thebase.works · Das Kapital Kap. 18 · semantic zoom
Z3
linear reader › fork map ›
K.18
Der Zeitlohn
Chapter 17 showed why wages make unpaid labour appear paid. Chapter 18 follows that appearance into its hourly form, where a wage-total and an hourly price of labour can move differently.
Der Arbeitslohn nimmt selbst wieder sehr mannigfaltige Formen an, ein Umstand, nicht erkennbar aus den ökonomischen Kompendien, die in ihrer brutalen Interessiertheit für den Stoff jeden Formunterschied vernachlässigen. Eine Darstellung aller dieser Formen gehört jedoch in die spezielle Lehre von der Lohnarbeit, also nicht in dieses Werk. Dagegen sind die zwei herrschenden Grundformen hier kurz zu entwickeln.
Two wage forms

Wages take many forms, though ordinary economic accounts neglect their differences. Marx does not survey them all here; he develops the two dominant forms.

Der Verkauf der Arbeitskraft findet, wie man sich erinnert, stets für bestimmte Zeitperioden statt. Die verwandelte Form, worin der Tageswert, Wochenwert usw. der Arbeitskraft sich unmittelbar darstellt, ist daher die des "Zeitlohns", also Tageslohn usw.
Time as wage form

Labour-power is sold for definite periods. Its daily or weekly value therefore appears in the transformed form of time-wages: day-wages, week-wages, and the like.

Es ist nun zunächst zu bemerken, daß die im fünfzehnten Kapitel dargestellten Gesetze über den Größenwechsel von Preis der Arbeitskraft und Mehrwert sich durch einfache Formveränderung in Gesetze des Arbeitslohns verwandeln. Ebenso erscheint der Unterschied zwischen dem Tauschwert der Arbeitskraft und der Masse der Lebensmittel, worin sich dieser Wert umsetzt, jetzt als Unterschied von nominellem und reellem Arbeitslohn. Es wäre nutzlos, in der Erscheinungsform zu wiederholen, was in der wesentlichen Form bereits entwickelt. Wir beschränken uns daher auf wenige, den Zeitlohn charakterisierende Punkte.
Appearance and prior laws

The laws previously developed for changes in the price of labour-power and surplus-value reappear, through a change of form, as laws of wages. The distinction between labour-power’s exchange-value and the means of subsistence into which it is converted likewise appears as nominal and real wages. Marx now takes up only points characteristic of time-wages.

Die Geldsumme30, die der Arbeiter für seine Tagesarbeit, Wochenarbeit usw. erhält, bildet den Betrag seines nominellen oder dem Wert nach geschätzten Arbeitslohns. Es ist aber klar, daß je nach der Länge des Arbeitstags, also je nach der täglich von ihm gelieferten Quantität Arbeit, derselbe Tageslohn, Wochenlohn usw. einen sehr verschiednen Preis der Arbeit, d.h. sehr verschiedne Geldsummen für dasselbe Quantum Arbeit darstellen kann.31 Man muß also bei dem Zeitlohn wieder unterscheiden zwischen Gesamtbetrag des Arbeitslohns, Taglohns, Wochenlohns usw. und Preis der Arbeit. Wie nun diesen Preis finden, d.h. den Geldwert eines gegebnen Quantums Arbeit? Der durchschnittliche Preis der Arbeit ergibt sich, indem man den durchschnittlichen Tageswert der Arbeitskraft durch die Stundenzahl des durchschnittlichen Arbeitstags dividiert. Ist z.B. der Tageswert der Arbeitskraft 3 sh., das Wertprodukt von 6 Arbeitsstunden, und ist der Arbeitstag zwölfstündig, so ist der Preis einer Arbeitsstunde =
Total and hourly rate

The money received for daily or weekly labour is the nominal wage-total. The same total can represent very different prices of labour when the working day has a different length. The hourly price is found by dividing labour-power’s average daily value by the average hours of the working day: with a daily value of 3s., produced in six hours, and a twelve-hour day, the calculation begins with 3s / 12. Attached note 30 holds the value of money constant. Attached note 31 attributes the definition of price of labour as the sum paid for a given quantity of labour to Sir Edward West, and identifies him as the anonymous author of the Essay on the Application of Capital to Land.

3 sh.
/
12
Three shillings over twelve

3 shillings / 12 hours.

= 3 d. Der so gefundene Preis der Arbeitsstunde dient als Einheitsmaß für den Preis der Arbeit.
The unit measure

The result is 3d. The resulting price of one working hour serves as the unit measure for the price of labour.

Es folgt daher, daß der Taglohn, Wochenlohn usw. derselbe bleiben kann, obgleich der Preis der Arbeit fortwährend sinkt. War z.B. der gewohnheitsmäßige Arbeitstag 10 Stunden und der Tageswert der Arbeitskraft 3 sh., so betrug der Preis der Arbeitsstunde 3 3 / 5 d.; er sinkt auf 3 d., sobald der Arbeitstag zu 12 Stunden, und 2 2 / 5 d., sobald er zu 15 Stunden steigt. Tages- oder Wochenlohn bleiben trotzdem unverändert. Umgekehrt kann der Taglohn oder Wochenlohn steigen, obgleich der Preis der Arbeit konstant bleibt oder selbst sinkt. War z.B. der Arbeitstag zehnstündig und ist der Tageswert der Arbeitskraft 3 sh., so der Preis einer Arbeitsstunde 3 3 / 5 d. Arbeitet der Arbeiter infolge zunehmender Beschäftigung und bei gleichbeibendem Preise der Arbeit 12 Stunden, so steigt sein Tageslohn nun auf 3 sh. 7 1 / 5 d. ohne Variation im Preise der Arbeit. Dasselbe Resultat könnte herauskommen, wenn statt der extensiven Größe der Arbeit ihre intensive Größe zunähme.32 Steigen des nominellen Tages- oder Wochenlohns mag daher begleitet sein von gleichbleibendem oder sinkendem Preis der Arbeit. Dasselbe gilt von der Einnahme der Arbeiterfamilie, sobald das vom Familienhaupt gelieferte Arbeitsquantum durch die Arbeit der Familienglieder vermehrt wird. Es gibt also von der Schmälerung des nominellen Tages- oder Wochenlohns unabhängige Methoden zur Herabsetzung des Preises der Arbeit.33
Totals can conceal a fall

The daily or weekly total can remain unchanged while the hourly price falls. With a habitual ten-hour day and labour-power worth 3s., the hourly price is 3 3/5d.; it falls to 3d. at twelve hours and 2 2/5d. at fifteen. Conversely, at the same ten-hour starting point, twelve hours at the same hourly price raise the daily wage to 3s. 7 1/5d. A rise in intensity can have the same result. A higher nominal total, including a family’s total when family members add labour, can therefore coexist with a constant or falling price of labour. Attached note 32 attributes this distinction between price and quantity of labour to West, while noting that he does not explain the price’s determination. Attached note 33 attributes the nominal-total confusion to the Essay on Trade and Commerce and to Senior’s use of West: the worker is said to care chiefly about the amount received, not the quantity of labour given.

Als allgemeines Gesetz aber folgt: Ist die Quantität der Tages-, Wochenarbeit usw. gegeben, so hängt der Tages- oder Wochenlohn vom Preise der Arbeit ab, der selbst variiert, entweder mit dem Wert der Arbeitskraft oder den Abweichungen ihres Preises von ihrem Werte. Ist dagegen der Preis der Arbeit gegeben, so hängt der Tages- oder Wochenlohn von der Quantität der Tages- oder Wochenarbeit ab.
Two conditional laws

Given the quantity of daily or weekly labour, the wage-total depends on the price of labour, which varies with labour-power’s value or with deviations of its price from that value. Given the price of labour, the daily or weekly wage instead depends on the quantity of labour supplied.

Die Maßeinheit des Zeitlohns, der Preis der Arbeitsstunden, ist der Quotient des Tageswerts der Arbeitskraft, dividiert durch die Stundenzahl des gewohnheitsmäßigen Arbeitstags. Gesetzt, letztrer betrage 12 Stunden, der Tageswert der Arbeitskraft 3 sh., das Wertprodukt von 6 Arbeitsstunden. Der Preis der Arbeitsstunde ist unter diesen Umständen 3 d., ihr Wertprodukt 6 d. Wird der Arbeiter nun weniger als 12 Stunden täglich (oder weniger als 6 Tage in der Woche) beschäftigt, z.B. nur 6 oder 8 Stunden, so erhält er, bei diesem Preise der Arbeit, nur 2 oder 1 1 / 2 sh. Taglohn.34 Da er nach der Voraussetzung im Durchschnitt 6 Stunden täglich arbeiten muß, um nur einen dem Wert seiner Arbeitskraft entsprechenden Taglohn zu produzieren, da er nach derselben Voraussetzung von jeder Stunde nur 1 / 2 für sich selbst, 1 / 2 aber für den Kapitalisten arbeitet, so ist es klar, daß er das Wertprodukt von 6 Stunden nicht herausschlagen kann, wenn er weniger als 12 Stunden beschäftigt wird. Sah man früher die zerstörenden Folgen der Überarbeit, so entdeckt man hier die Quellen der Leiden, die für den Arbeiter aus seiner Unterbeschäftigung entspringen.
Normal rate, insufficient work

The unit of time-wages is labour-power’s daily value divided by the hours of the customary day. With a twelve-hour day, a daily value of 3s., and a six-hour value-product, the hourly price is 3d. and each hour produces 6d. Yet employment for only six or eight hours at that rate yields only 1s. 6d. to 2s. Because six hours are needed merely to reproduce the day’s wage, and half of every hour is assumed to be unpaid labour for the capitalist, work below twelve hours cannot recover the six-hour value-product. Underemployment thus has its own destructive effects. Attached note 34 distinguishes this from a legally enforced general shortening of the day: the same result can occur with a nominal fifteen-hour day and only seven-and-a-half hours’ employment, or a nominal six-hour day and only three hours’ employment.

Wird der Stundenlohn in der Weise fixiert, daß der Kapitalist sich nicht zur Zahlung eines Tages- oder Wochenlohns verpflichtet, sondern nur zur Zahlung der Arbeitsstunden, während deren es ihm beliebt, den Arbeiter zu beschäftigen, so kann er ihn unter der Zeit beschäftigen, die der Schätzung des Stundenlohns oder der Maßeinheit für den Preis der Arbeit ursprünglich zugrunde liegt. Da diese Maßeinheit bestimmt ist durch die Proportion
An unguaranteed day

If hourly payment binds the capitalist only to pay for whichever hours are chosen, not for a day or week, the worker can be employed below the time originally used to calculate the hourly wage. That unit was determined by a ratio.

Tageswert der Arbeitskraft
)/
Arbeitstag von gegebner Stundenzahl
The missing denominator

Daily value of labour-power / working day of a given number of hours.

, verliert sie natürlich allen Sinn, sobald der Arbeitstag aufhört, eine bestimmte Stundenzahl zu zählen. Der Zusammenhang zwischen der bezahlten und unbezahlten Arbeit wird aufgehoben. Der Kapitalist kann jetzt ein bestimmtes Quantum Mehrarbeit aus dem Arbeiter herausschlagen, ohne ihm die zu seiner Selbsterhaltung notwendige Arbeitszeit einzuräumen. Er kann jede Regelmäßigkeit der Beschäftigung vernichten und ganz nach Bequemlichkeit, Willkür und augenblicklichem Interesse die ungeheuerste Überarbeit mit relativer oder gänzlicher Arbeitslosigkeit abwechseln lassen. Er kann, unter dem Vorwand, den "normalen Preis der Arbeit" zu zahlen, den Arbeitstag, ohne irgend entsprechende Kompensation für den Arbeiter, anormal verlängern. Daher der durchaus rationelle Aufstand (1860) der im Baufach beschäftigten Londoner Arbeiter gegen den Versuch der Kapitalisten, diesen Stundenlohn aufzuherrschen. Die gesetzliche Beschränkung des Arbeitstags macht solchem Unfug ein Ende, obgleich natürlich nicht der aus Konkurrenz der Maschinerie, Wechsel in der Qualität der angewandten Arbeiter, partiellen und allgemeinen Krisen entspringenden Unterbeschäftigung.
When the unit breaks

Once the working day no longer has a definite number of hours, that ratio loses its meaning. The relation between paid and unpaid labour is broken from view. The capitalist can extract surplus-labour without granting the labour-time needed for subsistence, destroy regular employment, and alternate extreme overwork with relative or complete unemployment. Under the pretense of paying the normal price of labour, the day can be abnormally lengthened without compensation. The London building workers’ 1860 revolt against this hourly wage was therefore rational. Legal limitation ends this abuse, though not underemployment arising from machinery, changes in the labour employed, or partial and general crises.

Bei wachsendem Tages- oder Wochenlohn kann der Preis der Arbeit nominell konstant bleiben und dennoch unter sein normales Niveau sinken. Dies findet jedesmal statt, sobald mit konstantem Preis der Arbeit, resp. der Arbeitsstunde, der Arbeitstag über seine gewohnheitsmäßige Dauer verlängert wird. Wenn in dem Bruch
Longer day, lower rate

A rising daily or weekly wage can coexist with an hourly price that remains nominally constant yet falls below its normal level. This occurs when the day is extended beyond its customary length at the same hourly price. The next fraction explains why.

Tageswert der Arbeitskraft
/
Arbeitstag
Wear's fraction

Daily value of labour-power / working day.

der Nenner wächst, wächst der Zähler noch rascher. Der Wert der Arbeitskraft, weil ihr Verschleiß, wächst mit der Dauer ihrer Funktion und in rascherer Proportion als das Inkrement ihrer Funktionsdauer. In vielen Industriezweigen, wo Zeitlohn vorherrscht, ohne gesetzliche Schranken der Arbeitszeit, hat sich daher naturwüchsig die Gewohnheit herausgebildet, daß der Arbeitstag nur bis zu einem gewissen Punkt, z.B. bis zum Ablauf der zehnten Stunde, als normal gilt ("normal working day", "the day's work", "the regular hours of work <"normaler Arbeitstag", "Tagesarbeit", "reguläre Arbeitszeit">). Jenseits dieser Grenze bildet die Arbeitszeit Überzeit (overtime) und wird, die Stunde als Maßeinheit genommen, besser bezahlt (extra pay), obgleich oft in lächerlich kleiner Proportion.35 Der normale Arbeitstag existiert hier als Bruchteil des wirklichen Arbeitstags, und der letztere währt oft während des ganzen Jahres länger als der erstere.36 Der Wachstum im Preis der Arbeit mit der Verlängerung des Arbeitstags über eine gewisse Normalgrenze gestaltet sich in verschiednen britischen Industriezweigen so, daß der niedrige Preis der Arbeit während der sog. Normalzeit dem Arbeiter die besser bezahlte Überzeit aufzwingt, will er überhaupt einen genügenden Arbeitslohn herausschlagen.37
Wear and overtime

As the denominator grows, the numerator grows still faster: labour-power’s value, because of wear, rises with the duration of its functioning more rapidly than that duration itself. In time-wage industries without legal limits, a customary threshold may arise at which the day is called normal, for example ten hours. Beyond it lies overtime, paid at a better but often ridiculously small hourly rate. This customary threshold is only a fraction of the actual day, which can remain longer throughout the year. Low pay during the so-called normal time can compel workers to take the better-paid overtime to secure a sufficient wage. Attached note 35 attributes the contrast between tiny lace-making overtime rates and severe harm to workers’ health and stamina to the Children’s Employment Commission. Attached note 36 records paper-staining workers’ testimony that a ten-and-a-half-hour day ended at 4:30 p.m. and later work was overtime throughout the year. Attached note 37 attributes Scottish bleaching evidence to factory inspectors: ten hours counted as regular work at 1s. 2d. per day, but three or four overtime hours at 3d. were needed to reach a fair weekly wage. The same note attributes the account of fourteen- and fifteen-year-old bookbinding girls working late nights for extra pay and supper to the employment commission.

Gesetzliche Beschränkung des Arbeitstags macht diesem Vergnügen ein Ende.38
Law ends this

Legal limitation of the working day ends this arrangement. Attached note 38 attributes two conditions demanded by London building workers in the 1860 strike and lock-out: a fixed normal day of nine or ten hours with a higher hourly price for the ten-hour day, and proportionally higher pay for every hour beyond that day.

Es ist allgemein bekannte Tatsache, daß, je länger der Arbeitstag in einem Industriezweig, um so niedriger der Arbeitslohn.39 Fabrikinspektor A. Redgrave illustriert dies durch eine vergleichende Übersicht der zwanzigjährigen Periode von 1839-1859, wonach der Arbeitslohn in den dem Zehnstundengesetz unterworfenen Fabriken stieg, während er fiel in den Fabriken, wo 14 bis 15 Stunden täglich gearbeitet wird.40
Long days, lower wages

The longer the working day in an industry, the lower wages generally are. Factory inspector A. Redgrave’s comparison of 1839–1859 found wages rising in factories subject to the Ten Hours Law and falling where work lasted fourteen or fifteen hours a day. Attached note 39 attributes the long-hours/low-wages observation to inspector and public-health reports; attached note 40 gives Redgrave’s report as the source of the comparative review.

Zunächst folgt aus dem Gesetz: "Bei gegebnem Preis der Arbeit hängt der Tages- oder Wochenlohn von der Quantität der gelieferten Arbeit ab", daß, je niedriger der Preis der Arbeit, desto größer das Arbeitsquantum sein muß oder desto länger der Arbeitstag, damit der Arbeiter auch nur einen kümmerlichen Durchschnittslohn sichre. Die Niedrigkeit des Arbeitspreises wirkt hier als Sporn zur Verlängerung der Arbeitszeit.41
Low rate, longer day

Given the price of labour, the daily or weekly wage depends on the amount of labour supplied. The lower the hourly price, the more labour, or the longer a day, the worker needs to secure even a miserable average wage. Low price of labour therefore stimulates longer working time. Attached note 41 attributes the example of English hand nail-makers working fifteen-hour days for 11d. or 1s., with tool wear and materials deducted, to the Children’s Employment Commission; women earn only 5s. for the same working time.

Umgekehrt aber produziert ihrerseits die Verlängerung der Arbeitszeit einen Fall im Arbeitspreise und damit im Tages- oder Wochenlohn.
The reverse movement

Conversely, extending working time produces a fall in the price of labour and, with it, a fall in the daily or weekly wage.

Die Bestimmung des Arbeitspreises durch
The quotient returns

The determination of the price of labour is again introduced through a ratio.

Tageswert der Arbeitskraft
/
Arbeitstag von gegebner Stundenzahl
The same denominator

Daily value of labour-power / working day of a given number of hours.

ergibt, daß bloße Verlängerung des Arbeitstags den Arbeitspreis senkt, wenn keine Kompensation eintritt. Aber dieselben Umstände, welche den Kapitalisten befähigen, den Arbeitstag auf die Dauer zu verlängern, befähigen ihn erst und zwingen ihn schließlich, den Arbeitspreis auch nominell zu senken, bis der Gesamtpreis der vermehrten Stundenzahl sinkt, also der Tages- oder Wochenlohn. Hinweis auf zwei Umstände genügt hier. Verrichtet ein Mann das Werk von 1 1 / 2 oder 2 Männern, so wächst die Zufuhr der Arbeit, wenn auch die Zufuhr der auf dem Markt befindlichen Arbeitskräfte konstant bleibt. Die so unter den Arbeitern erzeugte Konkurrenz befähigt den Kapitalisten, den Preis der Arbeit herabzudrücken, während der fallende Preis der Arbeit ihn umgekehrt befähigt, die Arbeitszeit noch weiter heraufzuschrauben.42 Bald jedoch wird diese Verfügung über anormale, d.h. das gesellschaftliche Durchschnittsniveau überfließende Quanta unbezahlter Arbeit zum Konkurrenzmittel unter den Kapitalisten selbst. Ein Teil des Warenpreises besteht aus dem Preis der Arbeit. Der nicht gezahlte Teil des Arbeitspreises braucht nicht im Warenpreis zu rechnen. Er kann dem Warenkäufer geschenkt werden. Dies ist der erste Schritt, wozu die Konkurrenz treibt. Der zweite Schritt, wozu sie zwingt, ist, wenigstens einen Teil des durch die Verlängerung des Arbeitstags erzeugten anormalen Mehrwerts ebenfalls aus dem Verkaufspreis der Ware auszuschließen. In dieser Weise bildet sich erst sporadisch und fixiert sich nach und nach ein anormal niedriger Verkaufspreis der Ware, der von nun an zur konstanten Grundlage kümmerlichen Arbeitslohns bei übermäßiger Arbeitszeit wird, wie er ursprünglich das Produkt dieser Umstände war. Wir deuten diese Bewegung bloß an, da die Analyse der Konkurrenz nicht hierhin gehört. Doch mag für einen Augenblick der Kapitalist selbst sprechen.
Competition's feedback loop

A mere extension of the day lowers the price of labour when no compensation occurs. The same circumstances that let capitalists extend the day also let, and eventually compel, them to lower that price nominally until the total price of the increased hours falls. If one worker does the work of one-and-a-half or two, the supply of labour grows even though the number of labour-powers on the market does not. Competition among workers then lets capitalists press down the price of labour, and the falling price permits a further extension of working time. Command over abnormal quantities of unpaid labour then becomes competition among capitalists. The unpaid part of the labour-price can be omitted from the commodity’s price and effectively given to the buyer; then part of the abnormal surplus-value produced by longer hours can also be excluded. An abnormally low selling price thus arises and becomes a basis for miserable wages and excessive working time, although it first arose from those conditions. Marx then hands the stage to capitalist speech. Attached note 42 attributes the threat of replacement for a factory worker refusing customary long hours to an inspectors’ report, and attributes to Senior the claim that one worker doing two workers’ work raises profit because the added supply lowers labour’s price.

"In Birmingham ist die Konkurrenz unter den Meistern so groß, daß mancher von uns gezwungen ist, als Arbeitsanwender zu tun, was er sich schämen würde, sonst zu tun; und dennoch wird nicht mehr Geld gemacht (and yet no more money is made), sondern das Publikum allein hat den Vorteil davon."43
A Birmingham employer speaks

A Birmingham employer says that competition among masters forces employers to do shameful things, while the public alone receives the benefit and no more money is made. This is quoted capitalist testimony, not Marx’s account. Attached note 43 attributes the statement to the Children’s Employment Commission.

Man erinnert sich der Zwei Sorten Londoner Bäcker, wovon die eine Brot zum vollen Preise (the "fullpriced" backers), die andre es unter seinem normalen Preise verkauft ("the underpriced", "the undersellers"). Die "fullpriced" denunzieren ihre Konkurrenten vor der parlamentarischen Untersuchungskommission:
Bakers accuse competitors

Marx recalls two kinds of London bakers: full-priced bakers and under-sellers who sold below the normal price. The full-priced bakers denounce their rivals before a parliamentary inquiry.

"Sie existieren nur, indem sie erstens das Publikum betrügen" (durch Fälschung der Ware) "und zweitens 18 Arbeitsstunden aus ihren Leuten für den Lohn zwölfstündiger Arbeit herausschinden ... Die unbezahlte Arbeit (the unpaid labour) der Arbeiter ist das Mittel, wodurch der Konkurrenzkampf geführt wird ... Die Konkurrenz unter den Bäckermeistern ist die Ursache der Schwierigkeit in Beseitigung der Nachtarbeit. Ein Unterverkäufer, der sein Brot unter dem mit dem Mehlpreis wechselnden Kostpreis verkauft, hält sich schadlos, indem er mehr Arbeit aus seinen Leuten herausschlägt. Wenn ich nur 12 Stunden Arbeit aus meinen Leuten herausschlage, mein Nachbar dagegen 18 oder 20, muß er mich im Verkaufspreis schlagen. Könnten die Arbeiter auf Zahlung für Überzeit bestehen, so wäre es mit diesem Manöver bald zu Ende ... Eine große Anzahl der von den Unterverkäufern Beschäftigten sind Fremde, Jungen und andre, die fast mit jedem Arbeitslohn, den sie kriegen können, vorlieb zu nehmen gezwungen sind."44
The bakers' testimony

The full-priced bakers claim that under-sellers deceive the public and obtain eighteen hours’ work for twelve hours’ wages. They call workers’ unpaid labour the means of competition, say an under-seller makes up a below-cost bread price by extracting more labour, and say eighteen or twenty hours would beat twelve in the selling price. They add that overtime payment would end the manoeuvre and that foreigners and youths employed by under-sellers must accept almost any wage. This is capitalist testimony, not Marx’s account. Attached note 44 attributes the evidence to the 1862 report on journeymen bakers’ grievances, while adding that the full-priced bakers also made workers begin at 11 p.m. or earlier and often continue until 7 p.m. the next day.

Diese Jeremiade ist auch deswegen interessant, weil sie zeigt, wie nur der Schein der Produktionsverhältnisse sich im Kapitalistenhirn widerspiegelt. Der Kapitalist weiß nicht, daß der normale Preis der Arbeit ein bestimmtes Quantum unbezahlter Arbeit einschließt und eben diese unbezahlte Arbeit die normale Quelle seines Gewinns ist. Die Kategorie der Mehrarbeitszeit existiert überhaupt nicht für ihn, denn sie ist eingeschlossen im normalen Arbeitstag, den er im Taglohn zu zahlen glaubt. Wohl aber existiert für ihn die Überzeit, die Verlängerung des Arbeitstags über die dem gewohnten Preis der Arbeit entsprechende Schranke. Seinem unterverkaufenden Konkurrenten gegenüber besteht er sogar auf Extrazahlung (extra pay) für diese Überzeit. Er weiß wieder nicht, daß diese Extrazahlung ebensowohl unbezahlte Arbeit einschießt, wie der Preis der gewöhnlichen Arbeitsstunde. Z.B. der Preis einer Stunde des zwölfstündigen Arbeitstags ist 3 d., das Wertprodukt von 1 / 2 Arbeitsstunde, während der Preis der überzeitigen Arbeitsstunde 4 d., das Wertprodukt von 2 / 3 Arbeitsstunde. Im ersten Fall eignet sich der Kapitalist von einer Arbeitsstunde die Hälfte, im andern 1 / 3 ohne Zahlung an.
Ordinary and overtime unpaid

Marx treats this complaint as evidence of how the appearance of production relations is reflected in the capitalist’s mind. The capitalist does not see that the normal price of labour already contains a definite quantity of unpaid labour and that this unpaid labour is the normal source of gain. Surplus labour-time seems absent because it is included in the ordinary day believed to be paid through the day-wage. Overtime alone appears as an excess beyond the customary price, for which the capitalist demands extra pay against an underselling competitor. Yet that extra pay contains unpaid labour just as the ordinary hourly price does. In a twelve-hour day, an ordinary hour is paid 3d., equal to the value-product of half an hour; an overtime hour is paid 4d., equal to the value-product of two-thirds of an hour. In the first case the capitalist appropriates one-half of the hour unpaid, in the second one-third.

K.18
Time-Wages
Chapter 17 showed why wages make unpaid labour appear paid. Chapter 18 follows that appearance into its hourly form, where a wage-total and an hourly price of labour can move differently.
Wages themselves again take many forms, a fact not recognizable in the ordinary economic treatises which, exclusively interested in the material side of the question, neglect every difference of form. An exposition of all these forms however, belongs to the special study of wage labour, not therefore to this work. Still the two fundamental forms must be briefly worked out here.
Two wage forms

Wages take many forms, though ordinary economic accounts neglect their differences. Marx does not survey them all here; he develops the two dominant forms.

The sale of labour-power, as will be remembered, takes place for a definite period of time. The converted form under which the daily, weekly, &c., value of labour-power presents itself, is hence that of time-wages, therefore day-wages, &c.
Time as wage form

Labour-power is sold for definite periods. Its daily or weekly value therefore appears in the transformed form of time-wages: day-wages, week-wages, and the like.

Next it is to be noted that the laws set forth, in the 17th chapter, on the changes in the relative magnitudes of price of labour-power and surplus-value, pass by a simple transformation of form, into laws of wages. Similarly the distinction between the exchange-value of labour power, and the sum of the necessaries of life into which this value is converted, now reappears as the distinction between nominal and real wages. It would be useless to repeat here, with regard to the phenomenal form, what has been already worked out in the substantial form. We limit ourselves therefore to a few points characteristic of time-wages.
Appearance and prior laws

The laws previously developed for changes in the price of labour-power and surplus-value reappear, through a change of form, as laws of wages. The distinction between labour-power’s exchange-value and the means of subsistence into which it is converted likewise appears as nominal and real wages. Marx now takes up only points characteristic of time-wages.

The sum of money 1 which the labourer receives for his daily or weekly labour, forms the amount of his nominal wages, or of his wages estimated in value. But it is clear that according to the length of the working-day, that is, according to the amount of actual labour daily supplied, the same daily or weekly wage may represent very different prices of labour, i.e., very different sums of money for the same quantity of labour. 2 We must, therefore, in considering time-wages, again distinguish between the sum-total of the daily or weekly wages, &c., and the price of labour. How then, to find this price, i.e., the money-value of a given quantity of labour? The average price of labour is found, when the average daily value of the labour-power is divided by the average number of hours in the working-day. If, e.g., the daily value of labour-power is 3 shillings, the value of the product of 6 working-hours, and if the working-day is 12 hours, the price of 1 working hour is 3/12 shillings = 3d. The price of the working-hour thus found serves as the unit measure for the price of labour.
Total and hourly rate

The money received for daily or weekly labour is the nominal wage-total. The same total can represent very different prices of labour when the working day has a different length. The hourly price is found by dividing labour-power’s average daily value by the average hours of the working day: with a daily value of 3s., produced in six hours, and a twelve-hour day, the calculation begins with 3s / 12. Attached note 30 holds the value of money constant. Attached note 31 attributes the definition of price of labour as the sum paid for a given quantity of labour to Sir Edward West, and identifies him as the anonymous author of the Essay on the Application of Capital to Land.

M–A merges
Three shillings over twelve

3 shillings / 12 hours.

M–A merges
The unit measure

The result is 3d. The resulting price of one working hour serves as the unit measure for the price of labour.

It follows therefore that the daily and weekly wages, &c., may remain the same, although the price of labour falls constantly. If, e.g., the habitual working-day is 10 hours and the daily value of the labour-power 3s., the price of the working-hour is 3 3/5d. It falls to 3d. as soon as the working-day rises to 12 hours, to 2 2/5d as soon as it rises to 15 hours. Daily or weekly wages remain, despite all this, unchanged. On the contrary, the daily or weekly wages may rise, although the price of labour remains constant or even falls. If, e.g., the working-day is 10 hours, and the daily value of labour-power 3 shillings, the price of one working-hour is 3 3/5d. If the labourer, in consequence of increase of trade, works 12 hours, the price of labour remaining the same, his daily wage now rises to 3 shillings 7 1/5 d. without any variation in the price of labour. The same result might follow if, instead of the extensive amount of labour, its intensive amount increased. 3 The rise of the nominal daily or weekly wages may therefore be accompanied by a price of labour that remains stationary or falls. The same holds as to the income of the labourer’s family, as soon as the quantity of labour expended by the head of the family is increased by the labour of the members of his family. There are, therefore, methods of lowering the price of labour independent of the reduction of the nominal daily or weekly wages. 4
Totals can conceal a fall

The daily or weekly total can remain unchanged while the hourly price falls. With a habitual ten-hour day and labour-power worth 3s., the hourly price is 3 3/5d.; it falls to 3d. at twelve hours and 2 2/5d. at fifteen. Conversely, at the same ten-hour starting point, twelve hours at the same hourly price raise the daily wage to 3s. 7 1/5d. A rise in intensity can have the same result. A higher nominal total, including a family’s total when family members add labour, can therefore coexist with a constant or falling price of labour. Attached note 32 attributes this distinction between price and quantity of labour to West, while noting that he does not explain the price’s determination. Attached note 33 attributes the nominal-total confusion to the Essay on Trade and Commerce and to Senior’s use of West: the worker is said to care chiefly about the amount received, not the quantity of labour given.

As a general law it follows that, given the amount of daily or weekly labour, &c., the daily or weekly wages depend on the price of labour which itself varies either with the value of labour-power, or with the difference between its price and its value. Given, on the other hand, the price of labour, the daily or weekly wages depend on the quantity of the daily or weekly labour.
Two conditional laws

Given the quantity of daily or weekly labour, the wage-total depends on the price of labour, which varies with labour-power’s value or with deviations of its price from that value. Given the price of labour, the daily or weekly wage instead depends on the quantity of labour supplied.

The unit-measure for time-wages, the price of the working-hour, is the quotient of the value of a day’s labour-power, divided by the number of hours of the average working-day. Let the latter be 12 hours, and the daily value of labour-power 3 shillings, the value of the product of 6 hours of labour. Under these circumstances the price of a working hour is 3d.; the value produced in it is 6d. If the labourer is now employed less than 12 hours (or less than 6 days in the week), e.g., only 6 or 8 hours, he receives, with this price of labour, only 2s. or 1s. 6d. a day. 5 As on our hypothesis he must work on the average 6 hours daily, in order to produce a day’s wage corresponding merely to the value of his labour power, as according to the same hypothesis he works only half of every hour for himself, and half for the capitalist, it is clear that he cannot obtain for himself the value of the product of 6 hours if he is employed less than 12 hours. In previous chapters we saw the destructive consequences of over-work; here we find the sources of the sufferings that result to the labourer from his insufficient employment.
Normal rate, insufficient work

The unit of time-wages is labour-power’s daily value divided by the hours of the customary day. With a twelve-hour day, a daily value of 3s., and a six-hour value-product, the hourly price is 3d. and each hour produces 6d. Yet employment for only six or eight hours at that rate yields only 1s. 6d. to 2s. Because six hours are needed merely to reproduce the day’s wage, and half of every hour is assumed to be unpaid labour for the capitalist, work below twelve hours cannot recover the six-hour value-product. Underemployment thus has its own destructive effects. Attached note 34 distinguishes this from a legally enforced general shortening of the day: the same result can occur with a nominal fifteen-hour day and only seven-and-a-half hours’ employment, or a nominal six-hour day and only three hours’ employment.

If the hour’s wage is fixed so that the capitalist does not bind himself to pay a day’s or a week’s wage, but only to pay wages for the hours during which he chooses to employ the labourer, he can employ him for a shorter time than that which is originally the basis of the calculation of the hour-wage, or the unit-measure of the price of labour. Since this unit is determined by the ratio
An unguaranteed day

If hourly payment binds the capitalist only to pay for whichever hours are chosen, not for a day or week, the worker can be employed below the time originally used to calculate the hourly wage. That unit was determined by a ratio.

daily value of labour-power
working-day of a given number of hours’
The missing denominator

Daily value of labour-power / working day of a given number of hours.

it, of course, loses all meaning as soon as the working-day ceases to contain a definite number of hours. The connection between the paid and the unpaid labour is destroyed. The capitalist can now wring from the labourer a certain quantity of surplus-labour without allowing him the labour-time necessary for his own subsistence. He can annihilate all regularity of employment, and according to his own convenience, caprice, and the interest of the moment, make the most enormous overwork alternate with relative or absolute cessation of work. He can, under the pretense of paying “the normal price of labour,” abnormally lengthen the working-day without any corresponding compensation to the labourer. Hence the perfectly rational revolt in 1860 of the London labourers, employed in the building trades, against the attempt of the capitalists to impose on them this sort of wage by the hour. The legal limitation of the working-day puts an end to such mischief, although not, of course, to the diminution of employment caused by the competition of machinery, by changes in the quality of the labourers employed, and by crises partial or general.
When the unit breaks

Once the working day no longer has a definite number of hours, that ratio loses its meaning. The relation between paid and unpaid labour is broken from view. The capitalist can extract surplus-labour without granting the labour-time needed for subsistence, destroy regular employment, and alternate extreme overwork with relative or complete unemployment. Under the pretense of paying the normal price of labour, the day can be abnormally lengthened without compensation. The London building workers’ 1860 revolt against this hourly wage was therefore rational. Legal limitation ends this abuse, though not underemployment arising from machinery, changes in the labour employed, or partial and general crises.

With an increasing daily or weekly wage the price of labour may remain nominally constant, and yet may fall below its normal level. This occurs every time that, the price of labour (reckoned per working-hour) remaining constant, the working-day is prolonged beyond its customary length. If in the fraction:
Longer day, lower rate

A rising daily or weekly wage can coexist with an hourly price that remains nominally constant yet falls below its normal level. This occurs when the day is extended beyond its customary length at the same hourly price. The next fraction explains why.

daily value of labour power
working-day
Wear's fraction

Daily value of labour-power / working day.

the denominator increases, the numerator increases yet more rapidly. The value of labour-power, as dependent on its wear and tear, increases with the duration of its functioning, and in more rapid proportion than the increase of that duration. In many branches of industry where time-wage is the general rule without legal limits to the working-time, the habit has, therefore, spontaneously grown up of regarding the working day as normal only up to a certain point, e.g., up to the expiration of the tenth hour (“normal working-day,” “the day’s work,” “the regular hours of work”). Beyond this limit the working-time is over-time, and is, taking the hour as unit-measure, paid better (“extra pay”), although often in a proportion ridiculously small. 6 The normal working-day exists here as a fraction of the actual working-day, and the latter, often during the whole year, lasts longer than the former. 7 The increase in the price of labour with the extension of the working-day beyond a certain normal limit, takes such a shape in various British industries that the low price of labour during the so-called normal time compels the labourer to work during the better paid over-time, if he wishes to obtain a sufficient wage at all. 8 Legal limitation of the working-day puts an end to these amenities. 9
Wear and overtime

As the denominator grows, the numerator grows still faster: labour-power’s value, because of wear, rises with the duration of its functioning more rapidly than that duration itself. In time-wage industries without legal limits, a customary threshold may arise at which the day is called normal, for example ten hours. Beyond it lies overtime, paid at a better but often ridiculously small hourly rate. This customary threshold is only a fraction of the actual day, which can remain longer throughout the year. Low pay during the so-called normal time can compel workers to take the better-paid overtime to secure a sufficient wage. Attached note 35 attributes the contrast between tiny lace-making overtime rates and severe harm to workers’ health and stamina to the Children’s Employment Commission. Attached note 36 records paper-staining workers’ testimony that a ten-and-a-half-hour day ended at 4:30 p.m. and later work was overtime throughout the year. Attached note 37 attributes Scottish bleaching evidence to factory inspectors: ten hours counted as regular work at 1s. 2d. per day, but three or four overtime hours at 3d. were needed to reach a fair weekly wage. The same note attributes the account of fourteen- and fifteen-year-old bookbinding girls working late nights for extra pay and supper to the employment commission.

M–A merges
Law ends this

Legal limitation of the working day ends this arrangement. Attached note 38 attributes two conditions demanded by London building workers in the 1860 strike and lock-out: a fixed normal day of nine or ten hours with a higher hourly price for the ten-hour day, and proportionally higher pay for every hour beyond that day.

It is a fact generally known that, the longer the working-days, in any branch of industry, the lower are the wages. 10 A. Redgrave, factory inspector, illustrates this by a comparative review of the 20 years from 1839-1859, according to which wages rose in the factories under the 10 Hours Law, whilst they fell in the factories in which the work lasted 14 to 15 hours daily. 11
Long days, lower wages

The longer the working day in an industry, the lower wages generally are. Factory inspector A. Redgrave’s comparison of 1839–1859 found wages rising in factories subject to the Ten Hours Law and falling where work lasted fourteen or fifteen hours a day. Attached note 39 attributes the long-hours/low-wages observation to inspector and public-health reports; attached note 40 gives Redgrave’s report as the source of the comparative review.

From the law, “the price of labour being given, the daily or weekly wage depends on the quantity of labour expended,” it follows, first of all, that the lower the price of labour, the greater must be the quantity of labour, or the longer must be the working-day for the labourer to secure even a miserable average wage. The lowness of the price of labour acts here as a stimulus to the extension of the labour-time. 12
Low rate, longer day

Given the price of labour, the daily or weekly wage depends on the amount of labour supplied. The lower the hourly price, the more labour, or the longer a day, the worker needs to secure even a miserable average wage. Low price of labour therefore stimulates longer working time. Attached note 41 attributes the example of English hand nail-makers working fifteen-hour days for 11d. or 1s., with tool wear and materials deducted, to the Children’s Employment Commission; women earn only 5s. for the same working time.

On the other hand, the extension of the working-time produces, in its turn, a fall in the price of labour, and with this a fall in the day’s or week’s wages.
The reverse movement

Conversely, extending working time produces a fall in the price of labour and, with it, a fall in the daily or weekly wage.

The determination of the price of labour by:
The quotient returns

The determination of the price of labour is again introduced through a ratio.

daily value of labour power
working day of a given number of hours
The same denominator

Daily value of labour-power / working day of a given number of hours.

shows that a mere prolongation of the working-day lowers the price of labour, if no compensation steps in. But the same circumstances which allow the capitalist in the long run to prolong the working-day, also allow him first, and compel him finally, to nominally lower the price of labour until the total price of the increased number of hours is lowered, and, therefore, the daily or weekly wage. Reference to two circumstances is sufficient here. If one man does the work of 1½ or 2 men, the supply of labour increases, although the supply of labour-power on the market remains constant. The competition thus created between the labourers allows the capitalist to beat down the price of labour, whilst the falling price of labour allows him, on the other hand, to screw up still further the working-time. 13 Soon, however, this command over abnormal quantities of unpaid labour, i.e., quantities in excess of the average social amount, becomes a source of competition amongst the capitalists themselves. A part of the price of the commodity consists of the price of labour. The unpaid part of the labour-price need not be reckoned in the price of the commodity. It may be presented to the buyer. This is the first step to which competition leads. The second step to which it drives is to exclude also from the selling price of the commodity at least a part of the abnormal surplus-value created by the extension of the working-day. In this way, an abnormally low selling price of the commodity arises, at first sporadically, and becomes fixed by degrees; a lower selling price which henceforward becomes the constant basis of a miserable wage for an excessive working-time, as originally it was the product of these very circumstances. This movement is simply indicated here, as the analysis of competition does not belong to this part of our subject. Nevertheless, the capitalist may, for a moment, speak for himself. “In Birmingham there is so much competition of masters one against another that many are obliged to do things as employers that they would otherwise be ashamed of; and yet no more money is made, but only the public gets the benefit.” 14 The reader will remember the two sorts of London bakers, of whom one sold the bread at its full price (the “full-priced” bakers), the other below its normal price (“the under-priced,” “the undersellers”). The “full-priced” denounced their rivals before the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry: “They only exist now by first defrauding the public, and next getting 18 hours’ work out of their men for 12 hours’ wages.... The unpaid labour of the men was made ... the source whereby the competition was carried on, and continues so to this day.... The competition among the master bakers is the cause of the difficulty in getting rid of night-work. An underseller, who sells his bread below the cost-price according to the price of flour, must make it up by getting more out of the labour of the men.... If I got only 12 hours’ work out of my men, and my neighbor got 18 or 20, he must beat me in the selling price. If the men could insist on payment for over-work, this would be set right.... A large number of those employed by the undersellers are foreigners and youths, who are obliged to accept almost any wages they can obtain.” 15
Competition's feedback loop

A mere extension of the day lowers the price of labour when no compensation occurs. The same circumstances that let capitalists extend the day also let, and eventually compel, them to lower that price nominally until the total price of the increased hours falls. If one worker does the work of one-and-a-half or two, the supply of labour grows even though the number of labour-powers on the market does not. Competition among workers then lets capitalists press down the price of labour, and the falling price permits a further extension of working time. Command over abnormal quantities of unpaid labour then becomes competition among capitalists. The unpaid part of the labour-price can be omitted from the commodity’s price and effectively given to the buyer; then part of the abnormal surplus-value produced by longer hours can also be excluded. An abnormally low selling price thus arises and becomes a basis for miserable wages and excessive working time, although it first arose from those conditions. Marx then hands the stage to capitalist speech. Attached note 42 attributes the threat of replacement for a factory worker refusing customary long hours to an inspectors’ report, and attributes to Senior the claim that one worker doing two workers’ work raises profit because the added supply lowers labour’s price.

M–A merges
A Birmingham employer speaks

A Birmingham employer says that competition among masters forces employers to do shameful things, while the public alone receives the benefit and no more money is made. This is quoted capitalist testimony, not Marx’s account. Attached note 43 attributes the statement to the Children’s Employment Commission.

M–A merges
Bakers accuse competitors

Marx recalls two kinds of London bakers: full-priced bakers and under-sellers who sold below the normal price. The full-priced bakers denounce their rivals before a parliamentary inquiry.

M–A merges
The bakers' testimony

The full-priced bakers claim that under-sellers deceive the public and obtain eighteen hours’ work for twelve hours’ wages. They call workers’ unpaid labour the means of competition, say an under-seller makes up a below-cost bread price by extracting more labour, and say eighteen or twenty hours would beat twelve in the selling price. They add that overtime payment would end the manoeuvre and that foreigners and youths employed by under-sellers must accept almost any wage. This is capitalist testimony, not Marx’s account. Attached note 44 attributes the evidence to the 1862 report on journeymen bakers’ grievances, while adding that the full-priced bakers also made workers begin at 11 p.m. or earlier and often continue until 7 p.m. the next day.

This jeremiad is also interesting because it shows how the appearance only of the relations of production mirrors itself in the brain of the capitalist. The capitalist does not know that the normal price of labour also includes a definite quantity of unpaid labour, and that this very unpaid labour is the normal source of his gain. The category of surplus labour-time does not exist at all for him, since it is included in the normal working-day, which he thinks he has paid for in the day’s wages. But over-time does exist for him, the prolongation of the working-day beyond the limits corresponding with the usual price of labour. Face to face with his underselling competitor, he even insists upon extra pay for this over-time. He again does not know that this extra pay includes unpaid labour, just as well as does the price of the customary hour of labour. For example, the price of one hour of the 12 hours’ working-day is 3d., say the value-product of half a working-hour, whilst the price of the over-time working-hour is 4d., or the value-product of 2/3 of a working hour. In the first case the capitalist appropriates to himself one-half, in the second, one-third of the working-hour without paying for it.
Ordinary and overtime unpaid

Marx treats this complaint as evidence of how the appearance of production relations is reflected in the capitalist’s mind. The capitalist does not see that the normal price of labour already contains a definite quantity of unpaid labour and that this unpaid labour is the normal source of gain. Surplus labour-time seems absent because it is included in the ordinary day believed to be paid through the day-wage. Overtime alone appears as an excess beyond the customary price, for which the capitalist demands extra pay against an underselling competitor. Yet that extra pay contains unpaid labour just as the ordinary hourly price does. In a twelve-hour day, an ordinary hour is paid 3d., equal to the value-product of half an hour; an overtime hour is paid 4d., equal to the value-product of two-thirds of an hour. In the first case the capitalist appropriates one-half of the hour unpaid, in the second one-third.