Das Kapital II — Kap. 18

Kap. 18

Gegenstand der Untersuchung und die Rolle des Geldkapitals

The whole of Abschnitt II followed one capital through its turnover — working periods, circulation time, the release and binding of money. This chapter opens Abschnitt III by widening the lens: no capital reproduces itself alone, and the reproduction of society's total capital takes place in the interlacing of them all.

³⁴

Engels: this section is from Manuscript II

Engels notes here that this introductory section is drawn from Marx's Manuscript II.

Der unmittelbare Produktionsprozeß des Kapitals ist sein Arbeits- und Verwertungsprozeß, der Prozeß, dessen Resultat das Warenprodukt und dessen bestimmendes Motiv die Produktion von Mehrwert.

what the direct production process is

The direct process of production is where capital sets labour to work and swells its own value. Its result is a product in the form of commodities, and the thing that drives it throughout is the making of surplus-value.

Der Reproduktionsprozeß des Kapitals umfaßt ebensowohl diesen unmittelbaren Produktionsprozeß, wie die beiden Phasen des eigentlichen Zirkulationsprozesses, d.h. den gesamten Kreislauf, der als periodischer Prozeß - Prozeß, der sich in bestimmten Perioden stets von neuem wiederholt - den Umschlag des Kapitals bildet.

reproduction: production plus circulation

The reproduction process of capital takes in more than that direct production process. It also takes in both phases of the circulation process proper — in other words, the whole circuit. And when this circuit repeats itself over and over in fixed periods, it becomes what we call the turnover of capital.

Ob wir nun den Kreislauf in der Form G ... G' oder in der Form P ... P betrachten, der unmittelbare Produktionsprozeß P bildet stets selbst nur ein Glied dieses Kreislaufs. In der einen Form erscheint er als Vermittlung des Zirkulationsprozesses, in der andren Form erscheint der Zirkulationsprozeß als seine Vermittlung. Seine beständige Erneuerung, die beständige Wiederdarstellung des Kapitals als produktives Kapital ist beidemal bedingt durch seine Verwandlungen im Zirkulationsprozeß. Andrerseits ist der beständig erneuerte Produktionsprozeß die Bedingung der Verwandlungen, die das Kapital in der Zirkulationssphäre stets von neuem durchmacht, seiner abwechselnden Darstellung als Geldkapital und Warenkapital.

production and circulation condition each other

Whether we write the circuit as M … M′ (money in, more money out) or as P … P (production process through and back to production process), the direct production process P is always just one link in the circuit. Looked at one way, production is what goes on in between the acts of circulation; looked at the other way, circulation is what goes on in between rounds of production. Either way, the constant renewal of production — capital reappearing again and again as productive capital — depends on the changes of form capital goes through in circulation. And the other way round: the constantly renewed production process is what makes it possible for capital to keep going through its changes in the sphere of circulation, its alternating appearances as money capital and as commodity capital.

Jedes einzelne Kapital bildet jedoch nur ein verselbständigtes, sozusagen mit individuellem Leben begabtes Bruchstück des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals, wie jeder einzelne Kapitalist nur ein individuelles Element der Kapitalistenklasse. Die Bewegung des gesellschaftlichen Kapitals besteht aus der Totalität der Bewegungen seiner verselbständigten Bruchstücke, der Umschläge der individuellen Kapitale. Wie die Metamorphose der einzelnen Ware ein Glied der Metamorphosenreihe der Warenwelt - der Warenzirkulation - ist, so die Metamorphose des individuellen Kapitals, sein Umschlag, ein Glied im Kreislauf des gesellschaftlichen Kapitals.

each capital: a splinter of the social capital

But every single capital is only a splinter of society's total capital — a splinter that has taken on a life of its own, so to speak, endowed with an individual existence — just as every individual capitalist is only one member of the capitalist class. The movement of the social capital is made up of the movements of all these self-standing splinters taken together: the turnovers of the individual capitals. Just as the change of form of a single commodity is one link in the chain of all commodities' changes of form — commodity circulation — so the change of form of an individual capital, its turnover, is one link in the circuit of the social capital.

Dieser Gesamtprozeß umschließt ebensowohl die produktive Konsumtion (den unmittelbaren Produktionsprozeß) nebst den Formverwandlungen (stofflich betrachtet, Austauschen), die ihn vermitteln, wie die individuelle Konsumtion mit den sie vermittelnden Formverwandlungen oder Austauschen. Sie umschließt einerseits den Umsatz von variablem Kapital in Arbeitskraft und daher die Einverleibung der Arbeitskraft in den kapitalistischen Produktionsprozeß. Hier tritt der Arbeiter als Verkäufer seiner Ware, der Arbeitskraft, auf und der Kapitalist als Käufer derselben. Andrerseits aber ist im Verkauf der Waren eingeschlossen der Kauf derselben durch die Arbeiterklasse, also deren individuelle Konsumtion. Hier tritt die Arbeiterklasse als Käufer auf und die Kapitalisten als Warenverkäufer an die Arbeiter.

the total process includes the workers' consumption

This total process takes in two kinds of consumption. It takes in productive consumption (the direct production process itself) together with the changes of form — in material terms, exchanges — that go before and after it. And it takes in individual consumption, again with its own changes of form or exchanges. On one side it includes the conversion of variable capital into labour-power, and so the taking-up of that labour-power into the capitalist production process. Here the worker appears as the seller of his commodity, labour-power, and the capitalist as its buyer. On the other side, the sale of the commodities includes the purchase of them by the working class — that is, the working class's individual consumption. Here the working class appears as buyer, and the capitalists as sellers of commodities to the workers.

Die Zirkulation des Warenkapitals schließt die Zirkulation des Mehrwerts ein, also auch die Käufe und Verkäufe, wodurch die Kapitalisten ihre individuelle Konsumtion, die Konsumtion des Mehrwerts vermitteln.

commodity capital carries surplus-value's circulation

The circulation of commodity capital includes the circulation of surplus-value — and so it includes the purchases and sales by which the capitalists carry out their own individual consumption: the consumption of surplus-value.

Der Kreislauf der individuellen Kapitale in ihrer Zusammenfassung zum gesellschaftlichen Kapital, also in seiner Totalität betrachtet, umfaßt also nicht nur die Zirkulation des Kapitals, sondern auch die allgemeine Warenzirkulation. Die letztre kann primitiv nur aus zwei Bestandteilen bestehn: 1. dem eignen Kreislauf des Kapitals und 2. dem Kreislauf der Waren, die in die individuelle Konsumtion eingehn, also der Waren, worin der Arbeiter seinen Lohn und der Kapitalist seinen Mehrwert (oder Teil seines Mehrwerts) verausgabt. Allerdings umfaßt der Kreislauf des Kapitals auch die Zirkulation des Mehrwerts, soweit dieser Teil des Warenkapitals bildet, und ebenso die Verwandlung von variablem Kapital in Arbeitskraft, die Zahlung des Arbeitslohns. Aber die Verausgabung dieses Mehrwerts und Arbeitlohns in Waren bildet kein Glied der Kapitalzirkulation, obwohl wenigstens die Verausgabung des Arbeitslohns diese Zirkulation bedingt.

capital circulation inside general commodity circulation

So the circuit of the individual capitals, seen as summed up into the social capital — seen in its totality — covers not only the circulation of capital but the general circulation of commodities as well. That general circulation can in the first instance only have two parts: first, the circuit of capital itself; and second, the circuit of the commodities that go into individual consumption — the commodities on which the worker spends his wages and the capitalist spends his surplus-value (or part of it). It is true that the circuit of capital also includes the circulation of surplus-value, insofar as that surplus-value forms part of some commodity capital, and likewise the conversion of variable capital into labour-power, the payment of wages. But the spending of this surplus-value and these wages on commodities is not a link in the circulation of capital — even though, at least where wages are concerned, that spending is a condition of capital's circulation.

Im I.Buch wurde der kapitalistische Produktionsprozeß sowohl als vereinzelter Vorgang wie als Reproduktionsprozeß analysiert: die Produktion des Mehrwerts und die Produktion des Kapitals selbst. Der Form- und Stoffwechsel, den das Kapital innerhalb der Zirkulationssphäre durchmacht, wurde unterstellt, ohne weiter dabei zu verweilen. Es wurde also unterstellt, daß der Kapitalist einerseits das Produkt zu seinem Wert verkauft, andrerseits innerhalb der Zirkulationssphäre die sachlichen Produktionsmittel vorfindet, um den Prozeß von neuem zu beginnen oder kontinuierlich fortzuführen. Der einzige Akt innerhalb der Zirkulationssphäre, wobei wir uns dort aufzuhalten hatten, war der Kauf und Verkauf der Arbeitskraft als Grundbedingung der kapitalistischen Produktion.

what Volume 1 presupposed about circulation

In Volume 1 the capitalist production process was analysed both as an isolated event and as a reproduction process: the production of surplus-value and the production of capital itself. The changes of form and substance capital goes through within the sphere of circulation were simply taken for granted, without dwelling on them. That is, we assumed that the capitalist sells his product at its value, and that within the sphere of circulation he finds the material means of production on hand, ready for starting the process afresh or carrying it on without interruption. The only act within the sphere of circulation we stopped over there was the buying and selling of labour-power, the basic condition of capitalist production.

Im ersten Abschnitt dieses II.Buchs wurden die verschiednen Formen betrachtet, die das Kapital in seinem Kreislauf annimmt, und die verschiednen Formen dieses Kreislaufs selbst. Zu der im I.Buch betrachteten Arbeitszeit kommt jetzt die Zirkulationszeit hinzu.

what Part One added

In the first Part of this Volume 2 we looked at the different forms capital takes on in its circuit, and at the different shapes of that circuit itself. To the labour-time already considered in Volume 1 there is now added circulation-time.

Im zweiten Abschnitt wurde der Kreislauf als periodischer, d.h. als Umschlag betrachtet. Es wurde einerseits gezeigt, wie die verschiednen Bestandteile des Kapitals (fixes und zirkulierendes) den Kreislauf der Formen in verschiednen Zeiträumen vollbringen und in verschiedner Weise; es wurden andrerseits die Umstände untersucht, wodurch verschiedne Länge der Arbeitsperiode und Zirkulationsperiode bedingt wird. Es zeigte sich der Einfluß der Kreislaufsperiode und des verschiednen Verhältnisses ihrer Bestandteile auf den Umfang des Produktionsprozesses selbst wie auf die Jahresrate des Mehrwerts. In der Tat, wenn im ersten Abschnitt hauptsächlich betrachtet wurden die sukzessiven Formen, die das Kapital in seinem Kreislauf beständig annimmt und abstreift, so im zweiten Abschnitt, wie innerhalb dieses Flusses und Sukzession von Formen ein Kapital von gegebner Größe sich gleichzeitig, wenn auch in wechselndem Umfang, in die verschiednen Formen von produktivem Kapital, Geldkapital und Warenkapital teilt, so daß sie nicht nur miteinander abwechseln, sondern verschiedne Teile des gesamten Kapitalwerts beständig in diesen verschiednen Zuständen sich nebeneinander befinden und fungieren. Das Geldkapital namentlich stellte sich dar in einer Eigentümlichkeit, die sich nicht in Buch I zeigte. Es wurden bestimmte Gesetze gefunden, nach denen verschieden große Bestandteile eines gegebnen Kapitals, je nach den Bedingungen des Umschlags, beständig in der Form von Geldkapital vorgeschossen und erneuert werden müssen, um ein produktives Kapital von gegebnem Umfang beständig in Funktion zu halten.

what Part Two added

In the second Part the circuit was considered as a periodic process — that is, as turnover. On the one hand it was shown how the different components of capital (fixed and circulating) complete the circuit of forms in different stretches of time and in different ways; on the other hand, we examined the circumstances that set different lengths of the working period and the circulation period. And there emerged the influence of the period of the circuit, and of the varying proportion between its parts, both on the scale of the production process itself and on the annual rate of surplus-value. Put simply: if the first Part mainly followed the successive forms capital constantly puts on and casts off as it circulates, the second Part showed how, within this flow and succession of forms, a capital of given size is at the same time split up — in varying amounts — among the different forms of productive capital, money capital and commodity capital. These do not merely take each other's place in turn: different portions of the total capital-value are constantly present and at work side by side in these different states. Money capital in particular displayed a peculiarity that never showed itself in Volume 1. Certain laws were found: according to the conditions of turnover, differently large portions of a given capital must constantly be advanced and renewed in the form of money capital, in order to keep a productive capital of given size continuously functioning.

Es handelte sich aber im ersten wie im zweiten Abschnitt immer nur um ein individuelles Kapital, um die Bewegung eines verselbständigten Teils des gesellschaftlichen Kapitals.

the limit of Parts One and Two

But in the first Part as in the second, we were always dealing only with an individual capital — with the movement of one self-standing piece of the social capital.

Die Kreisläufe der individuellen Kapitale verschlingen sich aber ineinander, setzen sich voraus und bedingen einander, und bilden gerade in dieser Verschlingung die Bewegung des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals. Wie bei der einfachen Warenzirkulation die Gesamtmetamorphose einer Ware als Glied der Metamorphosenreihe der Warenwelt erschien, so jetzt die Metamorphose des individuellen Kapitals als Glied der Metamorphosenreihe des gesellschaftlichen Kapitals. Wenn aber die einfache Warenzirkulation keineswegs notwendig die Zirkulation des Kapitals einschloß - da sie auf Grundlage nichtkapitalistischer Produktion vorgehn kann -, so schließt, wie bereits bemerkt, der Kreislauf des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals auch die nicht in den Kreislauf des einzelnen Kapitals fallende Warenzirkulation ein, d.h. die Zirkulation der Waren, die nicht Kapital bilden.

interlaced circuits constitute the social capital

The circuits of the individual capitals, however, interlace with one another, presuppose one another and condition one another — and it is precisely in this interlacing that they constitute the movement of the total social capital. Just as in simple commodity circulation the whole change of form of one commodity appeared as one link in the chain of the whole world of commodities, so now the change of form of an individual capital is one link in the chain of the social capital's changes of form. But whereas simple commodity circulation by no means necessarily included the circulation of capital — it can go on where production is not capitalist — the circuit of the total social capital, as already noted, includes a commodity circulation that falls outside the circuit of the individual capital: the circulation of commodities that do not function as capital.

Es ist nun der Zirkulationsprozeß (der in seiner Gesamtheit Form des Reproduktionsprozesses) der individuellen Kapitale als Bestandteile des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals, also der Zirkulationsprozeß dieses gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals zu betrachten.

the task now

What has to be considered now is the circulation process of the individual capitals as components of the total social capital — that is, the circulation process of this social total capital. (And seen as a whole, this circulation process is the form of the reproduction process.)

{Obgleich das Folgende erst in den spätem Teil dieses Abschnitts gehört, so wollen wir es gleich untersuchen, nämlich: das Geldkapital als Bestandteil des gesellschaftlichen Gesamtkapitals betrachtet.}

taking money capital early

Although the following belongs properly to a later part of this section, we want to look into it right away: money capital, considered as a component of the total social capital.

Bei Betrachtung des Umschlags des individuellen Kapitals hat sich das Geldkapital von zwei Seiten gezeigt.

money capital showed two faces

When we looked at the turnover of an individual capital, money capital showed itself from two sides.

Erstens: Es bildet die Form, worin jedes individuelle Kapital auf die Bühne tritt, seinen Prozeß als Kapital eröffnet. Es erscheint daher als primus motor, anstoßgebend dem ganzen Prozeß.

first: money as the prime mover

First: it is the form in which every individual capital steps onto the stage and opens its career as capital. It therefore appears as the prime mover, the thing that sets the whole process going.

Zweitens: Je nach der verschiednen Länge der Umschlagsperiode und dem verschiednen Verhältnis ihrer beiden Bestandteile - Arbeitsperiode und Zirkulationsperiode - ist der Bestandteil des vorgeschoßnen Kapitalwerts, der beständig in Geldform vorgeschossen und erneuert werden muß, verschieden im Verhältnis zu dem produktiven Kapital, das er in Bewegung setzt, d.h. im Verhältnis zur kontinuierlichen Produktionsleiter. Welches aber immer dies Verhältnis sei, unter allen Umständen ist der Teil des prozessierenden Kapitalwerts, der beständig als produktives Kapital fungieren kann, beschränkt durch den Teil des vorgeschoßnen Kapitalwerts, der beständig neben dem produktiven Kapital in Geldform existieren muß. Es handelt sich hier nur um den normalen Umschlag, einen abstrakten Durchschnitt. Es ist dabei abgesehn von zuschüssigem Geldkapital zur Ausgleichung von Zirkulationsstockungen.

second: money held back limits production

Second: depending on how long the turnover period is, and on how the two parts of it — working period and circulation period — stand in relation to each other, the portion of the advanced capital-value that must constantly be advanced and renewed in money form differs in proportion to the productive capital it sets in motion — that is, in proportion to the continuous scale of production. But whatever that proportion may be, the part of the capital-value in process that can function constantly as productive capital is always limited by the part of the advanced capital-value that must constantly exist in money form alongside the productive capital. Here we are dealing only with normal turnover, an abstract average; we leave out of account any extra money capital thrown in to smooth over blockages in circulation.

Zum ersten Punkt. Die Warenproduktion unterstellt die Warenzirkulation, und die Warenzirkulation unterstellt die Darstellung der Ware als Geld, die Geldzirkulation; die Verdopplung der Ware in Ware und Geld ist ein Gesetz der Darstellung des Produkts als Ware. Ebenso unterstellt die kapitalistische Warenproduktion - gesellschaftlich sowohl wie individuell betrachtet - das Kapital in Geldform oder das Geldkapital als primus motor für jedes neu beginnende Geschäft und als kontinuierlichen Motor. Das zirkulierende Kapital speziell unterstellt das in kürzern Zeiträumen beständig wiederholte Auftreten des Geldkapitals als Motor. Der ganze vorgeschoßne Kapitalwert, d.h. alle Bestandteile des Kapitals, die aus Waren bestehn, Arbeitskraft, Arbeitsmittel und Produktionsstoffe müssen beständig mit Geld gekauft und wieder gekauft werden. Was hier für das individuelle Kapital, gilt für das gesellschaftliche Kapital, das nur in der Form vieler individuellen Kapitale fungiert. Aber wie schon im Buch I gezeigt, folgt daraus keineswegs, daß das Funktionsfeld des Kapitals, die Stufenleiter der Produktion, selbst auf kapitalistischer Grundlage, ihren absoluten Schranken nach abhängt von dem Umfang des fungierenden Geldkapitals.

money: the necessary form, not the limit

To the first point. Production of commodities presupposes the circulation of commodities, and the circulation of commodities presupposes that commodities appear as money — money circulation. The doubling of the product into commodity and money is a law of how the product presents itself as a commodity. In the same way, capitalist commodity production — whether we look at it as a social whole or as an individual business — presupposes capital in money form, money capital, as the prime mover for every newly started enterprise and as the motor that keeps it running. Circulating capital in particular presupposes the constantly repeated reappearance of money capital at shorter intervals as its motor. The whole of the advanced capital-value — all the components of capital that consist of commodities: labour-power, means of labour and materials of production — must be bought, and bought again and again, with money. What holds for the individual capital here holds for the social capital too, since the latter functions only in the form of many individual capitals. But — as already shown in Volume 1 — it by no means follows from this that the field on which capital operates, the scale of production, even on a capitalist basis, has its absolute limits fixed by the amount of money capital in operation.

Dem Kapital sind Produktionselemente einverleibt, deren Dehnung, innerhalb gewisser Grenzen, von der Größe des vorgeschoßnen Geldkapitals unabhängig ist. Bei gleicher Zahlung der Arbeitskraft kann sie extensiv oder intensiv stärker ausgebeutet werden. Wird das Geldkapital mit dieser stärkern Ausbeutung vermehrt (d.h. der Arbeitslohn erhöht), so nicht verhältnismäßig, also pro tanto gar nicht.

labour can be squeezed further, cheaply

Capital takes up elements of production whose stretching, within certain limits, does not depend on the size of the money capital advanced. For the same payment of labour-power, that labour-power can be exploited more intensely or for longer hours. If the money capital is increased along with this harder exploitation — that is, if wages rise — it is not increased in proportion, and so, to that extent, not increased at all.

Der produktiv ausgebeutete Naturstoff - der kein Wertelement des Kapitals bildet -, Erde, Meer, Erze, Waldungen usw., wird mit größrer Spannung derselben Anzahl von Arbeitskräften intensiv oder extensiv stärker ausgebeutet, ohne vermehrten Vorschuß von Geldkapital. Die realen Elemente des produktiven Kapitals werden so vermehrt, ohne Notwendigkeit eines Zuschusses von Geldkapital. Soweit dieser nötig wird für zuschüssige Hilfsstoffe, wird das Geldkapital, worin der Kapitalwert vorgeschossen wird, nicht verhältnismäßig zur Erweiterung der Wirksamkeit des produktiven Kapitals vermehrt, also pro tanto gar nicht.

nature can be worked harder free

The natural material that is put to productive use — which forms no element of capital's value — land, sea, ores, forests and so on — can be exploited more intensely or on a wider scale by the same number of labour-power working harder, without any additional advance of money capital. The real elements of productive capital are thus increased without any extra money capital being needed. And to the extent that extra money is needed for additional auxiliary materials, the money capital in which the capital-value is advanced does not grow in proportion to the expansion of productive capital's effectiveness — so, to that extent, does not grow at all.

Dieselben Arbeitsmittel, also dasselbe fixe Kapital kann sowohl in der Verlängrung seiner täglichen Gebrauchszeit, wie in der Intensität seiner Anwendung wirksamer vernutzt werden ohne zuschüssige Geldauslage für fixes Kapital. Es findet dann nur raschrer Umschlag des fixen Kapitals statt, aber auch die Elemente seiner Reproduktion werden rascher geliefert.

fixed capital can wear faster, not more

One and the same means of labour — the same fixed capital — can be used more effectively, either by lengthening its hours of daily use or by driving it harder, without any extra outlay of money on fixed capital. What happens then is simply that the fixed capital turns over faster; but then, too, the elements of its replacement are supplied faster.

Von dem Naturstoff abgesehn, können Naturkräfte, die nichts kosten, als Agenten dem Produktionsprozeß mit stärkrer oder schwächrer Wirksamkeit einverleibt werden. Der Grad ihrer Wirksamkeit hängt von Methoden und wissenschaftlichen Fortschritten ab, die dem Kapitalisten nichts kosten.

free natural forces as agents

Setting aside natural material, natural forces that cost nothing can be drawn into the production process as agents, working with greater or lesser effect. How effective they are depends on methods and on scientific progress — none of which costs the capitalist anything.

Dasselbe gilt von der gesellschaftlichen Kombination der Arbeitskraft im Produktionsprozeß und von der gehäuften Geschicklichkeit der individuellen Arbeiter. Carey rechnet heraus, daß der Grundeigentümer nie genug erhält, weil ihm nicht alles Kapital, resp. Arbeit gezahlt wird, die seit Menschengedenken in den Boden gesteckt worden, um ihm seine jetzige Produktionsfähigkeit zu geben. (Von der Produktionsfähigkeit, die ihm genommen wird, ist natürlich nicht die Rede.) Danach müßte der einzelne Arbeiter gezahlt werden nach der Arbeit, die es das ganze Menschengeschlecht gekostet hat, um aus einem Wilden einen modernen Mechaniker herauszuarbeiten. Man sollte umgekehrt meinen: Berechnet man alle unbezahlte, aber durch Grundeigentümer und Kapitalisten versilberte Arbeit, die im Boden steckt, so ist das sämtliche in den Boden gesteckte Kapital aber und abermals mit Wucherzinsen zurückgezahlt, also das Grundeigentum längst von der Gesellschaft aber und abermals zurückgekauft worden.

against Carey: the unpaid work already pocketed

The same holds for the social combination of labour-power in the production process, and for the accumulated skill of the individual workers. Carey works out that the landowner never receives enough, because not all the capital — or labour — that has gone into the soil since time immemorial, giving the land its present productive capacity, is paid to him. (Naturally nothing is said about the productive capacity taken away from him.) On that reasoning, the individual worker would have to be paid according to all the labour it cost the human race to work a savage up into a modern mechanic. One should rather reason the other way round: count up all the unpaid labour that has been cashed in by landowners and capitalists and lies in the soil, and you find that the whole of the capital ever put into the soil has been paid back again and again at usurious interest — so that landed property has long since been bought back from society, over and over.

Die Erhöhung der Produktivkräfte der Arbeit, soweit sie keine zuschüssige Auslage von Kapitalwerten voraussetzt, erhöht zwar in erster Instanz nur die Masse des Produkts, nicht seinen Wert; außer soweit sie befähigt, mehr konstantes Kapital mit derselben Arbeit zu reproduzieren, also seinen Wert zu erhalten. Aber sie bildet zugleich neuen Kapitalstoff, also die Basis vermehrter Akkumulation des Kapitals.

higher productivity: new material for accumulation

A rise in the productive powers of labour, where it presupposes no additional outlay of capital-value, at first only increases the mass of the product, not its value — except insofar as it makes it possible to reproduce more constant capital with the same labour, and so to preserve that capital's value. But at the same time it creates new material for capital, and so the basis for increased accumulation of capital.

Soweit die Organisation der gesellschaftlichen Arbeit selbst, daher die Erhöhung der gesellschaftlichen Produktivkraft der Arbeit, verlangt, daß auf großer Stufenleiter produziert und daher Geldkapital vom Einzelkapitalisten in großen Massen vorgeschossen wird, ist bereits in Buch I gezeigt, daß dies zum Teil durch Zentralisation der Kapitale in wenigen Händen geschieht, ohne daß der Umfang der fungierenden Kapitalwerte und daher auch der Umfang des Geldkapitals, worin sie vorgeschossen werden, absolut zu wachsen braucht. Die Größe der Einzelkapitale kann durch Zentralisation in wenigen Händen wachsen, ohne daß ihre gesellschaftliche Summe wächst. Es ist nur veränderte Teilung der Einzelkapitale.

centralisation changes the split, not the sum

Insofar as the organisation of social labour, and so the raising of labour's social productive power, demands production on a large scale and thus the advance of money capital in large masses by the individual capitalist, it was already shown in Volume 1 that this happens partly through the centralisation of capitals in few hands — without the amount of functioning capital-value, and therefore without the amount of money capital in which it is advanced, needing to grow at all. The size of the individual capitals can grow through centralisation into few hands without their social sum growing. It is only a different division of the individual capitals.

Es ist endlich im vorigen Abschnitt gezeigt worden, daß Verkürzung der Umschlagsperiode erlaubt, entweder mit weniger Geldkapital dasselbe produktive Kapital oder mit demselben Geldkapital mehr produktives Kapital in Bewegung zu setzen.

shorter turnover, less money needed

Finally, it was shown in the previous Part that shortening the turnover period makes it possible to set the same productive capital in motion with less money capital — or more productive capital with the same money capital.

Dies alles hat offenbar jedoch mit der eigentlichen Frage des Geldkapitals nichts zu tun. Es zeigt nur, daß das vorgeschoßne Kapital - eine gegebne Wertsumme, die in ihrer freien Form, in ihrer Wertform, aus einer gewissen Geldsumme besteht - nach seiner Verwandlung in produktives Kapital produktive Potenzen einschließt, deren Schranken nicht durch seine Wertschranken gegeben sind, sondern die innerhalb eines gewissen Spielraums extensiv oder intensiv verschieden wirken können. Die Preise der Produktionselemente - der Produktionsmittel und der Arbeitskraft - gegeben, ist die Größe des Geldkapitals bestimmt, die nötig ist, um ein bestimmtes Quantum dieser als Waren vorhandnen Produktionselemente zu kaufen. Oder die Wertgröße des vorzuschießenden Kapitals ist bestimmt. Aber der Umfang, worin dies Kapital als Wert- und Produktbildner wirkt, ist elastisch und variabel.

all that: value limits, not effect limits

Yet all this, obviously, has nothing to do with the real question of money capital. What it shows is only this: the advanced capital — a given sum of value, which in its free form, its value form, consists of a certain sum of money — once converted into productive capital, contains productive powers whose limits are not set by its limits of value. Within a certain range, these powers can act to a greater or lesser extent, in extent or in intensity. Given the prices of the elements of production — means of production and labour-power — the size of the money capital needed to buy a given quantity of these elements, which exist as commodities, is fixed. That is: the amount of value to be advanced is determined. But the scale on which that capital acts as a creator of value and of product is elastic and variable.

Zum zweiten Punkt. Daß der Teil der gesellschaftlichen Arbeit und Produktionsmittel, der jährlich zur Produktion oder zum Ankauf von Geld verausgabt werden muß, um verschlißne Münze zu ersetzen, pro tanto ein Abbruch am Umfang der gesellschaftlichen Produktion ist, ist selbstverständlich. Was aber den Geldwert angeht, der teils als Umlaufsmittel, teils als Schatz fungiert, so ist er einmal da, erworben, er ist da neben der Arbeitskraft, den produzierten Produktionsmitteln und den natürlichen Quellen des Reichtums. Er kann nicht als Schranke derselben betrachtet werden. Durch seine Verwandlung in Produktionselemente, durch Austausch mit andren Völkern, könnte die Produktionsleiter erweitert werden. Dies unterstellt jedoch, daß das Geld nach wie vor seine Rolle als Weltgeld spielt.

existing money is no barrier

To the second point. That the portion of society's labour and means of production which must be spent every year on producing or buying money, in order to replace worn coin, is to that extent a deduction from the scale of social production — that goes without saying. But as for the value of the money itself, which functions partly as circulating medium and partly as hoard: it is already there, already acquired; it exists alongside labour-power, alongside the produced means of production, alongside the natural sources of wealth. It cannot be regarded as a barrier to them. Through its conversion into elements of production, or through exchange with other peoples, the scale of production could be expanded — though this presupposes that money still plays its role as world money.

Je nach der Größe der Umschlagsperiode ist größre oder geringre Masse von Geldkapital nötig, um das produktive Kapital in Bewegung zu setzen. Ebenso haben wir gesehn, daß die Teilung der Umschlagsperiode in Arbeitszeit und Zirkulationszeit eine Vermehrung des in Geldform latenten oder suspendierten Kapitals bedingt.

turnover length fixes the money portion

Depending on the length of the turnover period, a larger or smaller mass of money capital is needed to set the productive capital in motion. Likewise, we have seen that the division of the turnover period into working time and circulation time requires an increase in the capital that lies latent, suspended, in money form.

Soweit die Umschlagsperiode durch die Länge der Arbeitsperiode bestimmt wird, wird sie bestimmt, unter sonst gleichbleibenden Bedingungen, durch die materielle Natur des Produktionsprozesses, also nicht durch den spezifischen gesellschaftlichen Charakter dieses Produktionsprozesses. Auf Basis der kapitalistischen Produktion jedoch bedingen ausgedehntere Operationen von längrer Dauer größre Vorschüsse von Geldkapital für längre Zeit. Die Produktion in solchen Sphären ist also abhängig von den Grenzen, innerhalb deren der einzelne Kapitalist über Geldkapital verfügt. Diese Schranke wird durchbrochen durch Kreditwesen und damit zusammenhängende Assoziation, z.B. Aktiengesellschaften. Störungen im Geldmarkt setzen daher solche Geschäfte still, während diese selben Geschäfte ihrerseits Störungen im Geldmarkt hervorrufen.

long operations, credit, and the money market

Insofar as the turnover period is determined by the length of the working period, it is determined — other conditions remaining the same — by the material nature of the production process, not by the specifically social character of that process. On the basis of capitalist production, however, larger-scale operations of longer duration require bigger advances of money capital for longer periods. Production in such spheres therefore depends on the limits within which the individual capitalist commands money capital. This barrier is broken through by the credit system and by the associations connected with it, joint-stock companies for example. Disturbances in the money market therefore bring such businesses to a standstill — while those same businesses, for their part, cause disturbances in the money market.

Auf Basis gesellschaftlicher Produktion ist zu bestimmen der Maßstab, worin diese Operationen, die während längrer Zeit Arbeitskraft und Produktionsmittel entziehn, ohne während dieser Zeit ein Produkt als Nutzeffekt zu liefern, ausgeführt werden können, ohne die Produktionszweige zu schädigen, die kontinuierlich oder mehrmals während des Jahrs nicht nur Arbeitskraft und Produktionsmittel entziehn, sondern auch Lebensmittel und Produktionsmittel liefern. Bei gesellschaftlicher ebenso wie bei kapitalistischer Produktion werden nach wie vor die Arbeiter in Geschäftszweigen von kürzern Arbeitsperioden nur für kürzre Zeit Produkte entziehn, ohne Produkt wieder zu geben; während die Geschäftszweige mit langen Arbeitsperioden für längre Zeit fortwährend entziehn, bevor sie zurückgeben. Dieser Umstand entspringt also aus den sachlichen Bedingungen des betreffenden Arbeitsprozesses, nicht aus seiner gesellschaftlichen Form. Das Geldkapital fällt bei gesellschaftlicher Produktion fort. Die Gesellschaft verteilt Arbeitskraft und Produktionsmittel in die verschiednen Geschäftszweige. Die Produzenten mögen meinetwegen papierne Anweisungen erhalten, wofür sie den gesellschaftlichen Konsumtionsvorräten ein ihrer Arbeitszeit entsprechendes Quantum entziehn. Diese Anweisungen sind kein Geld. Sie zirkulieren nicht.

under social production, money drops away

On the basis of social production, what has to be settled is the measure in which those operations — which draw off labour-power and means of production for a long time without delivering any finished product, any useful result, during that time — can be carried out without damaging the branches of production which continuously, or several times within the year, not only draw off labour-power and means of production but also deliver means of subsistence and means of production. Under social production just as under capitalist production, the workers in branches with shorter working periods draw products out for only a short time before giving products back; while the branches with long working periods keep drawing out for a long stretch before they give anything back. This circumstance arises from the material conditions of the working process in question, not from its social form. Under social production, money capital falls away. Society distributes labour-power and means of production among the different branches of production. The producers may, for all I care, receive paper certificates, on which they draw from the social consumption fund a quantity corresponding to their labour-time. These certificates are not money. They do not circulate.

Man sieht, daß soweit das Bedürfnis für Geldkapital aus der Länge der Arbeitsperiode entspringt, dies durch zwei Umstände bedingt wird: Erstens, daß überhaupt Geld die Form ist, worin jedes individuelle Kapital (vom Kredit abgesehn) auftreten muß, um sich in produktives Kapital zu verwandeln; dies geht hervor aus dem Wesen der kapitalistischen Produktion, überhaupt der Warenproduktion. - Zweitens, die Größe des nötigen Geldvorschusses entspringt aus dem Umstand, daß während längrer Zeit beständig Arbeitskraft und Produktionsmittel der Gesellschaft entzogen werden, ohne daß ihr während dieser Zeit ein in Geld rückverwandelbares Produkt zurückgegeben wird. Der erste Umstand, daß das vorzuschießende Kapital in Geldform vorgeschossen werden muß, wird nicht aufgehoben durch die Form dieses Geldes selbst, ob es Metallgeld, Kreditgeld, Wertzeichen etc. Der zweite Umstand wird in keiner Weise dadurch affiziert, durch welches Geldmedium oder durch welche Form der Produktion Arbeit, Lebensmittel und Produktionsmittel entzogen werden, ohne ein Äquivalent in die Zirkulation zurückzuwerfen.

two roots of the need for money capital

One sees, then, that insofar as the need for money capital springs from the length of the working period, it is conditioned by two things. First: money as such is the form in which every individual capital (credit set aside) must appear in order to convert itself into productive capital. This follows from the nature of capitalist production, and of commodity production in general. Second: the size of the necessary money advance springs from the fact that for a longer stretch, labour-power and means of production are continuously drawn away from society without any product being given back during that time which could be reconverted into money. The first circumstance — that the capital to be advanced must be advanced in money form — is not abolished by the form that money itself takes, whether metal money, credit money, tokens of value and so on. The second circumstance is in no way affected by whatever money-medium, or whatever form of production, is involved in drawing off labour, means of subsistence and means of production without throwing an equivalent back into circulation.

Kap. 18

The Object of the Inquiry and the Role of Money Capital

The immediate production process of capital is its process of labour and valorization, the result of this process being the commodity product, and its determining motive the production of surplus-value.

M–A merges

Engels: this section is from Manuscript II

Engels notes here that this introductory section is drawn from Marx's Manuscript II.

what the direct production process is

The process of capital's reproduction includes, on top of this immediate production process, the specific process of circulation with its two phases; it is the overall circuit forming the turnover of capital, a periodic process that is constantly repeated afresh at definite intervals.

reproduction: production plus circulation

Whether we consider the circuit in the form M ... M' or that of P ... P, the immediate production process, P, never forms more than one term in this circuit. In one form it appears as the mediator of the circulation process, while in the other form it is the circulation process that appears as mediating production. The constant repetition of the circuit, the perpetual re-emergence of the capital as productive capital, is conditioned in both cases by its transformations in the circulation process. On the other hand, the constant repetition of the process of production is the condition for the transformations that the capital undergoes over and again in the circulation sphere, for its alternately presenting itself as money capital and as commodity capital.

production and circulation condition each other

But each individual capital forms only a fraction of the total social capital, a fraction that has acquired independence and been endowed with individual life, so to speak, just as each individual capitalist is no more than an element of the capitalist class. The movement of the social capital is made up of the totality of movements of these autonomous fractions, the turnovers of the individual capitals. Just as the metamorphosis of the individual commodity is but one term in the series of metamorphoses of the commodity world as a whole, of commodity circulation, so the metamorphosis of the individual capital, its turnover, is a single term in the circuit of the social capital.

each capital: a splinter of the social capital

This overall process involves both productive consumption (the immediate production process) together with the changes of form that mediate it (which considered in their material aspect are exchanges), and individual consumption, with the changes of form or exchanges which mediate this. It involves on the one hand the conversion of variable capital into labour-power and the consequent incorporation of labour-power into the capitalist production process. In this aspect, the worker enters the scene as the seller of his commodity, labour-power, and the capitalist as its buyer. On the other hand, however, the sale of commodities involves their purchase by the working class, i.e. the workers' individual consumption. Here, the working class appears as a buyer of commodities, and the capitalists as sellers of commodities to the workers.

the total process includes the workers' consumption

The circulation of the commodity capital involves the circulation of surplus-value, and therefore the purchases and sales by way of which the capitalists mediate their individual consumption, the consumption of surplus-value.

commodity capital carries surplus-value's circulation

The circuits of the individual capitals, therefore, when considered as combined into the social capital, i.e. considered in their totality, do not encompass just the circulation of capital, but also commodity circulation in general. In its fundamentals, the latter can consist of only two components: (1) the specific circuit of capital, and (2) the circuit of those commodities that go into individual consumption, i.e. the commodities on which the workers spend their wages and the capitalists their surplus-value (or part of it). The circuit of capital, in fact, itself comprises the circulation of surplus-value, in as much as this forms part of the commodity capital, and it similarly includes the transformation of variable capital into labour-power, the payment of wages. But the expenditure of this surplus-value and wages on commodities does not form any part of the circulation of capital, even though the spending of wages, at least, depends on this circulation.

capital circulation inside general commodity circulation

In Volume 1, the capitalist production process was analysed both as an isolated event and as a process of reproduction: the production of surplus-value, and the production of capital itself. The formal and material changes undergone by capital in the circulation sphere were assumed, and no attempt was made to consider their details. It was therefore assumed both that the capitalist sells the product at its value and that he finds in the circulation sphere the material means of production that he needs to begin the process anew or to continue it without a break. The only act within the circulation sphere which we had to dwell on in that volume was the purchase and sale of labour-power as the basic condition of capitalist production.

what Volume 1 presupposed about circulation

In Part One of the present Volume 2, we considered the various forms that capital assumes in its circuit, and the various forms of this circuit itself. In addition to the working time considered in Volume 1, we now dealt with the circulation time.

what Part One added

In Part Two, we considered the circuit as a periodic one, i.e. as a turnover. It was shown, on the one hand, how the various components of capital (fixed and circulating) complete the circuit of their forms at different intervals and in different ways; the circumstances which gave rise to differing lengths of working period and circulation period were also investigated. We indicated the influence of the circuit's periodicity and of the varying ratio of its component parts on the scale of the production process itself, and on the annual rate of surplus-value. In point of fact, if what was principally considered in Part One were the successive forms that capital constantly assumes and discards in the course of its circuit, what was considered in Part Two was principally how, within this flux and succession of forms, a capital of given size is simultaneously divided, even if to a changing extent, into the various forms of productive capital, money capital and commodity capital, so that not only do these alternate with each other, but also different parts of the total capital value exist and function in these different states alongside each other at any one time. Money capital, in particular, presented specific features that were not indicated in Volume 1. Certain laws were discovered, according to which major components of a given capital, varying according to the conditions of the turnover, must constantly be advanced and renewed in the form of money capital, in order to keep a productive capital of a given size in constant functioning.

what Part Two added

What we were dealing with in both Parts One and Two, however, was always no more than an individual capital, the movement of an autonomous part of the social capital.

the limit of Parts One and Two

But in the first Part as in the second, we were always dealing only with an individual capital — with the movement of one self-standing piece of the social capital.

However, the circuits of individual capitals are interlinked, they presuppose one another and condition one another, and it is precisely by being interlinked in this way that they constitute the movement of the total social capital. Just as, in the case of simple commodity circulation, the overall metamorphosis of a single commodity appeared as but one term in the series of metamorphoses of the commodity world as a whole, now the metamorphosis of the individual capital appears as one term in the series of metamorphoses of the social capital. But if simple commodity circulation in no way necessarily involved the circulation of capital - since it can proceed quite well on the basis of non-capitalist production - the circuit of the total social capital, as already noted, also involves a commodity circulation that does not fall within the circuit of any individual capital, i.e. the circulation of those commodities that do not form capital.

interlaced circuits constitute the social capital

What we now have to consider is the circulation process of the individual capitals as components of the total social capital, i.e. the circulation process of this total social capital. Taken in its entirety, this circulation process is a form of the reproduction process.

the task now

(The following subject, i.e. money capital considered as a component of the total social capital, really belongs in a later section of this Part. However, we intend to investigate it here.)

taking money capital early

Although the following belongs properly to a later part of this section, we want to look into it right away: money capital, considered as a component of the total social capital.

In connection with the turnover of the individual capital, we saw that money capital displays two aspects.

money capital showed two faces

When we looked at the turnover of an individual capital, money capital showed itself from two sides.

Firstly, it provides the form in which each individual capital steps onto the scene and commences its process as capital. Hence it appears as prime mover, giving the first impulse to the whole process.

first: money as the prime mover

First: it is the form in which every individual capital steps onto the stage and opens its career as capital. It therefore appears as the prime mover, the thing that sets the whole process going.

Secondly, according to the varying lengths of the turnover period and the varying ratio of its two components - working period and circulation period - the component of the capital value advanced that must be advanced and renewed at any one time in the money form stands in a different ratio to the productive capital that it sets in motion, i.e. to the continuous scale of production. But whatever this ratio may be, the portion of the capital value in process that can function at any one time as productive capital is always restricted by the part of the capital value advanced that must always exist alongside the productive capital in the money form. What is involved here is simply the normal turnover, an abstract average. We therefore disregard any additional money capital required to cope with delays in circulation.

second: money held back limits production

On the first point. Commodity production presupposes commodity circulation, and commodity circulation presupposes the representation of commodities in money, monetary circulation; the duplication of commodities into commodities and money is a law of the emergence of the product as a commodity. Capitalist commodity production, for its part, whether we consider it socially or individually, similarly presupposes capital in the money form, or money capital, both as the prime mover for each business when it first begins, and as a permanent driving force. Circulating capital, especially, presupposes the constantly repeated appearance, at short intervals, of the motor of money capital. The entire capital value advanced, i.e. all components of the capital that consist of commodities - labour-power, means of labour and materials of production - must always first be bought with money and later on purchased again. What holds here for the individual capital, holds also for the social capital, which operates only in the form of many individual capitals. But, as we already showed in Volume 1, it in no way follows from this that the field of operation of capital, the scale of production, even on the capitalist basis, has its absolute limits determined by the volume of money capital in operation.

money: the necessary form, not the limit

The elements of production that are incorporated into capital are independent in extent, within certain limits, of the magnitude of the money capital advanced. Labour-power with a certain rate of payment may be more or less severely exploited, both extensively and intensively. If the amount of money capital increases with severer exploitation, i.e. if wages rise, they still do not rise in relation to the degree of exploitation, i.e. not at all proportionately.

labour can be squeezed further, cheaply

The natural materials which are exploited productively (and which do not form an element of the capital's value), i.e. soil, sea, mineral ores, forests, etc. may be more or less severely exploited, in extent and intensity, by greater exertion of the same amount of labour-power, without an increase in the money capital advanced. In this way the real elements of productive capital can be increased without the need for additional money capital. In so far as the latter is needed for additional ancillaries, then the money capital in which the capital value is advanced is not increased in relation to the increased effectiveness of the productive capital, i.e. again not at all proportionately.

nature can be worked harder free

The same means of labour, i.e. the same fixed capital, may be used more efficiently without an additional outlay of money for fixed capital, either by prolonging their daily use or by raising the intensity of their application. There is then only a more rapid turnover of the fixed capital, but this also means that the elements of its reproduction are supplied more quickly.

fixed capital can wear faster, not more

Apart from natural materials, natural forces that cost nothing may also be incorporated more or less effectively as agents in the production process. Their level of effectiveness depends on methods and scientific advances that cost the capitalist nothing.

free natural forces as agents

The same applies to the social combination of labour-power in the production process, and to the accumulated skills of the individual worker. Carey reckons that the landowner never receives his due rent, since he is not paid for all the capital and labour that has been put into the soil from time immemorial to give it its present productive capacity. (There is no mention, of course, of the productive capacity that is taken out of the soil.) According to this conception, the individual worker should be paid according to the work that it cost the entire human race to build him up from a savage into a modern engineer. What actually happens is quite the reverse. If all the unpaid labour put into the soil to the profit of the landowners and capitalists is counted up, then this capital contained in the soil has been repaid over and over again at an extortionate rate of interest, so that landed property has long since been redeemed by society, and redeemed time and again at that.

against Carey: the unpaid work already pocketed

The increase in the productive forces of labour, in so far as this does not rest on any additional outlay of capital value, increases in the first instance only the quantity of products, and not their value, except to the extent that it enables more constant capital to be reproduced, and its value thus maintained, with the same amount of labour. However, it also forms extra material for capital, and thus provides the basis for an increased capital accumulation.

higher productivity: new material for accumulation

In as much as the organization of social labour, and therefore the heightening of the social productivity of labour, itself requires production on a large scale and hence the advance of money capital in great quantities by individual capitalists, we have already shown in Volume 1 how this happens partly as a result of the centralization of capitals in a few hands without any absolute growth in the volume of capital values in operation, and nor therefore in the volume of money capital through which they are advanced. The size of individual capitals can grow by way of centralization in a few hands, without any growth in their social sum. There is then simply a redistribution of individual capitals.

centralisation changes the split, not the sum

Finally, it was shown in the previous Part how a reduction in the turnover period enables either the same productive capital to be set in motion with less money capital, or more productive capital to be set in motion with the same money capital.

shorter turnover, less money needed

All this clearly has nothing to do with the specific question of money capital as such. It simply indicates that the capital advanced - a given sum of value which, in its free form, its value form, consists of a certain sum of money - contains, once it has been transformed into productive capital, productive powers whose limits are not given by the bounds of its own value, but, within a given field of action, can operate differently, both in extent and intensity. Once the prices of the elements of production (means of production and labour-power) are given, the size of the money capital required to buy a certain quantity of these elements of production, present as commodities, is also determined. In other words, the capital value that has to be advanced is determined. However, the scale on which this capital operates to form values and products is elastic and variable.

all that: value limits, not effect limits

On the second point. It is self-evident that the portion of social labour and means of production that has to be spent each year on the production or acquisition of money, in order to replace worn-down coins, involves a proportionate reduction in the scale of social production. But as for the money value already functioning partly as means of circulation and partly as a hoard, this has already been obtained, and exists alongside the labour-power, the produced means of production, and the natural sources of wealth. It cannot be considered as a restriction on these. If it is transformed into elements of production, or exchanged with other nations, the scale of production may be expanded. But this presupposes that the money continues to play, as before, its role of world money.

existing money is no barrier

According to the length of the turnover period, a greater or lesser quantity of money capital is needed to set the productive capital in motion. We have also seen how the division of the turnover period into working time and circulation time gives rise to an increase in the capital that is latent or suspended in the money form.

turnover length fixes the money portion

To the extent that the turnover period is governed by the length of the working period, it is determined by the material character of the production process, conditions remaining otherwise the same, and not by the specific social character of this production process. On the basis of capitalist production, however, extended operations of long duration require greater advances of money capital for a longer time. Production in these branches is therefore dependent on the extent of the money capital which the individual capitalist has at his disposal. This limit is overcome by the credit system and the forms of association related to it, e.g. joint-stock companies. Disturbances in the money market therefore bring such businesses to a halt, while those same businesses, for their part, induce disturbances in the money market.

long operations, credit, and the money market

On the basis of social production, it would be necessary to determine to what extent it was possible to pursue these operations, which withdraw labour-power and means of production for a relatively long period without providing any product or useful effect during this time, without damaging those branches of production that not only withdraw labour-power and means of production continuously or several times in the course of a year, but also supply means of subsistence and means of production. With social production just as with capitalist production, workers in branches of industry with short working periods will withdraw products only for a short time without giving other products back in return, while branches of industry with long working periods will continue to withdraw products for a long time before they give anything back. This circumstance arises from the material conditions of the labour process in question, and not from its social form. With collective production, money capital is completely dispensed with. The society distributes labour-power and means of production between the various branches of industry. There is no reason why the producers should not receive paper tokens permitting them to withdraw an amount corresponding to their labour time from the social consumption stocks. But these tokens are not money; they do not circulate.

under social production, money drops away

We see that in so far as the need for money capital arises from the length of the working period, this is conditioned by two factors. Firstly, that money is the general form in which each individual capital must enter the scene (leaving aside credit), in order to be transformed into productive capital; this arises from the nature of capitalist production, and of commodity production in general. Secondly, the size of the money advance needed arises from the circumstance that labour-power and means of production are withdrawn from society for a long period without the return of a product that can be transformed back into money. The first factor, that the capital has to be advanced in the form of money, is not abolished by the form this money takes, whether it is metallic money, credit money, tokens of value, etc. The second factor is not affected in any way either by the monetary medium or by the form of production in which labour, means of subsistence and means of production are withdrawn, without an equivalent being cast back into circulation.

two roots of the need for money capital