5/28/2023 0 Comments Karl marx wage labor and capitalIf we look only on the surface of bourgeois society, the wages of the laborer seem to be the remuneration of labor – so much money paid for so much labor. Labor is then treated as a commodity, the market-price of which rises and falls above or below its value.īut what is this value? Value represents the social labor expended in the production of a commodity. And how is the magnitude of value of a commodity measured? By the quantity of labor that it contains. How then do we determine, for example, the value of twelve hours’ labor? By the twelve hours’ labor that it contains, which is evidently absurd. The Transformation of the Value or Price of Labor Power into Wages The argument is put forth here quite clearly, and can be read in conjunction with, or as a supplement to, the more complete selections from Capita l. According to Marx, thinking about wages as payment like any other commodity fundamentally obscures the social relation between employer and employee. In the preface to The People’s Marx, the translator (La Monte) refers to the first volume of Capital as “the Bible of the working class.” That appellation is particularly apt for the selection you have here, on wages. Introduction – Why this is important and what to look for
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