Relative Surplus Population

The surplus population formed because the supply of labor-power exceeds capital’s demand for labor-power.

In the development of accumulation of capital, the direct result of the increase in the organic composition of capital is the decline of the proportion of variable capital in the total capital. Capital’s demand for labor-power does not depend on the magnitude of total capital but on the magnitude of variable capital. Although the growth of total capital includes the increase of the absolute magnitude of variable capital, the demand for labor can increase to a certain extent; however, due to the increase in the organic composition of capital, the growth of variable capital lags behind the growth of total capital, thus the demand for labor can also be relatively reduced. During periods of rapid scientific and technological development and rapid increase in the organic composition of capital, the demand for labor-power may even decrease absolutely. Simultaneously, however, the supply of labor-power vis-à-vis capital increases in absolute terms. For example, with the widespread use of machines, many operations have become easier and the demand for the physical faculties of the labor-power has diminished, which has led to a large number of women and children joining the ranks of wage-laborers. In addition, bankrupt peasants, craftsmen, and even some bankrupt small and medium-sized capitalists have already joined the ranks of wage-laborers. Therefore, in the process of accumulation of capital, when the organic composition of capital increases, two opposing tendencies inevitably appear: on the one hand, capital’s demand for labor-power decreases relatively or even absolutely; on the other hand, the supply of labor-power for capital increases absolutely. The result of the development of these two opposing tendencies is the formation of a large unemployed population, i.e., a relative surplus population, a surplus population that manifests itself, relative to the need for the valorization of capital, as a superfluous working population.

It can be seen that the relative surplus population is an inevitable product of the development of capitalist mode of production. Marx pointed out that the working population produces, along with the accumulation of capital produced by it, the means by which it itself is made relatively superfluous. This is a law of population peculiar to the capitalist mode of production.

Relative surplus population is also a necessary condition for the existence of the capitalist mode of production. This is because the development of capitalist production is cyclical, and the existence of a relative surplus population can readily regulate and meet the demand for labor-power vis-a-vis the changes in the cycle of production. During the crises, a large number of workers are discharged and thrown into unemployment, and when production goes up, the needed workers are readily absorbed from the ranks of the unemployed. The relative surplus population acts as a “reserve” of labor-power. Moreover, the existence of a large unemployed population is also conducive to the exploitation of workers employed by the capitalists, because the capitalists can make use of this to depress the wages of the employed workers, thus aggravating the exploitation of the employed workers. Therefore, the existence of relative surplus population, i.e., a large number of unemployed people, is the inevitable companion of the existence of the capitalist mode of production. Although bourgeois governments can alleviate unemployment to a certain extent through various interventions, it is impossible to eliminate unemployment completely.

The capitalist relative surplus population continuously changes with the cyclical changes in the capitalist reproduction. Its existence has mainly three basic forms: the flowing, the latent, and the stagnant surplus population. In addition, there is a portion of the population that is the deepest fallout from the relative surplus population, who are the paupers and their children, orphans and vagabonds who have lost their labor-power and are forced to make a living.