Surplus Labor-Time

Corresponding to “necessary labor-time”. Under capitalist conditions, it refers to the labor-time expended by the worker in producing surplus-value for the capitalist, except for the time expended in producing the means of life that the worker requires for the maintenance of his life and his family. In connection with the production of surplus-value, the worker’s labor-time in a working-day is divided into two parts: necessary labor-time and surplus labor-time. The period in which his labor is no longer necessary labor, the workman, it is true, labors, expends labor-power; but his labor, being no longer necessary labor, he creates no value for himself. This portion of the working-day is called surplus labor-time. During this time, he creates surplus-value which, for the capitalist, has all the charms of a creation out of nothing. Therefore, it is every bit as important, for a correct understanding of surplus-value, to conceive it as a mere congelation of surplus labor-time, as nothing but materialized surplus-labor. This is because the purpose of capitalist production is to grab more surplus-value, so that capitalists always try to shorten the portion of necessary labor-time and lengthen the portion of surplus labor-time in the working-day of wage-laborers. When workers realize that surplus-value is created by their surplus-labor, the truth of the exploitation of the surplus-value of the wage-laborers by capitalists without compensation is fully revealed.