Page:Karl Marx - Wage Labor and Capital - tr. Harriet E. Lothrop (1902).djvu/28



several workmen were to be asked: “How much wages do you get?” one would reply, “I get a dollar a day from my employer”; another, “I get two dollars a day,” and so on. According to the different branches of industry in which they are employed, they would mention different sums of money that they receive from their respective employers for the completion of a certain task; for example, for weaving a yard of linen, or for setting a page of type. Despite the variety of their statements, they would all agree upon one point: that wages are the amount of money which the capitalist pays for a certain period of work or for a certain amount of work.

Consequently it appears that the capitalist buys their labor with money, and that for money they sell him their labor. But this is merely an illusion. What they actually sell to the capitalist for money is their labor-power. This labor-power the capitalist buys for a day, a week, a month, etc. And after he has bought it, he uses it up by letting the worker labor during the stipulated time. With the same amount of money with which the capitalist has bought their labor-power, for example, with two dollars, he could have bought a certain amount of sugar or of any other commodity. The two dollars with which he bought twenty pounds of sugar is the price of the twenty pounds of sugar. The two dollars. with which he bought twelve hours’ use of the labor-power, is the price of twelve hours’ labor. Labor-power, then, is a