University of Houston, 4333 University Drive, Houston TX 77204-2000, (713) 743-1050.
© 2013 University of Houston. All rights reserved.
| Title | Wage labour and capital |
| Creator (LCNAF) |
|
| Contributor (LCNAF) |
|
| Publisher | International Publishers |
| Place of Creation (TGN) |
|
| Date | 1932 |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
|
| Genre (AAT) |
|
| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
|
| Original Item Extent | 48 pages; 20 cm |
| Original Item Location | HB301.M3813 1932 |
| Original Item URL | http://library.uh.edu/record=b8302360~S11 |
| Original Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection | Socialist and Communist Pamphlets |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/scpamp |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections |
| Use and Reproduction | In Copyright: This item is protected by copyright. Copyright to this resource is held by the creator or current rights holder, and the resource is provided here for educational purposes. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without permission of the copyright owner. Users assume full responsibility for any infringement of copyright or related rights. |
| Note | Translation of Lohnarbeit und Kapital. |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Image 41 |
| Format (IMT) |
|
| File Name | uhlib_2981922_040.jpg |
| Transcript | CHAPTER VIII THE INTERESTS OF CAPITAL AND WAGE-LABOUR ARE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED EFFECT OF GROWTH OF PRODUCTIVE CAPITAL ON WAGES We thus see that, even if we keep ourselves within the relation of capital and wage-labour, the interests of capital and the interests of wage-labour are diametrically opposed to each other. A rapid growth of capital is synonymous with a rapid growth of profits. Profits can grow rapidly only when the price of labour—the relative wages—decrease just as rapidly. Relative wages may fall, although real wages rise simultaneously with nominal wages, with the money value of labour, provided only that the real wage does not rise in the same proportion as the profit. If, for instance, in good business years wages rise 5 per cent, while profits rise 30 per cent., the proportional, the relative wage has not increased, but decreased. If, therefore, the income of the worker increases with the rapid growth of capital, there is at the same time a widening of the social chasm that divides the worker from the capitalist, an increase in the power of capital over labour, a greater dependence of labour upon capital. To say that "the worker has an interest in the rapid growth of capital," means only this; that the more speedily the worker augments the wealth of the capitalist, the larger will be the crumbs which fall to him, the greater will be the number of workers that can be called into existence, the more can the mass of slaves dependent upon capital be increased. We have thus seen that even the most favourable situation for the working class, namely, the most rapid growth of capital, however much it may improve the material life of the worker, does not abolish the antagonism between his interests and the interests of the capitalist. Profit and wages remain as before, in inverse proportion. 39 |