Absolute Surplus-Value

The surplus-value produced by prolonging the length of the working-day under the condition that the necessary labor-time is constant. Under the capitalist system, a workers’ working-day are divided into two parts: the necessary labor-time and the surplus labor-time. Under the condition that the necessary labor time is fixed, the lengthening of the working-day will correspondingly increase the surplus labor-time and hence the rate of surplus-value. The longer the surplus labor-time, the more absolute surplus-value is appropriated by the capitalist without compensation. Marx said that the prolongation of the working-day beyond the point at which the laborer would have produced just an equivalent for the value of his labor-power, and the appropriation of that surplus-labor by capital, this is production of absolute surplus-value. It constitutes the general base of the capitalist system, and the starting-point for the production of relative surplus-value.

The lengthening of the working-day is limited by two factors: one is the physiological factor of the labor-power. The laborer must spend a portion of their 24-hour day for resting, eating, sleeping, etc. to satisfy their physical needs. The other is the social and moral factor. The laborer also needs a certain amount of time within the 24-hour day to engage in social intercourse and family activity, etc. to satisfy their spiritual and social needs. Both of these factors vary from country to country depending on economic, political and cultural conditions. Under the constraints of these two factors, the actual length of the working-day depends on the strength of the struggle between wage-laborers and capitalists, as well as the provisions of the law.

See Law of Surplus-value on p. 159.