Marx-Engels Correspondence 1867
Source: MECW Volume 42, p. 388;
First published: in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, 1913
Dear Moor,
‘Pursuant to mine faithfully of yesterday’, two half five-pound notes enclosed, whose 2nd halves will follow by 1st post early tomorrow morning and thus be in your possession tomorrow evening.
With regard to the production of surplus-value, another point: the manufacturer, and with him the vulgar economist, will immediately interject: if the capitalist only pays the worker the price of 6 hours for his 12 hours’ labour, no surplus-value can be produced, since in that case each hour of the factory worker’s labour counts only = 1/2 an hour’s labour, = the amount which has been paid for, and only that value can be embodied in the value of the labour product. Whereupon there will follow the usual formula by way of example: so much for raw materials, so much for wear and tear, so much for wages (wages actually paid per hour’s actual product), etc. Atrociously superficial though this argument may be, however much it may equate exchange-value with price, and value of labour with labour-wage, and absurd though its premiss may be that if for one hour’s labour only half an hour is paid, then only 1/2 hour’s worth goes into the value, I do, nevertheless, find it surprising that you have not already taken it into account, for you will most certainly be immediately confronted with this objection, and it is better to anticipate it. Perhaps you return to it in the following sheets.
You must supply me with an address in London to which I can have the £100 sent next week. I am thinking of taking Lizzie [Burns] via Grimsby to Hamburg, Schleswig, Copenhagen, etc., one week from now, and will probably be away for 4 weeks. I shall therefore have to get our cashier to send the money there on Thursday or Friday, for which purpose I need a neutral address, if possible commercial. You must therefore consider whom you would prefer for this purpose, and let me know at once.
When I have sent Lizzie back to Grimsby from Hamburg, I shall also go on to visit Meissner and Kugelmann, and then travel to the Rhine.
Kindest regards.
Your
F. E.