![]() ![]() Rather, they sell their labor for a definite period of time for a definite purpose. The wage laborer does not sell their capacity to labor to the capitalist forever. Labor-power is distinct from mere labor in that it’s commodified labor. Labor-power’s value is measured by the clock. Labor itself, however, cannot have value except for when it takes on a commodity, with that commodity being labor-power. ![]() Labor can only produce value when it is employed toward the end of commodity production. If one does not enter into market relations in their production, such as with purely subsistence farmers, then their labor produces no value. It does not have any value outside of those social relations. Something can only have value when subject to particular social relations which grant it a form as a commodity. This does not contradict Marx’s labor theory of value. In this text, Marx sets out to do just that in the context of capitalistic social relations between labor and capital. In order to combat capitalism and heighten the class struggle, it is important to understand it as it truly is. Karl Marx explains the capitalist labor process and relations in the 1849 pamphlet Wage Labour and Capital, originally written as a series of articles. In part two of our lessons on value, we condense the basic ideas of Marx’s Wage Labour and Capital into a digestible article with updated language and examples. ![]() ![]() Basics of Marxism Part 2 - Wage Labor and Capital ![]()
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