Surplus-Value

The portion of the value newly created by the wage-laborer in the production process that exceeds the value of labor-power (denoted by the letter M). In the process of capitalist production, the labor of the wage-laborer is divided into the necessary labor, which produces the value of labor-power, and into the surplus-labor, which creates surplus-value and is appropriated by the capitalist without compensation. Therefore, as long as the capitalist lengthens the labor-time of the wage-laborer beyond the time required to compensate for the value of the labor-power, he is capable to obtain surplus-value. According to Marx’s example of the spinner, if a spinner works 6 hours a day to increase the value of cotton by 3 shillings, a value exactly equal to his wage, then if he works 12 hours, he increases the value of cotton by 6 shillings and produces a corresponding surplus of cotton yarn. Since the worker has sold his labor to the capitalist, all the value or product he has created belongs to the capitalist. The capitalist pays 3 shillings in advance but gets 6 shillings in value. The extra 3 shillings constitute the surplus-value, for which the capitalist does not pay any equivalent for it. Thus, “the capitalist production, which is essentially the production of surplus-value, is the absorption of surplus-labor.” Therefore, once the wage-laborer recognizes this law, the exploitative essence of surplus-value is fully exposed. As Marx pointed out, 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.

The theory of surplus-value is a great discovery and an epoch-making contribution of Marx. Surplus-value is the core concept of Marx’s analysis of capitalist economic relations, and with the help of this concept, Marx has explained the essence and the laws of movement of the capitalist relations of production, established a scientific theory of surplus-value, and revealed the fundamental contradictions of the capitalist mode of production. As Lenin said, the theory of surplus-value is the cornerstone of Marx’s economic theory.