The Post-Industrial, Post-Modern Theory of Value and Surplus-Value (Deconstructing the Marxist Fetishism of value) | Page 10

etc . and circulating constant capital : materials of production , such as raw and ancillary materials , semi-finished goods , etc . [ Finally ] Just as with the value of any individual commodity , so that of the total annual product of each department also breaks down into C + V + S , [ that is , constant capital plus variable capital plus surplus value , surplus value being the excess surplus created in production via a surplus of unpaid labor . Surplus value is the profit made via the application of constant and variable capital upon each other in production ].[ 29 ]

The two departments are composed of varying sizes of constant capital and variable capital that produce varying sizes of surplus value . Specifically , the two departments are individual composites of c + v + s , which comprise the annual social capital for each individual department ; and together , the annual social capital for capitalist society in general .

So , staying true to Marx ’ s terminology , our first departmental economic model is described without numbers , and is solely comprised of constant capital ( C ), variable capital ( V ) and surplus value produced by workers ( S ) in a simple straightforward form , i . e ., c + v + s equals total value , for each of the two departments . Moreover , both departments added up together form the total annual price , namely the total sum of the social capital produced in a year , where both total price and total value equal one another akin to Marx ’ s initial formulation . According to Marx , this is a simple reproduction model , simple reproduction being where “ the surplus value that is periodically produced and realized is consumed individually , i . e . unproductively , by … the capitalist ”[ 30 ], meaning that it is not reinvested into the production process so as to develop it . The point of this first departmental economic model is to start small and build towards a more complex economic model . The basic diagram is :

It is important to note that department 1 produces the means of production for both department 1 and department 2 , while department 2 produces the means of consumption for both the capitalists and workers in both department 1 and 2 , namely , department 2 is in charge of producing the consumer goods slated for consumption by all capitalists and all workers found in both departments . The departments exchange with one another in order to both reproduce and accumulate capital both on a unified social scale and within each of their individual departments . As a result , both department 1 and 2 are central in the reproduction of laborpower and the capital / labor relation at the center of the capitalist modes of production , consumption and distribution . As Marx states ,

the capitalist process of production [ comprised of two giant departments ]… seen as a total , connected process , i . e . a process of reproduction , produces not only commodities , not only surplus-value , but produces and reproduces the capital-relation itself ; on the one hand the capitalist , on the other the wage-labourer .[ 31 ]

The capital / labor relation is the central pivot from which capital reproduces itself , expands its logic and its exploitive modes of capitalist production , consumption and distribution over labor . Without this core relationship , capital would dissolve due to the fact that , for Marx , “ capital perishes if it does not exploit labor-power ”[ 32 ].

All the same , in order to have simple reproduction take place between the two departments , aside from the fact that total value and total price must equalize , the total variable capital of department 1 and 2 combined must equal the total constant capital of department 2 , so as to indicate that workers and capitalists