CHAPTERII
THECIRCUITOFPRODUCTIVECAPITALThecircuitofproductivecapitalhasthegeneralformulaP……C’——M’——C……P。Itsignifiestheperiodicalrenewalofthefunctioningofproductivecapital,henceitsreproduction,oritsprocessofproductionasaprocessofreproductionaimingattheself-expansionofvalue;notonlyproductionbutaperiodicalreproductionofsurplus-value;thefunctionofindustrialcapitalinitsproductiveform,andthisfunctionperformednotoncebutperiodicallyrepeated,sothattherenewalisdeterminedbythestarting-point。
AportionofC’mayincertaincases,invariousbranchesofindustrialcapitalre-enterdirectlyasmeansofproductionintothesamelabour-processoutofwhichitcameintheshapeofacommodity。Thismerelysavesthetransformationofthevalueofthisportionintorealmoneyortoken-moneyorelsethecommodityfindsanindependentexpressiononlyasmoneyofaccount。Thispartofvaluedoesnotenterintothecirculation。Thusvaluesenterintotheprocessofproductionwhichdonotenterintotheprocessofcirculation。ThesameistrueofthatpartofC’whichisconsumedbythecapitalistinkindaspartofthesurplus-product。Butthisisinsignificantforcapitalistproduction。Itdeservesconsideration,ifatall,onlyinagriculture。
Twothingsareatoncestrikinglyapparentinthisform。
Foronething,whileinthefirstform,M……M’,theprocessofproduction,thefunctionofP,interruptsthecirculationofmoney-capitalandactsonlyasamediatorbetweenitstwophasesM——CandC’——M’,heretheentirecirculationprocessofindustrialcapital,itsentiremovementwithinthephaseofcirculation,constitutesonlyaninterruptionandconsequentlyonlytheconnectinglinkbetweentheproductivecapital,whichasthefirstextremeopensthecircuit,andthatwhichclosesitastheotherextremeinthesameform,henceintheforminwhichitstartsagain。Circulationproperappearsbutasaninstrumentpromotingtheperiodicallyrenewedreproduction,renderedcontinuousbytherenewal。
Foranotherthing,theentirecirculationpresentsitselfinaformwhichistheoppositeofthatwhichithasinthecircuitofmoney-capital。
Thereitwas:M——C——MM——C。C——M,apartfromthedeterminationofvalue;hereitis,againapartfromthevaluedetermination:C——M——C
C——M。M——C,i。e。,theformofthesimplecirculationofcommodities。
I。SIMPLEREPRODUCTION
LetusfirstconsidertheprocessC’——M’——C,whichtakesplaceinthesphereofcirculationbetweenthetwoextremesP……P。
Thestarting-pointofthiscirculationiscommodity-capital;C’
=Cc=Pc。Thefunctionofcommodity-capitalC’——M’therealisationofthecapital-valuecontainedinitequalsP,whichnowexistsastheconstituentpartCofC’,aswellasofthesurplus-valuecontainedinit,whichexistsasaconstituentpartofthesamequantityofcommoditiesandhasthevaluecwasexaminedinthefirstformofthecircuit。Buttherethisfunctionformedthesecondphaseoftheinterruptedcirculationandtheconcludingphaseoftheentirecircuit。Hereitformsthesecondphaseofthecircuitbutthefirstphaseofthecirculation。ThefirstcircuitendswithM’,andsinceM’aswellastheoriginalMcanagainopenthesecondcircuitasmoney-capital,itwasnotnecessaryatfirsttoseewhetherMandmsurplus-valuecontainedinM’continueintheircoursetogetherorwhethereachofthempursuesitsowncourse。Thiswouldonlyhavebecomenecessaryifwehadfollowedupfurtherthefirstcircuitinitsrenewedcourse。Butthispointmustbedecidedinthecircuitoftheproductivecapital,becausethedeterminationofitsveryfirstcircuitdependsonitandbecauseC’——M’appearsinitasthefirstphaseofthecirculation,whichhastobecomplementedbyM——C。Itdependsonthisdecisionwhethertheformularepresentssimplereproductionorreproductiononanextendedscale。Thecharacterofthecircuitchangesaccordingtothedecisionmade。
Letus,then,considerfirstthesimplereproductionofproductivecapital,assumingthat,asinthefirstchapter,conditionsremainconstantandthatcommoditiesareboughtandsoldattheirvalues。
Onthisassumptiontheentiresurplus-valueentersintotheindividualconsumptionofthecapitalist。Assoonasthetransformationofthecommodity-capitalC’intomoneyhastakenplace,thatpartofthemoneywhichrepresentsthecapital-valuecontinuestocirculateinthecircuitofindustrialcapital;
theotherpart,whichissurplus-valuechangedintomoney,entersintothegeneralcirculationofcommodities,constitutesacirculationofmoneyemanatingfromthecapitalistbuttakingplaceoutsideofthecirculationofhisindividualcapital。
Inourillustrationwehadacommodity-capitalC’of10,000lbs。
ofyarn,valuedat£;500;£;422ofthisrepresentthevalueoftheproductivecapitalandcontinue,asthemoney-formof8,440lbs。ofyarn,thecapitalcirculationbegunbyC’,whilethesurplusvalueof£;78,themoney-formof1,560lbs。ofyarn,theexcessofthecommodity-product,leavesthiscirculationanddescribesaseparatecoursewithinthegeneralcirculationofcommodities。
C——
M——C