| This question <270|272> overall <270|272> Boar: <161-1|310>. |
| Question 421: How long is the working day from the point of view of the capitalist? |
| [271] Boar: Marx answers this with a single sentence, “less than a natural day”, then he goes on in more detail to explain why. In this careful analysis on the length of a working day to a capitalist, Marx walks us through the thought process and motivation of the capitalist. Marx states that the capitalist has his own views of the “necessary limit of the working day.” |
| The first thing Marx clears up is that a 24 hour work day would be slavery. Instead of slavery Marx explains that both sides are agreeing voluntarily on a transaction, or a commodity exchange. Next Marx leads into the views and motivation of the capitalist. The list he gives is quite convincing and is as follows: |
| 1. Speaking of the capitalist Marx says, “his soul is the soul of capital.” |
| 2. So if the soul of the capitalist is capital, Marx further states that capital has “one single-minded life impulse...absorb the greatest possible amount of surplus-labor.” Similar to what the notes say, this seems to indicate that the capitalist has a one-track mind and that is to get the maximum amount of labor quantity or work from his laborers while he has them. The rest of the list builds on this argument. |
| 3. Marx goes on to say that “capital is dead labor” because it is like a vampire and only survives due to the living labor it sucks. |
| 4. Marx is clearly showing here that since the capitalist does not have all day, or 24 hours from the laborer, to work hard - the capitalist in return is critical of any time the laborer uses for himself when he could be working. The reasoning for this argument is that “the time during which the laborer works, is the time during which the capitalist consumes the labor-power he has purchased of him.” In so doing the capitalist is abiding by the law of the exchange of commodities. Like all other purchasers the capitalist expects to achieve the “greatest possible benefit out of the use-value of his commodity.” In the view of the capitalist he feels if he is going to pay the laborer then the worker better be willing to give his use-value, or labor for the whole duration of the time he has agreed to work. Of course the penalty against the laborer is that since the capitalist has so much control due to his resources, he can do as he pleases with his factory, even if this means moving it. |
| So it appears the working day from the perspective of the capitalist is not a slave day, 24 hours, but as long as the laborer is willing to exchange his use-value, labor, within the 24 hour period. |
| I believe this is a process all of us former teenage workers can empathize with. When I was 16 and working for Office Max I had 8 hour shifts and they were very concerned and strict with what I did with my use-value while they paid me. |
| Hans: Do you really believe that the length of the workday is determined by the worker's wishes? |
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