| This question <111|121> overall <118|120> Claire: <1828|120>. |
| Question 76: Why is labor measured here by labor-time, and not by counting how many movements were made, or by the drops of sweat of the laborer, or by the discomfort of the laborer? |
| [119] Claire: Marx measures labor in time because he measures total labor. Total labor is all labor that went into the product, including the labor of the materials, machine equipment, and the worker. If we had a simple work place where no machines or materials were used but the work was solely dependent on the worker's performance, then I believe there would be a different payment plan. | Originally: The reason that Marx measures the labor in time is because labor is measured in total labor. The total labor is what went into the product as far as the labor of the materials, machine equipment and the worker. If we had a simple work place where no machines or materials were used but the work was solely dependent on the worker's performance, than I believe there would be a different payment plan. |
| However, we do not live in a simple labor environment and because work depends not only how much the worker produces but also how the machines and materials produce, Marx measures the quantity of labor by labor-time. | However, we do not live in a simple labor environment and because work depends not only how much the workder produces but also how the machines and materials used produce, Marx measures the quantity of labor by labor-time. |
| Hans: I edited your text with the help of a colleague who teaches writing; your original is in the right column. |
| We are not talking here about a “payment plan.” Marx does not decide how to measure labor based on what is appropriate to the situation; please read [111] about this, and the same thing reformulated in [121]. |
| Furthermore, the concept of total labor does not measure the labor performed by the machinery, but only the labor that went into producing that part of the machinery that is worn out during the production process. The operation of the machine is not called “labor”. |
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