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Study Guide to Capital, Chapter 15

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Mill: machines have not lightened toil Marx: machines are the means for producing relative surplus value Rise of machinery = conversion of tool into machines Machine: Complex system of machinery One of the basic themes of this chapter is set out in the very first paragraph where Marx quotes John Stuart Mill to the effect that machines have not "lightened the day's toil of any human being." Marx's response, of course, is that in capitalism machinery is not introduced to lighten toil but to increase relative surplus value. In this way he introduces an argument which will frequently appear in the chapter: the paradox of capitalism that the very machinery which reduces the effort necessary to produce a given product results in more work rather than less. The various ways in which machinery causes an increase in labor will be explored at different points in the text. What his exposition of the nature of machines primarily deals with is the way in which machines accomplish the same tasks as

Study Guide to Capital, Chapter 15 Chapter 15: Machinery and Modern Industry Section 1. The Development of Machinery Outline of Marx's Discussion Mill: machines have not lightened toil Marx: machines are the means for producing relative surplus value Rise of machinery = conversion of tool into machines Machine: = complex tool = tool driven by natural force = motor mechanism + transmitting mechanism + tool or working machine = tools of man have become implements of a mechanism, multiplied = a mechanism that performs with its tools the same operations as the worker formerly did with similar tool

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