Chapter 1
Definitions
- Means of production: land, factories, minerals, oil reserves, etc.
- Socially-necessary labor time: the average time it takes the average worker labors to produce a commodity.
Summary
In Chapter 1 of Wage-Labor and Capital, Marx begins by addressing the fundamental relationship between workers and capitalists in a capitalist economy. He explains that workers, who own no means of production, are compelled to sell their labor-power (their capacity to work) to capitalists in exchange for wages, which are necessary for their survival. This arrangement forms the foundation of the wage-labor system.
Marx highlights the nature of wages, emphasizing that they are not a direct payment for labor itself but for the worker’s labor-power. Wages appear as the price of labor, but in reality, they represent the cost of maintaining the worker—essentially the cost of their subsistence and the reproduction of their ability to work.
Marx explains that this value of labor-power is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time required to produce the goods and services a worker needs to survive.
Marx also introduces the key idea that while workers sell their labor-power, they do not receive the full value of what their labor produces.
Instead, the capitalist extracts surplus value from the worker’s labor, which forms the source of profit in the capitalist system. Labor-power is mixed with the means of production to create commodities for sale.
For example, a bartender uses the bar owners bar, liquor, beverages etc, (means of production) to create thousands of dollars worth of cocktails, while only getting paid a fraction of value their labor created, i.e. 2.15/hour.
This exploitative dynamic, where workers create more value than they are compensated for, is a defining feature of capitalism.
In summary, Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for understanding the wage-labor system by explaining the commodification of labor-power, the determination of wages, and the exploitative relationship between labor and capital.
Review Questions
- What does Marx mean by “labor-power,” and how is it different from labor itself?
- How does Marx describe the nature of wages? Why does he argue that wages are not a direct payment for labor?
- What determines the value of labor-power, according to Marx, and how is this value connected to the worker’s subsistence?
- How does Marx explain the process by which capitalists extract surplus value from workers? Why is this central to the capitalist system?
- What does Marx say about the relationship between workers and capitalists, and how does the sale of labor-power underpin the wage-labor system?