Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Into the dark, Satanic mills
Another day, another 100 pages of Capital. I remained flummoxed by Chapters 7 & 8, in which Marx explains:
surplus value - the value the capitalist generates, beyond what the capitalist pays to the workers for wages
constant capital - the cost of the means of production: machinery, tools, etc
variable capital - labour power. The only thing that adds value to production
It sounds simple enough, but he relies on formulas again. In words or numbers, formulas still utterly confuse me. I'm right back in grade six math again, confused by these equations on the board, and terrified by my math teacher, Mrs. Thompson, who never smiles, never has a kind word for anyone, smells of cigars, and eventually denounces me as lazy because I'm too afraid to tell her I don't understand the homework. Or grade 7, when the teacher gives us university level math to prove that math isn't so hard, and everyone else gets it, except me. Or grade 9 & 10, when I stay in during lunch hours to practice math, because by that point my fear of the subject has become firmly entrenched, and my eyes glaze right over as soon as I open the book. Much as they still do, when I read "The rate of surplus-value is therefore (8 over 5)*(0 over 2) = 153(1 over 1)(1 over 3) per cent." (Capital, page 328)
Who needs math anymore?
However, Marx makes up for it in his wrenching descriptions of child labour in Chapter 10, The Working Day. Quoting factory inspector reports:
Capitalism shows its true colours - one of the mills of 19th century industrial England
surplus value - the value the capitalist generates, beyond what the capitalist pays to the workers for wages
constant capital - the cost of the means of production: machinery, tools, etc
variable capital - labour power. The only thing that adds value to production
It sounds simple enough, but he relies on formulas again. In words or numbers, formulas still utterly confuse me. I'm right back in grade six math again, confused by these equations on the board, and terrified by my math teacher, Mrs. Thompson, who never smiles, never has a kind word for anyone, smells of cigars, and eventually denounces me as lazy because I'm too afraid to tell her I don't understand the homework. Or grade 7, when the teacher gives us university level math to prove that math isn't so hard, and everyone else gets it, except me. Or grade 9 & 10, when I stay in during lunch hours to practice math, because by that point my fear of the subject has become firmly entrenched, and my eyes glaze right over as soon as I open the book. Much as they still do, when I read "The rate of surplus-value is therefore (8 over 5)*(0 over 2) = 153(1 over 1)(1 over 3) per cent." (Capital, page 328)
Who needs math anymore?However, Marx makes up for it in his wrenching descriptions of child labour in Chapter 10, The Working Day. Quoting factory inspector reports:
"That boy of mine... when he was 7 years old I used to carry him on my back to and fro through the snow, and he used to have 16 hours a day... I have often knelt down to feed him as he stood by the machine, for he could not leave it or stop."He frequently compares capitalists to vampires, too (why didn't Buffy The Vampire Slayer take this up, I wonder?) Anyone who claims Marx wasn't moved by human misery (and that his theory was only about 'objective science'), and who wants to see how capitalist exploitation hasn't changed very much, should read Chapter 10.
"George Allinsworth, age 9, came here as cellar-boy last Friday; next morning we had to begin at 3, so I stopped here all night. Live five miles off. Slept on the floor of the furnace, over head, with an apron under me, and a bit of a jacket over me. The two other days I have been here at 6am. Aye! It is hot in here."
Capitalism shows its true colours - one of the mills of 19th century industrial England
