cess of production, and thus the function of the means of 8 Beginning of Manuscript IV.
9 Time of production of the means of production does not mean, in this case, the time required for their production, but the time during which they take part in the process of production *f a certain commodity. — F. E.
The Time of Circulation. 139 production embodied in it, is interrupted; third, the time during which the means of production are held in readiness as requirements for the process of production, during which they represent productive capital, without having entered into the process of production.
The difference so far discussed is always the difference between the time which the productive capital passes in the sphere of production and that in the process of production. But the process of production itself may require interrup- tions of the labor-process, and thus of the labor time, and during such pauses the object of labor is exposed to the influence of physical processes without the intervention of human labor. The process of production, and thus the function of the means of production, continue in this case, although the labor-process, and thus the function of the means of production as instruments of labor, have been in- terrupted. This applies, for instance, to the grain, after it has been sowed, the wine fermenting in the cellar, the la- bor-material of many manufacturers, such as tanneries, where the material is given over to chemical processes. The time of production is then greater than the labor-time. The difference between the two consists in an excess of the time of production over the labor-time. This excess always arises by the latent existence of productive capital in the sphere of production, without performing its function in the process of production itself, or by the performance of its function in the productive process without taking part in the labor-process.
That part of the latent productive capital, which is held in readiness as a requirement for the productive process, such as cotton, coal, etc., in a spinnery, produces neither products nor value. It is fallow capital, although its fallow condition is a requirement for the uninterrupted flow of the process of production. The buildings, apparatus, etc., necessary for the storage of the productive supply (latent capital) are requirements of the productive process and therefore component parts of the advanced productive capi- tal. They perform their function as conservators of the elements of production in a preliminary stage. Inasmuch as labor-processes are required in this stage, they add to 140 Capital.
the cost of the raw material, etc., but they are productive labor and produce surplus-value, because a part of this la- bor, like all wage-labor, is not paid. The normal inter- ruptions of the entire process of production, the pauses in which the productive capital does not perform any func- tions, create neither value nor surplus-value. Hence the tendency to keep the work going at night (Volume I, Chap- ter X, 4). — The intervals in the labor-time, which the object of labor must endure in the process of production itself, create neither value nor surplus-value. But they ad- vance the product, form a part of its life, a process through which it must necessarily pass. The value of the apparatus, etc., is transferred to the product in proportion to the entire time, during which they perform their function; the prod- uct is brought to this stage by labor itself, and the em- ployment of these apparatus is as much a requirement of production as the wasting of a part of the cotton which does not enter into the product, but nevertheless transfers its value.to that product. The other parts of latent capital, such as buildings, machinery, etc., that is to say those instru- ments of labor whose function is interrupted only by the regular pauses of the productive process (irregular interruptions caused by the restriction of production, crises, etc., are total losses) create additional values without entering into the creation of the product. The total value which this part of capital adds to the product, is determined by the average time which it lasts, for its own value, being use-value, diminishes during the time that it performs its functions as well as during that in which it does not.
Finally, the value of the constant part of capital, which continues in the productive process although the labor- process is interrupted, re-appears in the result of the produc- tive process. Labor itself has here placed the means of production in a condition, where they pass without further assistance through certain useful processes, the result of which is a definite advantage or a change in the form of the use-values. Labor always transfers the value of the means of production to the product, to the extent that it really con- sumes them to good effect as means of production. And it does not change the case, whether labor has to be exerted The Time of Circulation. 141 continually on its object in order to produce this effect, or whether it merely gives the first impulse for it by placing the means of production in a condition wherein they un- dergo the intended transformation through the influence of natural processes, without further assistance from labor.
Whatever may be the reason for the excess of the time of production over the labor-time — whether it is that the means of production are still latent capital in a stage pre- liminary to the actual productive process, or that their func- tion is interrupted within the process of production by its pauses, or that the process of production itself requires an interruption of the labor-process — in none of these cases do the means of production assimilate any labor. And if they do not assimilate any labor, they do not imbibe any surplus-labor. Hence the productive capital does not in- crease its value, so long as it remains in that part of its time of production which exceeds the labor-time, no matter how indispensable these pauses may be for the realization of the process of increasing value. It is plain, that the productiv- ity and increment of a given productive capital in a given time are so much greater, the more nearly the time of pro- duction and labor-time are equal. Hence we have the ten- dency of capitalist production to reduce the excess of the time of production over the labor-time as much as possible. But although the time of production of a certain capital may exceed its labor-time, it always includes the latter, and its excess is a logical condition of the process of production. The time of production, then, is always that time in which a capital produces use-values and surplus-values, and in which it performs the functions of productive capital, al- though it includes time in which it is either latent or pro- duces without creating surplus-values.
Within the sphere of circulation, capital abides as com- modity-capital and money-capital. Its two processes of cir- culation consist in its transformation from the commodity- form into that of money, and from the money-form into that of commodities. It does not alter the character of these pro- cesses as transactions in circulation, of processes in the simple metamorphosis of commodities, that this transfor- mation of commodities into money is at the same time a re- 142 Capital.
alization of the surplus-values embodied in the commodities, and that the transformation of money into commodities is at the same time a transformation or reconversion of cap- ital-value into the forms of its elements of production.
The time of circulation and time of production mutually exclude one another. During its time of circulation, capital does not perform the functions of productive capital and therefore produces neither commodities nor surplus-value. If we study the cycle in its simplest form, so that the entire capital-value passes in one bulk from one phase into the other, we can plainly see that the process of production is interrupted and therefore also the production of surplus- value, so long as its time of circulation lasts, and that the renewal of the process of production will take place prompt- ly or slowly, according to the length of the time of circula- tion. But if the various parts of capital pass through the cycle successively, so that the rotation of the entire capital- value proceeds successively by the rotation of its component parts, then it is evident that the part performing continu- ally the function of productive capital must be so much smaller, the longer the aliquot parts of capital-value remain in the sphere of circulation. The expansion and contrac- tion of the time of circulation are therefore a check on the contraction or expansion of the time of production or of the volume which a given capital can assume for its produc- tive function. To the extent that the metamorphoses of circulation of a certain capital are reduced, to the extent that the time of circulation approaches zero, its productivity and increment of surplus-value will increase. For instance, if a capitalist executes an order, so that he receives pay- ment for his goods on delivery, and if this payment is made in his own elements of production, the time of circulation of his capital approaches zero.
In short, the time of circulation of a certain capital lim- its its time of production and the process of creating surplus- value. And this limitation is proportional to the duration of the time of circulation. Seeing that this time may in- crease or decrease in different ratios, it may limit the time of production in various degrees. But political economy sees only the seeming effect, that is to say the effect of the The Time of Circulation. 148 time of circulation on the creation of surplus-values in gen- eral. It takes this negative effect for a positive one, because its results are positive. It clings so much the more to this semblance, as this seems to prove that capital has a mystic source from which surplus-value flows toward it through the circulation, independently of its process of production and the exploitation of labor. We shall see later, that even sci- entific political economy has been deceived by this appear- ance of things. Various phenomena contribute to this de- ception: 1. The capitalist method of calculating profit, in which the negative cause figures as a positive one, seeing that with capitals in different spheres of investment, with different times of circulation only, a longer time of circula- tion tends toward an increase of prices, in short serves as one of the causes which bring about an equalization of profits. 2. The time of circulation is but a factor in the period of turn-over; and this period includes both the time of production and reproduction. What is really due to the period of turn-over, seems to be due to the time of circu- lation. 3. The conversion of commodities into variable capital (wages) is conditioned on their previous conversion into money. In the accumulation of capital, the conversion into additional variable capital takes place in circulation, or during the time of circulation. It thus appears as though this accumulation were due to the time of circulation.
Within the sphere of circulation, capital passes through the two opposite phases of C — M and M — C, no matter in what succession. Hence its time of circulation is likewise divided into two parts, viz.: the time required for its con- version from money into commodities, and that required for its conversion from commodities into money. We have already learned from the analysis of the simple circulation of commodities (Vol. I, Chap. Ill), that C — M, the sale, is the most difficult part of its metamorphosis and that, therefore, under ordinary conditions, it takes up the greater part of its time of circulation. As money, value exists in its ever convertible form. But as a commodity, value must first be transformed into money in order to assume such a directly convertible form of continual readiness. How- ever, in the process of circulation of capital, its phase C — M 144 Capital.
deals with commodities which constitute definite elements of. productive capital in a certain investment. The means of production may not be on the market and must first be produced, or they must be ordered from distant markets, or their ordinary supply is interrupted, or prices change, etc., in short there are a multitude of circumstances which are not visible in the simple change of form from M to C, but which nevertheless require more or less time for this part of the phase of circulation. C — M and M — C may not only be separate in time, but also in space, the selling and the buying market may be located apart. In the case of factories, for instance, the buyer and seller are frequently different persons. In the production of commodities, circu- lation is as necessary as production itself, so that agents are just as much needed in circulation as in production. The process of reproduction includes both functions of capital, therefore it also includes the necessity of having representa- tives for both of them, either in the person of the capital- ist or of wage-workers, as his agents. But this is no more a good reason for mistaking the agents in circulation for those in production, than it is to confound the functions of commodity-capital and money-capital with those of productive capital. The agents of circulation must be paid by the agents of production. And since capitalists who mutually sell and buy do not create either values or products by these transactions, this state of affairs is not changed, if they are enabled or compelled by the expansion of their business to charge others with those transactions.
In some businesses, the buyers and sellers get their wages in the form of percentages on the profits. It does not alter the matter to use the phrase that they are paid by the con- sumer. The consumers can pay only inasmuch as they are themselves instrumental in producing an equivalent in com- modities as agents of production or appropriate it out of the product of other agents in production, whether it be by means of legal titles or of personal services.
There is a difference between C — M and M — C, which has nothing to do with the different forms of commodities and money, but arises from the capitalist character of pro- duction. Intrinsicallv. C — M as well as M — G is merely a The Time of Circulation. 145 conversion of a given value out of one form into another. But C — M' is at the same time a realization of the surplus- value contained in C Not so M — C. For this reason the sale is more important than the purchase. M — C is under normal conditions a necessary act for the creation of more value by means of the value contained in it, but it is not the realization of surplus-value; it is the intimation of its production, not its after-effect.
The form in which a commodity exists, the form of its use-value, prescribes definite limits for the circulation of commodity-capital C — M\ Use-values are naturally perish- able. Hence, if they are not productively or individually consumed within a certain time, in other words, if they are not sold within a certain period, they spoil and thus lose with their use-value also the faculty of being bearers of sur- plus-value. The capital-value, or eventually the surplus- value, contained in them is lost. The use-values do not remain the bearers of perennial capital-value increasing by the addition of surplus-value, unless they are continually reproduced and replaced by new use-values of the same or of some other order. The sale of the use-values in the form of finished commodities, their transfer to the productive or individual consumption by means of this sale, is the ever recurring requirement for their reproduction. They must change their old use-form within a certain time, in order to continue their existence in a new form. Exchange- value maintains itself only by means of this constant renewal of its substance. The use-values of certain commodities spoil sooner or later; the time between their production and consumption may therefore be long or short; they may retain the form of commodity-capital in phase C — M of the circulation for a shorter or longer term and endure a shorter or a longer time of circulation. The limit of the time of circulation of a certain commodity-capital imposed by the spoiling of the substance of the commodity is the absolute limit of this part of the time of circulation, or of the time of circulation of commodity-capital as such. To the extent that a commodity is perishable, to the extent that it must be sold and consumed as soon as possible after its production, its capacity for removal from its place of pro- 146 Capital.
duction is restricted, the sphere of its circulation is nar- rowed, its selling market is localized. For this reason a commodity is so much less suited for capitalist production as it is perishable, as its physical composition limits its time of circulation. It is available for this purpose only in thickly populated districts, or to the extent that the im- provement of transportation brings places closer together. But the concentration of the production of such articles into a few hands and in a populous district may create a relatively large market even for them, for instance, such as the product of large beer-breweries, dairies, etc.
The Expenses of Circulation. 14*J CHAPTER VI.
THE EXPENSES OF CIRCULATION. I. GENUINE EXPENSES OF CIRCULATION.
1. The Time of Purchase and Sale.
The transformations of capital from commodities into money and from money into commodities are at the same time transactions of the capitalist, acts of purchase and sale. The time in which these transformations take place consti- tutes from the personal standpoint of the capitalist a purchase and selling time, it is the time during which he performs the functions of a buyer and seller on the market. Just as the time of circulation of capital is a necessary part of its time of reproduction, so the time in which the capitalist buys and sells and remains in 'the market is a necessary part of the 'time in which he performs the functions of a capitalist, in which he personifies capital. It is a part of his business time.
9a Since we have assumed that commodities are bought and sold at their values, these transformations constitute merely a conversion of the same value from one form into another, from the form of commodities into that of money or vice versa, a change of composition in substance. If commodi- ties are sold at their values, then the magnitude in the hands of the buyer and seller remains unchanged. Only the form of its existence is changed. If the commodities are not sold at their values, then the sum of the con- verted values remains the same; the plus on one side is off- set by a minus on the other.
between buyers and sellers; they require time to perfect the trade, the more so as this represents a struggle in which each seeks to get the best of the other; for to business men applies the statement: "When Greek meets Greek, then 9a From here to 10 are statements taken from a note at the end of Manuscript VIII.
148 Capital.
comes the tug of war." The conversion of a commodity costs time and labor-power, not for the purpose of creating values, but in order to accomplish the conversion of value from one form into another. The mutual attempt to ap- propriate an extra share of this value, changes nothing fundamentally. This work, increased by the evil designs on either side, does not create value any more than the work done in a civil process increases the value of the ob- ject of contention. It is with this labor, which is a neces- sary part of the totality of the capitalist process of produc- tion, including the circulation or included by it, as it is with the labor of combustion of some element used for the generation of heat. This labor of combustion does not generate any heat, although it is a necessary part in the process of combustion. In order to employ coal as fuel, it must combine wdth oxygen, and for this purpose coal must be brought to the condition of carbonic acid gas; in other words, a physical change of form must take place. The separation of carbon molecules, which are united into a solid mass, <and the breaking up of these molecules into their atoms, must precede the new combination, and this requires a certain effort, which is not transformed into heat, but taken from it. If the owners of commodities are not capitalists, but direct producers, the time required for buying and selling is so much loss of labor time, and for this reason such trans- actions were deferred in ancient and medieval times to holidays.
Of course, the dimensions acquired by the business in commodities in the hands of the capitalists cannot transform this labor, which does not create any values and promotes merely changes of form, into labor productive of surplus- value. Nor can this miracle of transsubstantiation be accom- plished by unloading this work of "combustion" from the shoulders of the industrial capitalists to those of paid em- ployees who attend to it exclusively. These employees will not tender their services out of pure love for the capitalists. The collector of some real-estate owner or the messenger of some bank is indifferent to the fact that their labor does not add any value to the rent or to the money carried to the bank in bags.10 10 See explanation 9a.
The Expenses of Circulation. 149 For the capitalist who has others working for him, selling and buying become primary functions. Seeing that he ap- propriates the products of many on a large social scale, he must sell on the same scale and then reconvert the money into elements of production. But still neither the sale nor the purchase create any values. An illusion is here cre- ated by the function of merchant's capital. But without en- tering at this point into a detailed discussion of this fact, we can plainly see this much: If a function, which is unproduc- tive in itself, although a necessary link in reproduction, is transformed by a division of labor from an incidental occu- pation of many into an exclusive occupation of a few, the character of this function is not changed thereby. One mer- chant, as an agent promoting the transformation of com- modities by assuming the role of a mere buyer and seller, may abbreviate by his operations the time of sale and pur- chase for many producers. To that extent he may be re- garded as a machine which reduces a useless expenditure of energy or helps to set free some time of production."
In order to simplify the matter, seeing that we shall not discuss the merchant as a capitalist and his capital as mer- chant's capital until later, we shall assume that this buying and selling agent is a man who sells his labor-power. He expends his labor-power and labor-time in the operations C — M and M — C. And he makes his living that way, just as another does by spinning or by making pills. He per- forms a necessary function, because the process of reproduc- tion itself includes an unproductive function. He works as well as any other man, but intrinsically his labor creates 11 "The expenses of commerce, although necessary, must be regarded as a burden." (Quesnay, Analyse du Tableau Economique, in Daire. Physiocrates, part I, Paris, 1846, page 71.) According to Quesnay, the "profit," which the competition between merchants produces, and which he sees in the fact that competition compels them "to figure a discount on their loss or gain is really nothing but a prevention of loss for the seller at first hand or for the consuming buyer. Now, a pre- vention of loss on the expenses of commerce is not a real product or an increase of wealth through commerce, considering it simply as an exchange, whether with or without the cost of transportation." (Pages 145 and 146.) "The expenses of commerce are always paid by those who sell the products and who would enjoy the full prices paid for them by the buyers, if there were no incidental expenses." (Page 163, Ibidem.) The "proprietaires" and "producteurs" are "salariants," the merchants are "salaries." (Page 164, Quesnay, Problemes Economiques, in Daire, Physiocrates, Part I, Paris, 1S46.)
150 Capital.