Das Kapital

Part III begins inside the factory itself, where Marx reveals what actually happens — first as a general human process, then as a capitalist one. The labour process, Marx begins, is not specific to capitalism. It is the universal metabolic exchange between human beings and nature. A worker brings purposeful intention, applies tools and effort to raw material, and produces something new. Marx's famous contrast: the worst architect beats the best bee, because the architect builds the structure in imagination before building it in reality. Human labour is intentional, purposeful, sustained by will. Three elements compose the labour process: the worker's activity itself; the object worked upon (raw material or something already processed by prior labour); and the instruments used — tools, machines, buildings. These instruments are what Marx calls the means of production. Under capitalism, the capitalist owns all three. He has purchased the worker's labour-power, the raw materials, and the machinery. Whatever emerges from the process belongs to him, not to the worker. The product is not the worker's — it is capital's. Section 2 shows the same process from a different angle: not production of use-values but production of surplus-value. The capitalist does not care about yarn as yarn; he cares about value. He advances capital and expects more to return. The working day has two distinct phases. In the first — necessary labour time — the worker produces value equivalent to what their labour-power cost: enough to reproduce their own wages. In the second — surplus labour time — the worker continues producing, but this additional value accrues entirely to the capitalist. No fraud is involved. The worker was paid the full value of their labour-power. But labour-power, consumed in production, generates more value than it costs. That gap is surplus value — the source of profit, interest, and rent across the entire capitalist system.