CHAPTER XVIII.
various formulæ for the rate of surplus-value.
We have seen that the rate of surplus-value is represented by the following formulæ.
I. Surplus-valueVariable Capital (sv)=Surplus-valueValue of labour-power=Surplus-labourNecessary labour
The two first of these formulæ represent, as a ratio of values, that which, in the third, is represented as a ratio of the times during which those values are produced. These formulæ, supplementary the one to the other, are rigorously definite and correct. We therefore find them substantially, but not consciously, worked out in classical political economy. There we meet with the following derivative formulæ.
II. Surplus-labourWorking-day=Surplus-valueValue of the Product=Surplus-productTotal Product
One and the same ratio is here expressed as a ratio of labour-times, of the values in which those labour-times are embodied, and of the products in which those values exist. It is of course understood that, by “Value of the Product,” is meant only the value newly created in a working-day, the constant part of the value of the product being excluded.
In all of these formulæ (II.), the actual degree of exploitation of labour, or the rate of surplus-value, is falsely expressed. Let the working-day be 12 hours. Then, making the same assumptions as in former instances, the real degree of exploitation of labour will be represented in the following proportions.
6 hours surplus-labour6 hours necessary labour=Surplus-value of 3 sh.Variable Capital of 3 sh.=100%
From formulæ II. we get very differently,
6 hours surplus-labourWorking-day of 12 hours=Surplus-value of 3 sh.Value created of 6 sh.=50%
These derivative formulæ express, in reality, only the pro-
