The Melody of Surplus in the Azure Sky: Capitalism, 19th Century

The Melody of Surplus in the Azure Sky: Capitalism, 19th Century

The theory of surplus value presented by Marx in his Theory of Capital is a theory that exposes the exploitative structure that forms the basis of capitalism. Workers sell their labor to capitalists and receive wages in return, but only enough to reproduce their lives. Part of the labor is absorbed by the capitalist for free, and the surplus labor produced becomes the profit of capital. During the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century, long working hours, including those for children and women, became the norm in England, and were finally limited by the Ten Hours Act of 1847. This period was also one in which the pursuit of absolute surplus value, which increased profits by extending the working day, and the expansion of relative surplus value, which reduced the required working hours through mechanization, progressed. The wage form masked exploitation, and capital accumulation created unemployment, suppressed wages, and solidified the structure of workers' dominati
on. Through this reality, Marx showed that profit was not an accident of the market, but an inevitability rooted in the internal structure and historical processes of the working day.