译了。】

One more example. Jacob gives the following calculation for the year 1815. Owing
to the previous adjustment of several items it is very imperfect; nevertheless
for our purpose it is sufficient. In it he assumes the price of wheat to be 8s.
a quarter, and the average yield per acre to be 22 bushels.

再举一例。杰科布（Jacob）在1815年给出了下述计算。他预先调整了一些项目，因而这个计算并不完备，但对我们的目的来说已经足够了。他假设小麦价格是80（先令/夸特），每英亩的产量是22（蒲式耳）。所以每英亩得到11（镑）。【这都是些什么单位ε=(´ο｀*)】【英国货币在一九七一年前分为镑、先令和便士“三级制”。1镑(£)=20先令(s)=240便士(d)】
【80（先令/夸特）*22（蒲式耳）=11（镑）=220（先令），
80（先令/夸特）*22（蒲式耳）=220（先令），
8（/夸特）*1（蒲式耳）=1（）
8（蒲式耳）=1夸特】

VALUE PRODUCED PER ACRE
Seed	£1 9s. 0d.	Tithes, Rates, and taxes,	£1 1s. 0d.
Manure	£2 10s. 0d.	Rent	£1 8s. 0d.
Wages	£3 10s. 0d.	Farmer’s Profit and Interest	£1 2s. 0d.
TOTAL	£7 9s. 0d.	TOTAL	£3 11s 0d.

每英亩生产的Value：

项目	金额	项目	金额
种子（小麦）	1镑9先令	十一税、地方税、国税	1镑1先令
肥料	2镑10先令	地租	1镑8先令
工资	3镑10先令	租地农场主的利润和利息	1镑2先令
总计	7镑9先令	总计	3镑11先令

Assuming that the price of the product is the same as its value, we here find
the surplus-value distributed under the various heads of profit, interest, rent,
&c. We have nothing to do with these in detail; we simply add them together, and
the sum is a surplus-value of £3 11s. 0d. The sum of £3 19s. 0d., paid for seed
and manure, is constant capital, and we put it equal to zero. There is left the
sum of £3 10s. 0d., which is the variable capital advanced: and we see that a
new value of £3 10s. 0d + £3 11s. 0d. has been produced in its place. Therefore
s/v = £3 11s. 0d. / £3 10s. 0d., giving a rate of surplus-value of more than
100%. The labourer employs more than one half of his working day in producing
the surplus-value, which different persons, under different pretexts, share
amongst themselves.9

假设产品的价格等于Value，我们会发现，剩余价值被分配给了利润、利息、地租等项目。我们不管它们如何分配，我们只把它们加起来，得到总的剩余价值=3磅11先令。用于买种子、化肥的3磅19先令，是不变资本，我们设其为0。剩下的就是工资，是可变资本，为3磅10先令。我们看到，(3磅10先令+3磅11先令)的新Value被生产出来，取代了原来的可变资本。因此，剩余价值率(m/v)=(3磅11先令/3磅10先令)，超过100%。劳动者工作日的一半以上用于生产剩余价值，这个剩余价值以各种借口被各种人瓜分掉。