登陆注册
14723100000106

第106章

We have assumed that capitals of equal size are invested in spinning and machine-building, that these capitals contain equal proportions of constant and variable, fixed and circulating capital, that the working-days are of equal length, in brief, that all conditions are equal except the duration of the working period. In the first week, the outlay for both is the same, but the product of the spinner can be sold and the proceeds of the sale used to buy new labour-power, new raw materials, etc.; in short, production can be resumed on the same scale. The machine-manufacturer on the other hand cannot reconvert the circulating capital expended in the first week into money and resume operations with it until three months later, when his product is finished. There is therefore first a difference in the return of the identical quantities of capital invested. But in the second place identical amounts of productive capital are employed during the three months in both spinning and machine-building. However the magnitude of the outlay of capital in the case of the yarn manufacturer is quite different from that of the machine-builder; for in the one case the same capital is rapidly renewed and the same operation can therefore be repeated, while in the other case the renewal of the capital is relatively slow, so that ever new quantities of capital must be added to the old up to the time of its renewal. Consequently there is a difference not only in the length of time of renewal of definite portions of capital, or in the length of time for which the capital is advanced, but also in the quantity of the capital to be advanced according to the duration of the labour-process (although the capitals employed daily or weekly are equal). This circumstance is worthy of note for the reason that the term of the advance may be prolonged, as we shall see in the cases treated in the next chapter, without thereby necessitating a corresponding increase in the amount of the capital to be advanced. The capital must be advanced for a longer time, and a larger amount of capital is tied up in the form of productive capital.

At the less developed stages of capitalist production, undertakings requiring a long working period, and hence a large investment of capital for a long time, such as the building of roads, canals, etc., especially when they can be carried out only on a large scale, are either not carried out on a capitalist basis at all, but rather at communal or state expense (in earlier times generally by forced labour, so far as the labour-power was concerned). Or objects whose production requires a lengthy working period are fabricated only for the smallest part by recourse to the private means of the capitalist himself. For instance, in the building of a house, the private person for whom it is built makes a number of partial advance payments to the building contractor. He therefore actually pays for the house piecemeal, in proportion as the productive process progresses. But in the advanced capitalist era, when on the one hand huge capitals are concentrated in the hands of single individuals, while on the other the associated capitalist (joint-stock companies) appears side by side with the individual capitalist and a credit system has simultaneously been developed, a capitalist building contractor builds only in exceptional cases on the order of private individuals. His business nowadays is to build whole rows of houses and entire sections of cities for the market, just as it is the business of individual capitalists to build railways as contractors.

To what extent capitalist production has revolutionised the building of houses in London is shown by the testimony of a builder before the banking committee of 1857. When he was young, he said, houses were generally built to order and the payments made in instalments to the contractor as certain stages of the building were being completed. Very little was built on speculation.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 特工王妃好勇猛

    特工王妃好勇猛

    上官燕,国家一号特工,冷酷无情,无所不能,然一日被伙伴陷害,穿越到了痴傻相府四小姐的身上,从此,天地任我行,看特工王妃玩转古代,本文男女主一对一。
  • 漂浮的穿越城

    漂浮的穿越城

    自从与外星人扯上了关系,他的命运就发生了翻天覆地的变化。他用强大的金手指让一座城市在时空中飞行……他改写了三个时期的历史……
  • 温柔的背叛

    温柔的背叛

    她毕业后为躲避自已暗恋的大学男同学,主动放弃条件优越大公司的聘用,而到一家小公司磨练自己!然而事事难料,她越想躲却越躲不开,而面对惜日暗恋自已的男同学的苦苦纠缠,她又是如何选择自已的爱呢?命运又是如何的捉弄她呢?
  • 兵领天下

    兵领天下

    刘浩,一个来自21世纪的特种部队精英,在一次执行任务的过程中不幸牺牲,却幸运的回到了东汉末年,在命运的安排下,卷入一场场激烈的斗争之中,为求生存,一步步成长为强者,且看他刘浩如何改变了自己也改变了那个世界。
  • 血逆万界

    血逆万界

    被家族遗弃的少年,背负着父亲的期望,忍受着众人的欺辱,终得上天眷顾,获神龙血脉,一步步走向巅峰,战,无数天骄。败,千万强者,蓦然回首之时才发现以身在高处,可,只手逆天。
  • 重生泪纱女王

    重生泪纱女王

    初吻是他,初心是他,初恋是他,他是她的一切。初吻是她,初梦是她,她是他的生命她陪伴他二十几年爱他十一年,他却伤她一世,她是集宠爱于一身的公主,他是霸道独世的骄子前世,他不做公主为他小鸟依人,却落得惨死他眼前亦是他亲手开的枪今生,她不做公主为自己做女王,不再为他人动心她要逆袭守护身边人剪短及腰长发,想要剪断对他的爱,抹去一头紫发,想要抹去对他的念“边伯贤前世我爱你放下高傲与尊严,你却为她随我心忘我梦,今生我要做自己的女王守护在乎我的人,成为泪纱女王”泪已尽,纱已残,荆刺王冠铸成王
  • 恶魔公主驾到:殿下请小心

    恶魔公主驾到:殿下请小心

    希望大家多看看《恶魔公主驾到:殿下请留步》,简介就不造怎么写,自己悟吧,嘿........嘿.................加羽QQ:2491801405么么哒...................................要票票哦,不强求,爱你们哦O(∩_∩)O~
  • 爱上祸害的妹纸

    爱上祸害的妹纸

    好汉不提当年勇,那当年勇缠上好汉了肿么办?沐子颜觉得自己这辈子做过的最后悔的事就是作为一只单身狗被秀恩爱的闺蜜刺激了之后给帅气的祸害哥哥下了聘礼。沐子颜:“你为什么不去加班啊,加班了赚钱!”祸害:“我赚钱干嘛?”某女:“给你妹妹花!”祸害:“颜颜,我没有妹妹。”某女:“有啊我就是你嫡亲嫡亲的妹妹。”“你不是。”“那我是什么?”祸害邪魅一笑:“老婆。”被美男计迷晕了还没有反应过来的某女:“哦。”后来才惊觉,细水长流,日久生情,他真的住进了她心里。“祸害祸害!”“嗯?”“我爱你。”爱你一辈子,平平淡淡一生也罢,爱是永恒。
  • 小道修行记

    小道修行记

    修道筑基为根本、万法皆由周天分。顺应自然知真道、长存世间笑红尘。连山易归藏易重出于世,七星护佑之体应运而生。先天之炁、山魈通缉、白黄鼠狼、自带喜感的屌丝道人...主角带你于末法时代踏出一条通天之路!
  • 小姐怒了,邪王你给我滚

    小姐怒了,邪王你给我滚

    作为一个杀手,萧沐珞表示自己真的只是个逗逼,一不小心被人杀了。穿越了后,成了一只硕大的米虫,且看女主表面纨绔,背地里发家致富,最后被男主扛回家生崽崽的人生之路。