According to Marx, where does capital originate?
In the circulation of commodities (C-M-C), eventually developing into money as capital.
What is the key difference between C-M-C and M-C-M?
C-M-C aims at consumption (use-value), M-C-M aims at profit (exchange-value).
What is the formula M-C-M’?
Money → commodity → more money, where M’ = M + surplus value (profit).
What is surplus value?
The increment above the original value advanced; the essence of profit and capital accumulation.
How does Marx define the capitalist?
The capitalist is capital personified, whose sole aim is the endless accumulation of wealth.
Why is labour considered a commodity under capitalism?
Because workers sell their labour-power in exchange for wages, like any other commodity.
What are wages, according to Marx?
The price of labour, not the worker’s share in the commodities they produce.
What does the worker receive vs. what does the capitalist receive?
The worker receives subsistence; the capitalist receives productive activity that creates surplus value.
What happens as capital grows in society?
Workers become more dependent, capitalists compete more, and industrial armies expand.
How does division of labour affect workers?
It simplifies and de-skills their work, reducing them to machine appendages.
How does alienated labour make workers poorer?
The more commodities workers produce, the cheaper they become as commodities themselves.
What does Marx mean by alienation from the product?
The worker’s product confronts them as something external, alien, and controlled by the capitalist.
What does Marx mean by alienation from production itself?
Work becomes external and forced, a denial of self rather than an affirmation.
Why is labour under capitalism considered forced labour?
Because it is coerced, not freely chosen, and serves only external needs, not self-fulfillment.
How does Marx link alienated labour to private property?
Alienated labour creates the capitalist relation to labour, making private property its necessary result.
