CHAPTER VI.

Constant Capital and Variable Capital. Fixed Capital and Circulating Capital.
(Extracted from vol. I, ch. 8 & 9. — Vol. Ill, part. 1, ch. 8—10; vol. II, ch. 8, German ed.)
Now that we know that surplus-value arises during the production of commodities, and, further, how it arises, it is clear that the surplus-value obtained in every individual undertaking must differ in its amount independently of the amount of capital. For we have seen that surplus-value is exclusively derived from living, newly performed labour, and not from the pre-existing means of production. To revert to our example of the cotton spinner, the capitalist paid 24 shillings for all the means of production (cotton and in- struments of labour), and 3 shillings wages for labour. The labour of spinning has not changed the value of the 24 shillings — /. e. of the means of production; such labour has transmitted exactly the same value to the yarn. The 3 shillings paid for wages have, on the other hand, been consumed, and in their stead we find a new value of 6 shillings.
The value of that part of the capital expended by the capitalist for procuring means of production — L e. raw and auxiliary materials, and instruments of labour - - is therefore not altered in- the course of process of production. .We consequently call it constant capital.
On the other hand, the value of that part of the capital expended on buying labour power is altered during the process of production. It reproduces its own value and yields a surplus-value over and above the latter; and this surplus-value can be greater or less as the case may be. This part of the capital is being continually transformed from a constant (unchangeable) magnitude into a variable (changeable) one. We therefore call it variable capital.
Now it is clear that in the different branches of pro- duction the proportions in which the means of production
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(constant capital) stand to one and the same amount of wages (variable capital) can be different. In an engine-works the quantity, of instruments of production to be utilised and transformed by labour power will be different to what it is 111 a cotton spinning-mill or in a coal mine, &c. The «organic composition» of capital (as we will call this relation of the constant and variable parts of capital to each other) differs therefore from branch to branch. The most varied relations are here not only conceivable, but they also really exist.
Let us assume the existence of three different capitals (in 3 different branches) having the following organic composition: