The labour process

The labour process

The labour process […] is purposeful activity aimed at the pro-

duction of use-values. It is an appropriation of what exists in nature for the requirements of

man. It is the universal condition for the metabolic interaction between man and nature, the everlasting

nature-imposed condition of human existence, and it is therefore independent of every form

of that existence, or rather it is common to all forms of society in which

human beings live. (p. 290)

The valorization process

What characterizes the labour process under capitalist conditions:

«The worker works under the control of the capitalist to whom his labour belongs». (p. 291)

«The product is the property of the capitalist and not that of the worker, its immediate producer». (p. 292)

«Use values are produced by capitalists only because and in so far as they form the material substratum of exchange-value, are the bearers of exchange value». (p. 293)

Under the command of the capitalist, the worker works longer than is necessary for his own reproduction. «… this difference was what the capitalist had in mind when he was purchasing the labour power». (p. 300)

Past labour, objectified «dead labour» is transformed into capital during the valorization process by the application of «living labour», in «value which can perform its own valorization process». (p. 302)

valorization process

The production process of commodities

Just as the commo-dity itself is a unity formed

of use-value and value, so the process of production must be a unity, composed of the labour

process and the process of creating value.

(p. 293)

… to summarize:

Capitalist process of production:the unity of the labour process and the valorization process.

Labour process:the general moments of every concrete-useful labour.

Process of creating value:the social form of the labour process when the product of labour takes the form of the commodity.

Process of production of commodities:the unity of the labour process and valorization process.

Valorization process:the process of creating value that occurs for such a length of time that the magnitude of value of the newly produced commodity is greater than that of the commodities used in production.